A Sluggish Day & Van Damme Beach

Large slug at Agate Beach, CA

Have you ever had one of those days that never seems to end? I know many people that must be feeling that way today. Today is Thursday and people just want the weekend to be here already. However today is also February 2nd, Groundhog Day, and we are now being told that we are going to have six more weeks of winter. Will this winter never end?! In all honestly winter has not full arrived here so I guess this just means winter will arrive late.

Giant slug and my index finger. I have heard of bigger slugs but this one was huge. It was even bigger than it looked.

In any case here are some slugs! While we made the stop at Agate Beach near Mendocino, CA we saw some of the biggest slugs I have ever seen They were bigger than my fingers, and a lot more slimy. They were huddled in the dark, dampness of an opening in the rock near the water. There were so many of them as well. They were everywhere!

Though there were slugs we still enjoyed our time exploring what the waves had brought in. We saw the leftover lunches of many birds in the form of crab shells. I got the desire for crab with some butter, salt, and lemon. I must admit that the birds efficiently cleaned the crabs out so there was nothing left but empty shells.

Van Damme Beach with a stream that might be called Little River

I do love sea food... as long as it is cooked. On our way from Point Arena to Agate Beach we stopped while I took photos of Van Damme Beach. Van Dame Beach is located south of Mendocino  near Little River, CA. In fact I assume that this is where "Little River" drains into the ocean. It is a little river from the looks of it. But perhaps we just caught it on a "low" day. Even this "river" was a little sluggish thing that I hopped over to take my photos.

Large slug. This is its head. The slugs seem to have tiny little leg-feet like a centipede.

Point Arena

My last post was about San Francisco. This one is from farther up the California coast called Point Arena. There are something interesting things about Point Arena. This first thing is that Point Arena is the closest point on the continental United States to Hawaii. Personally I did not know that before, let alone about Point Arena. But the locals want everyone to know that it is the closest point to Hawaii. One of my favorite signs as we were nearing the light house was outside a little cafe which read, "Last cafe till Hawaii." That is a good bragging right you have to admit.

The second thing is that Point Arena has the highest lighthouse on the west coast. Wow! And when you go there you can go all the way to the top and get some great views! I did not get many shots of the lighthouse but I got many shots from the top of it. It was an important light house to in directing shipping. The Light house was rebuilt after it was damaged in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. It was damaged even though San Francisco is over 100 miles away. Never underestimate the power of mother nature. 

360 degree view from the top of the Point Arena Light House

Looking down the stairwell inside the Point Arena Light House

A pelican. Many would be at the level of the top of the light house or even below.

This is taken from the top of the lighthouse through a telescope.

The third point is that the movie Forever Young was filmed there. One thing from the movie that is still there is the gazebo. You can even go to the gazebo, walk around the area, have a picnic in the gazebo nearby if you would like. To drive in it cost us $10, but the money goes to the upkeep of the light house and grounds. That and it is worth every bit of it. Such a beautiful view from up there.

The gazebo.

Some of the local flora.

Some awesome trees just inland from the lighthouse. Panorama

Now for those of you that think photography is so easy I have this to say... the image below is the compilation of 52 photos I took. It took me more than 2 days to work out kinks, and get it presentable (though some of that is due to my computer) to get the panoramas you will see farther below. I just want you all to be able to catch a glimpse of the work involved and to be able to imagine how huge these things really are. This un-cropped version could be printed at high quality resolution and be 115 inches wide. Let that sink in. However I re-size my photos so I will have space to continue to show them all. I also do this for faster upload times for you.And so people will perhaps not steal my work for their gain.  :)

The 52 photo Panorama before copping, editing, adding things that aren't there, etc... but after having to make it all blended together after the computer took about an hour trying to put them together.

A long crop of the 52 photo panorama from atop the lighthouse looking inland.

Taller crop of the 52  photo panorama. Do you see things that were not there before?

Again the tall crop of the 52 photo panorama but with some things missing this time. You should be able to find at least some of the changes.

This is definitely a place I would suggest for you all to visit.  Enjoy these last photos. If you have questions please feel free to ask. (Ask about the CRAZIEST ROAD IN THE WORLD) If you have been here let me know what you thought of it.

My beautiful wife and the gazebo.

The beautiful wife with the light house in the background.

My beautiful wife and I decided to jump in too.

Another photo taken through a telescope from the top of the light house.