Bunnies & Blossoms & Bears! Oh, my!!!

After reading my blogger friend Tanya's post yesterday about her lovely Sunday drive, I was inspired. Mr. Scottie Dog said we should spend the afternoon organizing a bunch of "stuff." I've worked hard all week and didn't want to go back to work tomorrow without having some rest and relaxation. So I suggested we have some fun. He thought that was a fine idea and when church was over he thought we could drive out to Dry Lagoon and check out the beach. We stopped for lunch at Los Bagels. Los Bagels makes the best bagels in the world. I kid you not! I usually get a Sesame Seed Bagel or a Slug with Slug Slime (a slug is a "straight" bagel) and Slug Slime is a topping that is a mixture of every kind of Bagel topping they have: sesame seeds, garlic, toasted onion, chopped garlic, poppy seeds, you get my drift. But I saw one today that was new to me: Parmesan Rosemary Bagels! YUM. I had mine with cream cheese, grated carrots and La'ruppin Dill Sauce. Oh, if you don't live here in Eureka, too bad. You can't get Los Bagels OR La'ruppin dill sauce. I don't remember what kind of bagel Mr. Scottie Dog had except he topped his with cream cheese and chopped black olives (about a cup!) and La'ruppin Dill.

Where we live on the far Northern Coast of California this is the first thing you see at the beach. Behind the sign at Dry Lagoon State Beach is this wonderful view. The ocean is directly to the left (I was actually surprised it didn't show in this photo).
We took a walk on the beach, found some cool rocks and sat on an enormous tree trunk piece of driftwood. Here's a shot of the ocean. It was warmer than it looks. So very relaxing.

We walked back up to the bluff to check out a gigantic rock formation and found another driftwood "couch" and sat some more. We both live pretty hectic lives and don't take much time to do "nothing." Ahhhhh, nothing was really something!

I love flowers...any kind of flowers. Big, small, red, blue, aromatic or not. I'm always checking out the flowers and Spring in Humboldt County never disappoints. Here are some wild strawberry blossoms growing right out of the sand.

Blue (purple) Lupin abound in our area. They grow wild. We saw fields of them today. Blue/purple, white, yellow...wonderful.....well there are those who would love to rid the county of all lupin. It was introduced from Europe to help stabilize the sand dunes and now covers hillsides near and far. I like them. In the midst of taking pictures of flowers a bunny crossed our path! A small, cute, brown bunny. I'm not sure I've ever seen a small wild bunny near the ocean in the 40 odd years I've live here. Bill saw a pair of them nearby and then later when we traveled up the coast a few miles we saw another one. So I guess they've been here all along!
Everywhere we went today, Dry Lagoon, Stone Lagoon, Big Lagoon, Orick and Prairie Creek State Park we saw a plant with very large leaves sending up huge stalks (3-6' and more!) with a flower that looked like Queen Anne's Lace on steroids. I looked it up when we got home and it was Cow Parsnips!
And last, but not least in the floral department is Skunk Cabbage. I've heard they smell terrible, but not in my experience. Friend Tanya saw White Skunk Cabbage on her drive, yellow is what grows here on the North Coast.
We left the lagoons and continued driving North. There was a field by the road with over 50 Roosevelt Elk! Another car had stopped. I bet they thought the elk stayed inside the fence. On our way back only a few remained in that field. The rest had meandered over the countryside.
Our last stop was at Prairie Creek State Park. A new exhibit told the story of the CCC building the Visitors' Center (originally the caretaker's lodge) in 1934. I know it has had a new roof several times since then, but this one has quite a crop of ferns and moss growing on it. Check out the roof of this phone booth too! No cell service here so a pay phone is a good idea.
As we drove south towards home we saw a black bear in the road. He wasn't happy to see us and ran down the road ahead of us for quite some time. Just when Mr. Scottie Dog said, "Get your camera!" He veered off into the underbrush. So my picture is from the Internet....but "our" bear looked just like this one!
Thank you Tanya for putting the idea of a drive in our heads.....we needed a rest and diversion. I highly recommend it for all.

Banana Slugs

One of the first things I noticed when I moved to the Northern California Redwood Coast were these yellow....things. Slugs, Banana Slugs to be specific. They are found in coastal forests (especially redwood forests) from southern Alaska to Santa Cruz, CA.I was raised in Southern California and we had snails. Ordinary garden snails. Pests, really. As a small child I delighted in stomping on them to hear the crunch or putting salt on them to see them foam. I know, I was heartless but then, so was every other kid in the neighborhood. The older ones showed us how. I bet they learned from their older siblings. But, I digress.

Banana Slugs are big, yellow, look like bananas and sometimes they have black spots that make them look like older bananas. They are big, did I say that? Not like the small black variety. I'd also never seen a slug before I moved here either, but a black slug and a banana slug are two different animals.

This one Bill found on the back patio was about 6" long. Fair sized. I've seen them nearly 10-12" long before. One of the weird things about them is that they can stretch out almost double their size. They secrete SLIME that is really gross. It sticks to you and cannot be washed off. It wears off. The best thing to do is to coat is with dirt and try to rub it off. Yuck! I've seen chickens & ducks eat them, but first they rub them in the dirt to coat the slime good.

Locally you can see the Slug Races at Prairie Creek State Park every Spring. Prairie Creek is one of our family's favorite picnic stop, hiking place and camping too. It's nice to be able to camp so close to home. Come visit us and we'll take you to see the most beautiful forests in the world...you'll probably see Banana Slugs, Roosevelt Elk, raccoon, and lots more.