Pt. Reyes weekend

Some friends and I spent a 3 day weekend at Pt. Reyes, a part of the state I had previously, and unfortunately, neglected. We stayed at a cute little place on Tomales Bay called the Motel Inverness. Here's the view from the motel across a bird sanctuary:

We were treated to some gorgeous weather. Here's the view from near the Pt. Reyes lighthouse:

I didn't have time to knit, but I did find a little yarn store in Pt. Reyes Station. My friends say I have the magical ability to find yarn stores everywhere. :-)

Here are some very small things I saw:

The top fungusy landscape was right near the motel. The pretty red 'shroom on the bottom was a few miles away, near the Bear Valley Visitor Center. It's growing just a few feet from the San Andreas fault.

And here are some very large things I saw:

Click on this to see a better view of the large blobs on the beach, which are actually elephant seals (I wish I had a telephoto lens!). I'd never seen them in person before. They are impressively big, and make lots of really loud noises. One of them had just had a baby a few minutes before we arrived, so got to watch the gulls fight over the afterbith (mmm! placenta!) and the new mom and pup nuzzle each other for the first time. Incredibly cute. There were telescopes set up so we had a pretty good look.

We didn't see any whales, but did see tons of deer and a herd of tule elk. And lots of birds, including a hummer who kept buzzing my head because I was sitting too close to his feeder, and a large variety of waterfowl. And one plant managing to flower on some pretty challenging terrain:

I don't think I say it often, so I will now: I feel incredibly lucky to live in California!