Half Moon Bay Beach State Park
The next stop in our exploration of California was Half Moon Bay Beach State Park. So back over the mountains, again, (🙄) to the beach just south of San Francisco. Of course, the temps dropped by about 30°- 40° (for those of you who don't memorize every word I write…it's ok. I know there are a few of you out there with other things to do, like lives, jobs, children, grandchildren, fur babies, etc, but that means it was in the 50°s-60°s), was overcast and even rained on us a couple of days. You know, great beach weather! Haha. Well at least it was ok exploring weather, you just had to "layer". Haha.
One day we went on a long bike ride exploring the coast, another day we drove along the coast stopping to explore interesting places including a couple of cool hikes and a stop at Pigeon Point Light.
This was also the time in our trip when we carved out a couple of extra days to go back to Monterey to spend at the aquarium. I could easily go on and on about the aquarium, but as I mentioned before, I was so impressed by it that it will get its very own blog, which, spoiler alert, will be the next one!
On to pics…
A few of the sites/sights on our bike ride.
a great white heron
Soaking up the sun (what there was of it!)
One of California's "happy cows"
Pasture with a view
Biking through a wood
(by the way, do you think the wind blows from right to left, ocean to land?) Haha.
crashing surf
Pics from hikes:
we hiked along some dunes, rocky bluffs and finally back down to the shore
an arch
and back to the shore
A velella velella or as commonly known, a "by-the-wind" or "by-the-wind-sailor".
It was originally classified as a type of jellyfish, but later determined to be a hydroid (hydroids, I'm sure you're all dying to know … are in the same group as jellyfish and anemones). This one is pretty much dried out, but when they are just "beached" they are all blue except for the translucent sail which allows them to skim over the water. Fascinating creatures in our oceans!
I love the sculptural carving of the wind and water on the rock and sand.
This is called tafoni, and is caused by a process called "cavernous weathering". A combination of the salt spray and wind on the stone, (siltstone, mudstone and sandstone of the pigeon point formation). The soft sandstone creates the best or most interesting tafoni.
The light at Pigeon Point
Sorry, please indulge me, pelicans flew by …
Another hike was through some meadows with wildflowers before we arrived at the bluffs overlooking the sea.
And who is that handsome man hiking through the meadow?
Why, he's my husband ❤️
Clover
varieties of Paintbrush
Lupines
and by the sea, tide's out and the heron is searching for a meal,
while the seal is keeping watch.
I thought of the seals as "friendly" because they seemed more timid and certainly less boisterous and fractious than the sea lions. But I don't really know... They certainly seemed to enjoy sunbathing.
I think this guy was working on his planks and he even smiling about it (or maybe it's a grimace) 😂
While this guy is just worried that the incoming surf is going to come up over the rock he's on. After all, the temp of the ocean is about 50°F. That feels especially chilly when you've been basking in the sun. Haha!
Next blog: Monterey Aquarium
Next stop after that: Samuel P Taylor SP, just north of San Francisco.
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