chris April 4th, 2007
On April first we headed out to Año Nuevo State Park to check out the elephant seals. This is not the time of year when you see the big males fighting for dominance, the scenes you see on the nature shows. this is long after that. The males are gone. Even the females are gone. The pups (or as they are called after their mother’s ditch them, “weeners”) are left on the beach to fight for survival on their own. As it turns out, fighting for survival in this case really means “lying on the beach and sleeping for a month or two”. This is what we got to see. We could tell that they weren’t dead because sometimes they blinked. But it’s always nice to get out to the ocean.
On the mile and a half hike from the visitor’s center to the beach, Natalie bombarded us with questions about the seals. We answered most questions with “Hmm, I’m not sure, but one of the docents at the beach should know”. When we finally got there.. “Natalie, there’s the docent, do you have any questions to ask him?” Natalie: “Um, no”. Typical. And then.. “Natalie, why don’t you ask him why the seals keep flinging sand on themselves?” Natalie: “Ok”…to the docent: “Excuse me, why do they fling sand on themselves”. Docent: “Well, that’s a good question. Nobody really knows”. So, that was really satisfying.
See more snoozing seal photos!
chris February 11th, 2007
Today was one of those California appreciation days. Faced with the daunting task of cleaning up our house, Edie, Natalie and I decided to go for a little hike instead. Natalie wanted to show her mom some of the landmarks we discovered on our hike in El Corta Madera Creek a few weeks earlier, so we hopped in the car and headed up the hill. Twenty minutes later we arrived at the trail head on Skyline. The anticipated rain never materialized so we hiked the slightly foggy redwoods, revisited the Sandstone Formation and discovered a vista that gave us a view of the ocean.
Back at the car we decided it was too earl to go home, and took the first left, down Tunitas Creek Rd, which we were hoping would take us to the sea. Eventually it did. A few miles north we discovered an amazing little beach called Cowell Ranch State Beach. The trek to the sand from the parking lot was over a mile through a working farm, but was worth it. Beautiful sand and almost completely deserted. On the way we saw bunnies and hawk sitting on a fence (well, the hawk was on the fence, the bunnies were scurrying for cover). By now the day was starting to draw to a close, and we headed into Half Moon Bay for dinner. We ended up eating at Cetrella, a bit pricey but delicious food and great service.
It’s really amazing the fun you can have and the beauty you can discover, in this area without even really trying. Just point your car and go! (or bike, or tennies, I guess :).
See all of the photos taken on this adventure!
chris January 29th, 2007
Natalie’s soccer game was canceled at the last-minute this weekend due to overly soggy fields, and since it wasn’t really raining we decided to take a hike. Natalie brought along her buddy Arielle, and I brought along my new buddy, a 10-22MM wide-angle lens. I figured the redwoods in the fog would make for great gratuitous wide-angle subject matter. It rained a little, but the trees protected us, for the most part. The fog was amazing and offered us a dark, creepy, quiet and drippy experience. Great fun! We came across this amazing sandstone rock formation (called “sandstone formation” on the map). Much more impressive than the name implied. I think this is the ideal way to experience the redwoods.
See all of the photos!
On April first we headed out to Año Nuevo State Park to check out the elephant seals. This is not the time of year when you see the big males fighting for dominance, the scenes you see on the nature shows. this is long after that. The males are gone. Even the females are gone. The pups (or as they are called after their mother’s ditch them, “weeners”) are left on the beach to fight for survival on their own. As it turns out, fighting for survival in this case really means “lying on the beach and sleeping for a month or two”. This is what we got to see. We could tell that they weren’t dead because sometimes they blinked. But it’s always nice to get out to the ocean.
