Technically, we dipped our feet in the Pacific Ocean before seeing the Golden Gate Bridge, but the picture of us dipping our toes in the water was stuck on Dad's phone, as I had forgotten to ask him to text it to me. However, this allows me to compile all our adventures on the beach into one post.
 |
| Dipping our toes in the Pacific! |
 |
| The Beach. It was cloudy and cold, and vaguely reminded me of the Atlantic in November. Brr! (I miss Camp Sunburn) |
 |
| Timber likes the beach, especially after being cooped up in the city for a while. |
We eventually came to the town of Point Reyes, just outside of the National Seashore. It was a cute little beach town with a good main street. As Mom, Dad, and Karen went into the grocery store I went into the book store. It was the perfect little small town bookstore with both used and new books lining the shelves. The woman who worked there seemed to have her regular customers whom she shared book recommendations and chatted with. Thankfully, my family typically takes a long time in the grocery store so I had plenty of time to browse, finally buying a t-shirt, an italian dictionary, and a book a friend recommended to me!
From Books to Beach! Despite the lighthouse being closed to visitors on Wednesdays (We visited on a Wednesday), we still drove down to the lighthouse. The road was through historic cattle ranches, and the pens (which only had three sides) went right up to ocean. The road ended about a third of a mile before the lighthouse point, which we then walked. Unfortunately, it was rather foggy down by the ocean.
 |
| Driving through the cattle ranches. |
 |
Sometimes Timber and I take artsy selfies.
|
 |
| Demonstrating the fog, this was my best picture of the lighthouse. |
 |
| Truffala Tree flowers! |
 |
| Juniper tree growing out of the rock! |
Later, we stopped at Portuguese Beach to let Timber run for a bit. It was still miserably cold. Apparently, the prime beach season in Northern California is much earlier in the year.
These bizarre blue creatures have been washing up on the beaches of Northern California. They are called
Velella velella, or commonly, By-the-wind-sailors. The Velalla is the cousin to the jellyfish, and floats on the top of the ocean, traveling at the mercy of the winds. Scientists know little about these creatures other than that they are not exclusive to California, having been seen in warmer parts of the ocean. It is also known that they are carnivores feasting off of plankton, using thin tentacles which reach under the surface of the water to catch their food. Few creatures prey upon the Velalla, except for certain sea slugs and water-bound snails. It is not unusual for these creatures to float up on the shore, however, this year they are tardy in their arrival, as they typically wash up upon the beaches earlier in the season. Scientists do not know why they are late in arriving this year.
 |
| Dad and Timber playing together. |
Ciao!
Amy
Hello Amy and family,
ReplyDeleteI have been trying to catch up on your blog as I have been having internet problems at home lately. I have found your commentary educational, witty, and once again reminding me of my past travels and wishing to be there again. As hard as it is for pictures to do justice yours have done well to capture the natural beauty of the land! Nice job!
I did miss you all at Mt. Carmel this year; however I did have a fried dough or two in your honor and ran into Fran who said he was putting one in the freezer for you! Personally, I think you could find a warm one out there in California somewhere which I’m sure will be much better than the frozen one.
Thank you again for continuing to entertain and educate us with your blog! Keep up the good work.
Love,
Uncle Chris
Good Morning Amy! Today I am on vacation again too, only I am going to work... but it's going to rain today so I decided to work (see earlier post about evaporated water from Lake Tahoe). I feel the same way about northern CA in August - BRRRR!! When we went a couple of years ago I was so excited to get there, go shopping in Union Square, buy some bathing suits (I figured there would be millions of them in CA) and go for a swim in the Pacific Ocean. Instead, there were no bathing suits but Aleigh bought a cute North Face jacket because they had plenty of those!! As you and I now know, the water is frigid there - it's an ocean only a bunch of sharks, and those funny looking blue things you photographed, could love (another reason the swimming is not so great!) However, in Santa Monica, the ocean was pretty and warm, but that's south and you headed more north so no beach for you until you come back to Camp Sunburn.
ReplyDeleteWe loved the little town of Point Reyes too!! We went into the General Store for a bunch of stuff but we did not go into the book store - now I wish we had. Did you take the 308 steps down to the lighthouse, even though it was closed? We did and it was quite the workout!!
I love the Truffala Tree Flowers - and I love the name too - very fancy!
Finally, I'm a little disappointed there are no pictures of your Mom dressed as a sea slug so now I have no idea what those look like... what kind of educational blog is this? Of course, I haven't checked Karen's blog yet and she seems to share those peculiar and perplexing pictures so maybe there's still hope! HAHA!
Have a great day today wherever you may be! Love, Auntie Pam xoxoxoxo
Hi Amy, The Captain of Camp Sunburn and the sun worshiper members miss you and Karen. They have inquired about you several times. They are looking forward to seeing you soon. Book store was a great find . Perfect place for you to spend time. Much more enjoyable than grocery shopping. Did they by more sour dough bread? The ocean fog has made its way to R.I. Along with 5' to 8' surf. The tree flowers are very pretty. Blue ocean creatures were waiting for you. That's why they were late this year. As beautiful as the ocean is, there are some things we would rather not have around. Hard to tell who is having more fun. Dad or Timber, looks about equal. Love, Beach Grandma
ReplyDelete