Midday, Sunset State Beach
cool, breezy, gray skies with an occasional breakthrough by the sun - a nice change from the 100+ heat of the valley these past couple weeks
First thing we notice is strange blue creatures washed up on the beach - the kids notice the resemblance to man-o-wars so we dub them blue jellies and decide to avoid stepping on them - just in case.
In our excitement we head off on a walk down the beach right away. Blue jellies are there the whole way.
We come back to our spot with a bucket of lovely finds:
a big flat rock, grey with gold spotches; a closed up clam to be thrown back into the surf; two whole sand dollars, one still with the "fur" on it; a whole crab somehow overlooked by seagulls; and a variety of shell and peices of sells.
We also find a very large beetle washed up and much the worse for the wear near 'our spot' for the day, who knows what distand land he's from?
A good three inches in length, his wings and legs much damaged, he ends up on his back after only being able to propel himself in circles.
The gulls must be well-fed: first we find the big beetle, then three whole small crabs washed up on the beach - all would seem to be good eating.
Later: feels cooler, the tide is coming in. Many of the blue jellies have dried to only leave their clear sails. I take the Mamiya for a nice walk downt he beach and return to find the kids deep in a hole they've been digging all day.
(A later trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium teaches us that our "blue jellies" are really "by-the-wind sailors", a relative of the jellies.)
