[25:365] a visit to ano nuevo

a first for us! just north of where we live is an area of reserve that elephant seals come fight, mate and give birth for about three months out of the year. we took a tour with seven other friends. our docent was the youngest docent in the california state parks system; he and his mom tag-teamed the guide. they told us, "stay together, keep quiet, and remain at least 25 feet away from the elephant seals." they can charge 25 feet in three seconds. 3 seconds! you read that right, yikes, not a whole lot of time to move out of the way. phoenix stayed pretty close to me and often rode on my back, i could understand why, i wanted to ride on some one's back, those beasts were huge! their sounds were big, their bodies were big and their energy was big. it was a little frightening, in the best way possible. look it up, there aren't too many places this happens, and it was less than an hour drive from our home. lucky us. elephant seals spend about 80% of their life swimming and diving and eating. the beasts were everywhere, around every corner and bellowing. apparently the seals weren't very active while we were visiting which i was glad for on our first tour. we are hoping to go back with eric soon on a rainy early morning preferably, that's when they are most active, fighting and birthing and moving around. we arrived for our tour before our friends with quite a bit of time to spare so we had a picnic filled with salad, cucumber, tamales, carrots and seaweed. we enjoyed eating & people watching. we also had the opportunity to inform a woman of the toilet paper hanging out the back of her pants. it was the least we could do considering she was one of the leaders with a group of almost jr. highers and we would have wanted someone to tell us. do unto others, right? she said "you're awesome." no, you're awesome toilet paper lady, you gave me the chance of quick deliberation with my girls and an opportunity for a spontaneous act of kindness, as well as, a silly sight we won't soon forget i'm sure. the friends we toured with are the best kind, so the day was filled with laughter, sharing of awe, great conversation and good times had by all. take a peek!