At first, I was a wee bit disappointed. What's there to see if everything is covered in sea grass? Nothing! Slimy, slick, nothing. Apparently I was feeling a bit pessimistic that morning. That did not last long. Nor will this blog. I've go lots of catching up to do!
Just a few of the sea plants available for viewing... There were also sea palms and calcareous algae; the pink almost coral-like plant.
What's that? A purple sea urchin? No way! That's pretty radical...
Ohh neat more sea urchins!
Hey there are a lot of them...
Like a whole lot. To the point that they might be excluding other tidal life. Hm.
These particular echinoderms have little suckers, like their other echinoderm cousins, seastars and sand dollars. The suckers latch onto passing debris or whatever they can get to cling to. They feed mostly on algae or whatever they scrape up, the 'mouth' being on the attached bottom side.
There were as ever, some more chitons...
Black Katy and Lined, and... drum-roll please!
The Giant Pacific Chiton (Cryptochiton stelleri), also called the Gumboot chiton, no doubt because its as large as your shoe. I thought it was dead.
Otherwise I would not have touched it.
This industrious snail...
Would like you to support the snails. I think this is funny. You might not.
Another isopod! Yay!
Brilliant little Potentilla brightening the beach, an oyster catcher, and what do you know, some cheery Mimulus!
You're probably dreaming giant green anemones by now... The color is so striking, it sucks me in every time.
There were signs all over about how you oughtn't approach or disturb the seals... When I see these signs I get a little sad because I've never really seen the animal the signs prohibit you from interacting with.
But what do you know...
From far away, I dismissed it as a log floating in the the tide. Until it poked up it's head.
Not just one either.... Lots of harbor seals! I was very very very giddy. It was precious. I squealed with glee, multiple times.
They became aware of my presence...
They came over to investigate...
They quickly got bored with me and went their way.
They're so damn cute!!!! I'm sorry if that sounds wildly feminine, but too bad.
And we can't forget the beautiful land/seascape.
This is why its "Devil's Punchbowl", the arch above leads into this bowl(below), where another arch lets in sea water. Doubtless its quite dramatic at high tide in a storm, but its pretty bland with the tide barely coming in.
Splendid ancient root structure
An overlook, the very middle being the Punchbowl area. A lovely time was had, to be sure. Now on again on again, lickity split!
Two days after the nasty little bee incident I took some time to sit in the warmth (though not the sun) outside at a table and work on my latest crafty project. After drowsing off, waking to find sun creeping up on me, and moving a few times I decided if I wanted a nap, I should just get inside where the sun couldn't chase me. This is relevant because... see when I stood up I was delivered a sharp searing pain to the kneecap. Hissing (one cannot curse while visiting Significant Other's parents, its bad form) in pain I happened to catch a glimpse of the culprit. Flitting under the table in a maddened frenzy was some sort of yellow coated wasp. No doubt I had disturbed it which my sudden decision to stand, and it was defending it's territory.
Lucky for me, I wasn't helping care-take a 3 year old as I had been when I got stung, and was able to employ some more effective responsive tactics: baking soda paste on the wound, ice pack, knock off Benadryl. And you know what. Its freaking fine! The bee sting is still itchy as a cluster of mosquito bites, but the wasp bite is just fine.
Brandon's stepdad was kind enough to suggest that these things happen in threes. No. I'm done.
Anyway....
Going back in time again.
While Living in Salem I received a care package from my family, which included (among other things) $19 from my mother in 5's and 1's. There was a little sticky note stuck to it that read something like 'get thee to the market'. Yep that's my mother. The next day of my little trip, I stopped in Corvallis to peruse the Farmer's Market, and I found some delectable treats.
Scrumptious tomatoes, mushrooms, berries, glorious flowers... Just what you want in a Farmer's Market.
Rather proud of my willpower, I'm not very good at saying no when it comes to delicious fruits.
My real goal was to go hike around on Mary's Peak, the highest peak in the Coastal Range in Oregon. Too bad for me, I was limping from scrabbling around on the dunes the previous day, so I didn't hike much. But that didn't stop me from seeing the flowers...
Here's a nice little cricket on some Starry False Lily of the Valley (What a mouthful! I like Maianthemum stellatum better!).
Load of gorgeous Penstemons all over the place.
Nature bouquets, all over. The closer to the peak I got, the more flowers I saw.
Some Ceratsium and Delphinium, larkspurs always make me squeal with glee. They're such elegantly silly shaped flowers.
More of the same, and whats this? A new lily? Why yes! Erythronium oregonum, Oregon Fawn Lily,doesn't have a solitary flower like other fawn lilies I've seen so far.
Who can say no to some hairy Indian paintbrush? Probably Castilleja hispida
Mama Nature knows all about complimentary primary colors...
Phlox is just nice. A cute little cluster of flowers.
Xerophyllum tenax better known as bear grass, was just beginning to bloom, much to the delight of some pretty insects (and myself).
On the drive up the mountain there were hundreds, possibly thousands of the marvelous irises (Iris tenax). Damn grand if I do say so myself.
From the top of Mary's Peak on a clear day you can see straight to the ocean, not to mention several of the more notable peaks in the Cascades. I'm not great with mountains, but while eavesdropping I was led to believe you could see Mts Bachelor, Hood, St Helens, Adams, the Three Sisters and a few others.
Best I could do....
The time not spent muttering to myself about flowers and mountains was chiefly consumed by trying to get a decent picture of the just ONE of the dozens of Fritillaries flitting about. I momentarily saw a little hummingbird.
Got sidetracked by these Blues that look an aweful lot like Fender's.... but are a different subspecies I suspect.
But I got it! While meandering down from the peak I spotted on landing on a strawberry blossom, and it was still long enough to capture it's minute soul (multiple times) with my top notch camera! Ha!
My goal for the next day was to go to a new beach and investigate what the tide pools might offer. So I drove down the mountain, out to the coast and camped. If you were previously unaware, my truck's name is Bucky, and he's a mighty fine little beast. If you look at him straight on he looks a little animal-like: Headlights are eyes, bumper is a mouth, sideview mirrors are little ears.... you get the picture, its highly irrelevant.
There was a beach quite close to hand where I camped, so I resolved to sit and read until the sun set. It required resolve you see, because it was QUITE windy.
So bundled in most of the clothes I had brought with me, I sat on the beach, tried to read, and drank wine. Sounds like a romantic movie right? Well... it was a little too windy for that nonsense.
In case you think I'm overselling the whole wind thing...
It was pretty, there's no denying that.
But lo, the sun finally set, and I scurried back to my cozy truck bed to sleep.
There were as ever, some more chitons...
Brilliant little Potentilla brightening the beach, an oyster catcher, and what do you know, some cheery Mimulus!
