Monday Meanderings - Special Tuesday Edition

That's right folks, we did so much meandering this past week we have to have two installments.

I mentioned that you needed jackets to walk the beach in Santa Cruz. Early morning temperatures were in the low 50's - quite chilly. So on the way to breakfast I was surprised to see a group of young people across the street from our motel stripping out of warm clothing down to their bikinis (or Speedos, in some cases). Then they struggled to squeeze into wet suits so that they could go have a surfing lesson. The instructor had his wet suit partially on already and demonstrated the Michal Phelps look for the class.

Then they all trotted off to surf. Later, upon return, they all stripped out of the wet suits (much harder to get off than on, evidently) and showered off under a garden hose at the surf shop - still in the low 50's. You really have to want to surf under those conditions.

We had a traveling companion on this trip - Emily - the name bestowed on the persistent, if polite, voice of the GPS in Julie's car. Let me just say it up front. Emily has issues. I have maintained this to be the case since Emily urged me to turn left into an empty, muddy field on a previous visit. I should point out that it was dark, and I could not see that it was an empty, muddy field, but Emily should have been able to determine that. Every one pooh-poohs my contention that Emily led me astray on this occasion, telling me that I misunderstood her wishes. When I asked the boys to back me up, Jacob just said, "All I know is that the car sure was muddy when we got home."

But I was vindicated on this trip. Emily gave us the equivalent of a GPS raspberry by taking us on a grand tour of Watsonville, full circle in rush hour traffic when a simple right-hand turn would have been sufficient. Either that, or Emily has been suborned by the Chambers of Commerce of towns that we passed through to guide us only on the scenic and grand tour.

Sea lions are a big attraction at Monterey Bay, though I'm not sure why. They are awfully noisy and can be quite aggressive, if approached. And did you know that if you encounter an injured sea lion, as we did, there is a number to call (289-SEAL) and someone will come with cages and stretcher-type boards to rescue it and take it away for care?

And no, there's nothing wrong with these sea lions - they just naturally bend their necks like that. And lie on top of each other.

They were having a fine auto auction at the Bay. Now by fine, I'm talking expensive. These are not cars that you drive down to the beach and line up and let folks kick the tires. The place was overrun with huge auto transporters - enclosed 18 wheeler vans that haul one or two cars at a time. And the cars were all behind fences and you had to register (and put up a $10,000 bond!!! to become a bidder) plus pay $100 to get a catalog so you could make appointments to see any cars that you were interested in. Since we were flying back, I didn't bid this trip.

And if you are curious about why there is something in the foreground of this picture, you can ask my wife and she will be able to say "I told him that you can't trust that view finder." Again.

Tomorrow: More Monterey Bay!