friday night dinner

lunch with greg in the neighborhood

pics from the hood and tea and grocery shopping with chanda

before grocery shopping we had tea and hummus at progressive grounds cafe.

the elusive mailbox it took me so long to find at gates and cortland streets . . 

 

greg was waiting for us by the house, as he didn't have the key.

in search of elephant seals and sea otters at año nuevo state park

 año nuevo state park encompasses año nuevo island and año nuevo point about 55 miles south of san francisco. it was named by father antonio de la ascensón, the chaplain and diarist of spanish explorer sebastian viszcaino, in 1603. the expedition had been in monterey and were heading north when they rounded the point during the new year of 1603, hence the name of punta de año nuevo (new year's point). 

 the park is now a refuge for the northern elephant seal. from december until march they come ashore to birth and mate. from april to may the females and juvenile seals are on shore to molt and shed their outer layer of skin and fur. young males molt from may through june, and older males from july through august. it takes each seal about four to six weeks to completely shed their skin. by the end of august most of the seals have returned to the sea to feed, except for some juveniles. it's about a one and a half mile walk to the beach area they take refuge in.

 bull thistle

sow thistle, which looks a lot like a dandelion . .  

 this view reminds me of montauk . . i suppose many beaches look like this . . 

 one of the many winding points . .

 maybe a pink primrose . . 

 every time you come around a corner and see these views, it's breathtaking . . 

 seaside wild buckwheat . . 

 almost at bight beach . . 

 and . . voila . . do they look dead? they warn us that they look dead. of course, off in the distance on año nuevo island is a cacophony of sound from stellar seals and sea lions. i first thought the sound was from the elephant seals, but then finally i turned my attention from the horizon and saw all these brown forms lying on the shore, with a few in the water and lots of sea gulls strutting about.

every once in a while one would lift it's head and bellow and then rest again. a few were lying further on the sand dune and would periodically use their flippers to hurl more sand over their bellies and backs.

the big dark dot that is closer to the bottom of the photo is an elephant seal, but look up past it to the left, in the center . . that is a sea otter!!! chanda spotted it and confirmed it when she got our binoculars back from some people to whom i had lent them for a moment. i am so thankful i remembered these bincoculars! they drove with us 2907 miles just for this momentous occasion!! (my sister made sure i had them with me too. in my last phone conversation with her at home she asked, "do you have your binoculars packed?" "yes!," i said, "they're in the bag and by the door!") we watched the otter eat and clean his or her whiskers for about fifteen or twenty minutes, and then it disappeared! we saw it resurface a few times, but then it was gone.

the park, also, had two telescopes which you could look through that were more powerful than the binoculars. between the two of them we had a good view. you could see how the otter's nose on the side wasn't as blunt looking as it appears when looked at straight on. sea otters are the heaviest members of the weasel family and aren't as friendly as they look. they're also the smallest sea mammel, and instead of thick skin for insulation, they have very thick fur which, according to wikipedia, is the densest in the animal kingdom.

now back to the elephant seals . . two of which had started  a brawl . . 

 waiting for me . . it was time to walk back to the car for the sandwiches for a late picnic lunch.

 beach bur-sage . . 

 but first we stopped at cove beach . . 

 it never ceases to amaze me at how much colder the pacific is. the arctic waters are traveling back down to the warmer waters of the equator. at home we have the gulf stream coming up that makes the water much warmer.

 so many of the stones have these very fine swirls of brown, white and black.

 these are gooseneck barnacles. they have a beautiful shiny, iridescent quality to them. these barnacles are different from the more common volcano-type barnacles in that they're attached to a stalk that has a thick skin. supposedly, this stalk is good to eat and tastes a bit like clams when steamed.

 there was an opening in the rock when we walked to the cliff-side . .

here's chanda's pic of it:

 greg took a rest by the side on a huge piece of driftwood . . 

finally time for the picnic . .

 it was the prettiest spot we've found on the trip so far.

 strawberries from swanton farm!

 passing pigeon point lighthouse on the way home . .

and montara state park . . 

and back on the freeway again just entering san francisco . . all seven lanes here.