Point Reyes National Seashore, CA

I love ...

National Seashores.  I mean, how cool is that, to have the foresight to protect and preserve the rugged and beautiful coastline?

The boys enjoyed it, too.

First stop, a ranger-led walk through a Coastal Miwok Village.  We were the only people there and had the freedom ask plenty of questions ... which we always do.  We learned a lot about acorns and how they were soaked to get the tannins out before eating them -- and that those are the same tannins that you taste in wine aged in oak barrels.  Makes sense.  You guys probably already know that; I -and certainly the boys -- did not.  Of course, we had to try an acorn.  It was a bit on the tannic side.

The ranger was full of information as they always are, and we felt richly rewarded for our time spent.  We also had the privilege of going inside the Miwork Sweatlodge and learned about how it is used today.

We walked through a forest to get to the village and so there was some traditional branch pulling, too. At least, it is a tradition in our family.  

The boys have a kind of primitive calling when we walk through a forest and are suddenly and overwhelmingly compelled to find a branch or perhaps a small fallen tree to tow behind them.  That is followed by a fair amount of arguing about whose branch it is, who has the biggest branch, who saw which branch first, why does so-and-so always get the biggest branch, and where might one might find another branch as large.  

Once that is sorted out, and everyone is happy with their branch, the branch dragging races begin.  Branch spinning.  Branch sliding.  Branch falling.  Branch throwing sometimes, but not often for obvious reasons.

Second stop, a run down to the amazing coastline.

We were hoping to see whale spouts off in the distance, but it was a bit early yet for the gray whales to be migrating.  Later.  You can spend forever there, mesmerized by the great expanse of ocean and sandy shoreline ... or, if you have the energy, just running up and down the trails.

The guys had an awesome time climbing the bay laurels and finding little cubbies to squeeze into.

That's far enough! 

Perfect tree bed.

Can you find the boy?

We walked the Earthquake Trail which was a short, but informative little walk atop the San Andreas Fault Line.  That was pretty cool.  I kept waiting for a shimmy, but nope; nothing was stirring on that day.

There were fence posts marking the fault line.  There was also a reproduction of fence that was one fence before the 1906 earthquake and two fences with a 16 foot gap between them after the tremendous quake.  The quake was short, 45-60 seconds, and mighty measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale.

The fence with the 16 foot gap as a result of the 1906 earthquake.

Lighthouse?  Check.  All 300 stairs of it.

Elephant seal lookout? You bet!  We love those noisy guys with the chunky noses!  This is actually what they call a haul out.  Young and adolescent elephant seals who have weaned from the mothers, haul out of the water and hang out on the beach with their age mates for maturation (or to get ready to become sexually reproductive) and safety from those who think they'd make a delectable lunch.  Kind of like people teenagers hanging on the beach; smaller noses, but no less noisy.

Hiked to Limantour Beach at Drake Bay.  As always, a pleasure.  No branches.  Clay rocks this time. Throwing them at a telephone pole and other smaller targets.  We couldn't proceed until everyone had hit it at least once.  As we got better, the ante got higher.

Running, wading, digging, heaping, throwing.  There's no end to the possibilities at the beach.

They weren't too happy when they discovered there was a parking lot at the beach, and they realized we could have driven there instead of hiked.  Honestly, I feel certain I told them, but maybe I didn't. 

A mom has to do what a mom has to do.

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