Homeward Bound--My Walk Pt. 2

I started walking home along the beach, and saw a lot of neat things. The waves were coming in and creating mist, and there were very few people--and the people there were tended to be jogging.

I love how this paw-print looks like it's coming out instead of being an imprint in the sand (which it was).

We recently had some rain, which came with rain and high waves (some people even were swept out to sea--sadly, one woman died.) This is a kelp holdfast that was washed ashore! Pretty impressive--it's hard to tell the size from the photo, but it was maybe as long as my arm.

I was even lucky enough to find some shells! This one was the largest. I brought them home with me. :)

I saw several of these sad little dead sunfish--I remember they told us at the aquarium once that their fins are one of the few parts of their bodies that predators can eat, so they'll end up dying fin-less. The ones I saw were actually small, as sunfish go--maybe a foot long.

I also found many jellyfish--the first time I've ever seen them washed ashore. They really do look like jelly!

I nudged a couple with my foot (which actually gave me the willies!), then texted my husband to tell him I'd done so. He said "If there's no pictures, it didn't happen." So I had to find some more to nudge.

And I even took some video! Pretty good proof, I think!

Down To the Boardwalk-- My Walk Part 1

Yesterday, I decided to go on a walk, going up toward Seaside instead of down toward Pacific Grove, which is the way I usually go. There was a boardwalk near the Naval Post-Graduate School that I wanted to investigate--and I took my camera along to take pictures along the way! In fact, I took so many pictures, I decided I'd better divide the post up into two parts.

The first part of my walk, I headed down toward Fisherman's Wharf--because it's close by and it's a good place to get onto the coastline trail. :)

I didn't go down the touristy part of the wharf this time--been there, done that, and wasn't really interested in it. Besides--I had a goal, right?

There are a lot of boats by the wharf (no surprise there), some of which people actually live in (we used to know a family who did, before they moved to their next military posting).

I walked down the path, and soon reached what the locals know is the true Fisherman's Wharf--the place where fishermen actually work and take out their boats from (and raise abalone for the restaurants nearby). I walked down the wharf, saw several fishermen fishing off the sides, some with fishing poles, but one with some line and an old energy drink can. (I wonder if he ever catches anything that way...) I also saw a commercial type fishing boat or two.

Then, I continued down the path. Apparently, this is not the time of year to go swimming in our cold cold cold ocean (though some people obviously didn't care about bacteria).

"Are you sure this water's sanitary? What about bacteria?" (Tantor, in Disney's Tarzan)

There are a lot of protected dunes in the area, and a ton of these cool-looking trees.

The trail is built where the train tracks for the fisheries used to be--and still are... kinda.

Obviously, the tracks haven't been used in years.

This is one of the oddest sights I saw. We live in an area with palm trees--it is the California coast, after all--so what is the reasoning behind THIS?

Now, since it's hard to see the detail in that picture, I took three others:

Fake palm trees??? WHY???? I really am mystified by this one!

Finally, I reached... THE BOARDWALK! WOOHOO!

I climbed the steps and found... the ocean! (Surprise, surprise!)

So, I decided to walk home along the beach! Pictures from that are to come!