Catastrophic Molt

We visited Ano Nuevo State Park to observe the Elephant Seals as the come on shore for their annual catastrophic molt. In case you're wondering,

Human beings shed hair and skin all the time, but elephant seals go through a catastrophic molt, in which the entire layer of epidermis with the hairs attached is sloughed off in one concentrated time. The reason for this abrupt molt is that while at sea they spend most of their time in cold deep water. As part of the dive process the blood is diverted away from the skin. This helps them conserve energy and avoid losing body heat. By coming up on land to molt the blood can be circulated to the skin so a new layer of epidermis and hair can be grown.

-from http://www.bigsurcalifornia.org/elephant-seals.html

One of the best parts of this visit is we were able to walk near the Elephant Seals without being on a guided walk, meaning we could spend as long as we wanted with our favorite pinnipeds. We were also fortunate enough to see all four of California's pinniped species: we saw Elephant Seals, California Sea Lions, Stellar Sea Lions and Harbor Seals as well as several Sea Otters.

From Ano Nuevo and others

From Ano Nuevo and others

From Ano Nuevo and others

San Francisco Sourdough

In case you're wondering, Candida milleri, Saccharomyces exiguus, Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis and I have been collaborating to make some hella good sourdough. You have to visit to taste (if you're lucky, you'll get some sauerkraut, home brew and farmhouse cheddar as well).

 
 

Point Reyes Bike Trip

For our long weekend, we joined our friends for an overnight bike trip from San Francisco to Point Reyes Station.  The wind was cold, and the hills were long, but we saw Sir Francis Drake Blvd in a whole new light, and had a great time trekking from the city, to the country, and back.

 
 
 
 

From Point Reyes Bike Trip

Finally it's summertime!

B2B

We ran Bay to Breakers this weekend. A fun time.

Before we start...our group:
 

A cool down before the Hayes Hill:
 

O hits the GG Park with a giant swine flu
 

Ahh...we made it to the Breakers!
 

Triathelete!!

Olivia competed in the Napa Valley Sprint Triathlon last weekend. Despite some unseasonal rain she did great (check bib #65)!

From Olivia triathalon

From Olivia triathalon

From Olivia triathalon

From Olivia triathalon

From Olivia triathalon

From Olivia triathalon

From Olivia triathalon

From Olivia triathalon

Yosemite!

Last weekend we went to Yosemite National Park. It was pretty awesome.

From Yosemite

From Yosemite

We saw coyotes,

From Yosemite

bears (what, you can't see it??? well, there's a 150 pound bear in this photo!),

From Yosemite

avalanches,

From Drop Box

flowers,

From Yosemite

bees,

From Yosemite

trees,

From Yosemite

stairs,

From Yosemite

waterfalls,

From Yosemite

and rainbows.

From Yosemite

It was hot!

From Yosemite

But we managed to stay cool.

From Yosemite

Thanks John Muir,

From Yosemite

for saving such an amazing place.

From Yosemite

Peeking

Holy Seattle rainbow!

Like a blog, except real life

On Saturday night we went to the Intersection for the Arts where we attended Migdalia Valdes' opening of Every Day in Black and White.  Migdalia decided over 10 years ago to take at least one photo every day and to record those photos and other things she's found.  Its a lot like a blog, except that she uses film.  And paper.  And books.  So her house is pretty full of stuff.  It was a really interesting show, we're very glad we made it. 

 
 

Presidio

This weekend we woke to warm and sunny mornings with minimal planned events.  On Saturday I opened the map of San Francisco and looked for spaces we hadn't explored and noticed The Presidio, a large green space in the NW corner of the city.  We'd ridden our bikes through, and walked around this park a little, but hadn't really walked around all the new trails.  The Presidio has an interesting history, ya'll can read about it somewhere else.  It is also the home of Lucas Arts, which explains the Ewoks we saw on our walk. We also saw some beautiful wildflowers.