Unwinding at the beach

Today was a rough day. We had to get out for awhile so we drove to Oceanside, where we waded into the ocean. The water was, of course, way too cold to swim in, but it's always relaxing to watch the ocean. When we couldn't feel our toes anymore, we changed tack and walked along the road, listening to the happy, summer sounds of families at the beach.

Eventually we went back to the car; on the way we saw this, which looks like an over-grown black-and-white Bird of Paradise. 

And it is a Bird of Paradise - it's a giant White Bird of Paradise called Strelitza Nicolai, and it's twice as big as the common orange and blue one. Nice to learn something new, even on a tough day like today.