SeeCalifornia.com

Driving along the highways, freeways and city roads in California yesterday we saw license plates from New York, Michigan, Florida, Texas, Montana, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Iowa. We even stopped at beaches and spoke with people we presumed were “locals”. As it turned out, most everyone in swimsuits, wetsuits and barefoot were from somewhere else. One man said with a heavy German accent, “I am from very far away.” A woman with a dog on leash waiting for her boyfriend to return from his surfing session said, “We’re passing through from Oregon. We spent the night in Baja (Mexico) last night and hope to be in San Francisco by this evening.”

So what attracts tourists to California in the “dead of winter?” The picture of a guy on his phone at Moonlight Beach (Encinitas) taken yesterday where the temperature peaked at 74 degrees F. shows people playing volleyball on the sand, riding bicycles, and if you could see the ocean you’d observe swimmers and surfers having a wonderful day in the sun. We stopped at the Encinitas Historical Society’s 1883 Schoolhouse and spoke to a volunteer weeding the garden in front. When we asked her about the enjoyment of working outdoors she said, “It’s nice, but it’s too hot.” That’s why people come to California in the winter.