It has been a busy couple of weeks for the Wandering Dolphin crew!

Andy took a trip back to Minnesota for the 4th of July and had a chance to visit with family and spend some time at the cabin.

While he was gone, I spent time with the dogs and held down the fort. The dogs missed Andy a lot (and I guess I did, too).

We took walks around the park pretty much every day and enjoyed some of the wildlife.

I even stumbled upon a cute snake!

Andy drove back to Cali with his cousin Peter, who lives in L.A., and they came up with a fun idea on their drive back: pick up my cousin from Colorado!

We stayed with my cousin and family on our journey out here, living in our motorhome on their land for about a month before heading out for new adventures. Having her come to California was an amazing thing for both of us! We got to spend time together and I got to show her around our little slice of paradise.

The dogs were happy to see Andy once he got home — Piper freaked out!

We started our adventure with a trip to the coast (surprise, surprise). We hit La Jolla Cove first.

Then we drove the coast. We tried to stop at some tide pools but did not time it well. The view was still amazing.

We spent the rest of the day at the Oceanside Harbor, exploring and swimming in the ocean.

While we were in the water, I saw a small shark near me. I couldn’t identify it and it swam away quickly but it had the shape of a swell shark. The next day, we found out that a great white had been spotted off the coast by the harbor the day before we were there! I was excited to see that little shark in the water but hearing about the great white sighting did make me a little nervous.

We had fun hanging out and played some pool in the yard.

Little Teddy was his usual funny self.

We visited Julian and had a good time checking out the shops; then we spent another day in the harbor with the kayak, and Andy rented a paddle board.

I was terrified to try it but both Bobbi and I gave paddle boarding a try, too.

My balance is less than amazing so I was pretty shaky. I tried standing up a couple of times and it just wasn’t meant to happen. But I could do it well from my knees!

Then we hit up the beach again for some boogie boarding.

We took a trip out to the pier for some lunch and to check out the view.

Bobbie and I took a whale watching trip out of Mission Bay. It is blue whale season and I was hoping to catch a glimpse of these giants.

No luck on the whales but we did see some common dolphins! They were playful and kept crossing back and forth around the boat.

AND we got to see Risso’s dolphins!

This was a really cool experience. I have never seen them before and they are not commonly seen because they are a deep-water dolphin. Their physical appearance is unique — their faces are not shaped like the typical dolphin that most people picture; they don’t have a beak.

They also have distinctive scarring caused by squid and other dolphins. As they age, more of these show up so that they look mostly white (like the ones that we saw).

One of them was rather active, slapping its tail on the surface of the water.

I thought they were beautiful and it was amazing that we had the chance to see them.

On our way back in, I got a great shot of a barking sea lion.

We spent the afternoon in San Diego, hitting up Mission Beach, Little Italy and Seaport Village.

On her last day in town, we went for a morning hike. On the way there, we spotted a young coyote.

It was a nice hike, giving the dogs a chance to get out and stretch their legs more.

Before going to the airport, we hung out in Balboa Park, wandering through the different buildings and gardens.

It was really great to see her, hang out and catch up! We love having visitors here in beautiful, sunny Southern California! Looking forward to the next adventure…