Saturday, February 3, 2018

A Capitola Weekend

We took a break from winter last week and spent a few days in Capitola, California.  It wasn't a lot warmer than Reno, but it was a LOT greener.
The first day we visited Henry Cowell State Park and took a drizzly walk through the redwoods.


The coastal redwoods are the tallest trees in the world. Calvin standing by the tree gives a little perspective on their size

A story is told that John Fremont once slept in the burned out base of this tree where Calvin is peaking in the entrance.

It looks like you could almost keep dry in here on a rainy day.

The next day we took an elephant seal tour at Año Nuevo State park. It is a pretty location with an abandoned light house on Año Nuevo Island just off shore.


A great place for a walk

 Elephant seals were nearly hunted to extinction, but they seem to be making a pretty good revival, coming back from less than 100 in 1910 to a population of 150,000 today.  January is their birthing and breeding season so they come ashore in great numbers.

The small black pups sometimes get run over by adult seals who are just passing by.

The males are big and very territorial. They weigh as much as an SUV.

Now for a National Geographic moment:
This male is warning others off his turf.



And these males are fighting it out.


We finished the day walking through Capitola and out onto the pier.  A great place to spend a winter weekend.

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