Late Night Adventure at Montana Del Oro
(sorry, for some reason lj wont let me cut when there's pictures)
So, last night Bryan and I visited Montana Del Oro. Why? Why not! We ate In and Out on the way up, and it was good We got off the 101 at Oso Valley and headed toward the ocean, it was wicked foggy. I had to drive 20 mph to make sure I didn't hit a deer or take a wrong turn and end up at the bottom of a cliff. One good thing about the fog is it was quite easy to hide my car from the rangers.
I grabbed my camera, and Bryan grabbed the 2,000 candle rechargeable flashlight (insert Tim Allen grunt here), and we headed out to the tide pool beach. After a quick 10min hike, we found ourselves on the beach…. and majorly creeped out. During the day some folks had built a bunch of weird rock piles all over the beach, it looked like some Wiccan ceremony had taken place. I took a picture of a pile where someone had made a kelp bulb into a jackolantern… weirdos, that’s almost as crazy as hiking at 10 o clock at night… wait….
The fog was heavy down at the beach and getting pictures was near impossible. The Flash would bounce off the water particles and I’d get a nice picture of white haze. Here Bryan demonstrates light bouncing off of water using our flash light and a puddle.
One of my favorite things about Montana Del Oro is the holy.. I mean holey (is that a word?) rocks. Native to the Central Coast is the California Rock Clam. This lil guy spends his entire life attached to a rock face, opening and closing his mouth to borrow into the rocks. Evidence of there work can be found all over the beach. Mussels, anemones, and erosion also help to create the rock formations.
Another impressive feature of the park is the geology itself. Years of sea sediment layered on top of each other, combined with California’s major fault lines, have created giant peninsulas of slate rock erupting from the ground at a steep angles. So of course Bryan and I had to venture out on one of these outcroppings.
Near the end of the peninsula we realized that our flashlight was dieing…
suddenly visions of mountain lions, and bears started filling my head… also climbing around on the steep rocks is a challenge during the day. The idea of doing it in the pitch dark was rather unnerving. So, Bryan and I bolted back to the car. In the end the flashlight did die, and we had to use my cell phone light and flash to find my car.
The car ride back was nice, some of the fog had cleared, and we managed to get back in Santa Maria by midnight. A great adventure, I’d do it again in a heartbeat, although I have to admit I was kinda sleepy getting up for my 8am call this morning.
Well tech starts tomorrow, will see how this one goes. 8 days from now Our Town will be open and my show will be next… that reminds me my plot is due in 10 days, epp,