- When I was young, probably in elementary school, my parents brought home a poster and the poster said, "Natural beauty in every direction."

And it had four photos on it.

The kelp, a pelican, desert, and mountains with snow.

And the idea is that in San Diego County, you have this incredible biodiversity and geodiversity from the ocean to the coastline, to the upper grasslands, to the mountains and the desert.

And I remember thinking as a kid without much life experience, that was relatively normal.

And as I grew older and I learned that that was not the average county, I started to appreciate it more and more as I became an adult.

And I just always loved that poster.

It hung in my room as a kid, and it now sits in the room of one of my boys.

It is a way of communicating to him that San Diego is a special place, the place to protect, it's a place to enjoy, it's a place to appreciate, to pass on to maybe one day his kids.

(water splashing) San Diego has some of the most important ecosystems in America, but they're also some of the most quickly disappearing.

So I want to take my sons on a journey to explore those areas before they disappear too quickly.

(gentle dramatic music) So with my family traveling east to west, we plan to meet up with certain experts, like a desert guide, a plant biologist, a geographer, an animal biologist, an educator, and a boat captain.

You got it.

Thank you.

If I can show them how important these ecosystems are, and if I can show them how important the smallest bugs to the largest trees are, they may understand how important it is to protect these natural resources and pass them on to future generations.

(fire crackling) (wind whooshing) (birds chirping)