Patrick took the third week in October off to use up some of his accumulated vacation time to meet friends in Missouri/Arkansas for a climbing trip (he'll post a blog about that soon). I was not able to go, but I was able to take Friday the 19th off for an extended getaway weekend in Santa Cruz. Our friend, Sarah, invited me over for a girls' weekend, and I think we did it up pretty well!
An organic apple orchard owned by Cal Poly is up the main road near Sarah's house. It was nearing the end of the season and approaching closing time, so we had the you-pick place to ourselves. Picking apples in the tucked-away wooded valley, with a crisp temperature and fading sunlight, made it feel more like a Midwest fall.
A great haul and beautiful harvest!
Later that night we visited a tiny nearby town to see two Celtic-rock type bands, 'Brother' and 'Tempest'. I wasn't used to dancing to that, but the music was pretty entrancing, so we couldn't help but spend most of the time on the dance floor.
The next day we used two free tickets to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, courtesy of Justin's (Sarah's husband) boss who is a member/donor.
The aquarium does an expert job illuminating the tanks and creating an engaging experience. This circle-shaped room had a tank around the whole ceiling with a giant school of shimmering fish circling overhead.(Unfortunately, the video quality was reduced to crap when I uploaded it, but maybe you can still imagine the effect.)
A lot of the birds were "refugees" recuperating from injuries- we saw some hopping around on one foot.
Stunning colors and textures!
Just like a painting- it was magnificent natural art.
The seahorse exhibit was fascinating- they are cute, bizarre, and legendary all in one. I really enjoyed this colorful, dragon-like one.
Jellyfish aren't something I ever thought much of except in a negative context. Turns out there are some absolutely exquisite varieties that when lit up and displayed as they were in the aquarium, were astounding. I felt like I was in a 360-degree x-ray machine in this room. :)
It's amazing the amount of detail and texture there appears to be on these mobile slime blobs!
There was a button you could push to turn the light out on the tank to see how difficult it would actually be to spot these guys in the water. You forget while window shopping here, that you used to find these guys scary, but the loss of visibility reminded me momentarily- it would be easy to run into their stingers without warning!
Their swimming is pretty entrancing as well. The rippling effect of the tentacles is quite beautiful, like silk ribbon or chiffon manipulated by a dancer's graceful movements.
Sarah noticed that every now and then, you'd find one or two of these guys that appeared to be bouncing right on point with the music! :)
I watched two jellyfish in a different tank to see if when they swimmed in opposite directions, they'd be pulled back toward one another, or a tentacle would rip off. But the appendages just slipped loose and they were on their merry way!
Looks like it needs some Clear Eyes. :)
I can totally see why blown glass is the right medium to portray them.
We spent enough time pouring over these and other creatures (like sharks, tuna, penguins) that we closed out the place, and then we spent a little more time ducking into shops on the way back to the car. By the time we drove back to SC, picked up groceries for dinner and popped in our movie, it was pretty late. Sarah worked on prepping apple pie as we watched the tube, but it was about 2am when we finally ate a piece. I went to bed at nearly 3am. A true sleepover, like I hadn't done in years, in good fashion for a girls' weekend!
This seemed like a great perch to spot Peter Pan. Or perfect placement of a treehouse, for the more practical thinker. :)
When my mom and one of my sisters visited, I told them about the vampiric albino redwood at this park that I had read about. They looked all over for it and hiked the loop a couple times before finding this little ashen sprout. As usual, external appearance shouldn't be all there is to the cool factor!
Patrick and I have posted a picture of a banana slug in the past, but I couldn't help refreshing your memories!
After spending the rest of the day shopping in downtown SC, I headed back to Merced pretty late, arriving at about 11 at night. I would have left earlier but Patrick's flight was canceled and delayed a whole day, so I decided I might as well take advantage of the extra time I was given before my weekend ended. :)
1 comment:
I am so glad that Sarah made sure you had a fun get-away weekend too. It looks like it was amazing. I love that red basket with the apples...it made such a pretty picture. Also, I really enjoyed the short movie clips. They really gave life to some amazing photos. Very fun to look at.
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