A Superior Show - And It's Free!

The United States went into a big football spasm today and sat down to watch the Super Bowl, called it the championship of the world (what other country even plays the game?) and were entertained by large athletic men crashing into each other, bad halftime entertainment and violent physical humor wrapped up as advertising.  How many billions of dollars were spent on the pre- and post-game "shows" as well as the game itself are yet to be tallied, but to say it was overblown is really hardly stating the case.

Luckily for the NFL, the game was a relatively close match.  Lucky for me and my companions watching the game, we had good food to share and a placed our two-dollar bets on the score, which was enlivening.

Knowing I was going to be sitting, eating and watching the game in the late afternoon, I got my inert self up out of bed early and went for a walk out in the great outdoors.  The sun is practically dancing in the blue sky these days, and many locals were out enjoying it in a variety of ways.  I walked from my house down to the rec trail near Lover's Point, then headed east along the flat scenic route to Hopkins Marine Station and then back home.  Harbor seals and shorebirds were very active at the protected cove at Hopkins.

Families out for walks, bike rides and surrey rides along the trail often stopped at the fence that lines the bluff above the cove.  One little boy shouted to his mom, "There's animals out there in the water and they're wiggling!" The seals are worth spending time watching.  They haul up onto the curved beach just past the high-surge area and barely lift their heads and tail flippers if a big wave rushes up the sand.  Sometimes they log-roll down the sandy slope again and seem to enjoy being lifted and rolled in the edge of the waves, re-emerging later when they want some sunning time.  There were hundreds of them, big and small, and the view was free for anyone who took time to stop.

Folks who are headed to the Monterey Peninsula this week for the AT&T Pro-Am Golf Tournament are in for a certain treat weather-wise.  It has been absolutely beautiful for the past two weeks or so and the same is predicted for the coming week.  The whole area sparkles with vivid color and dramatic coastal scenery.  Red Hot Pokers, the tall succulent-type plants are blooming still and early blooms are bursting out all over cherry trees and ornamental fruit trees.  It's pretty spectacular and, in my opinion, a far more incredible show than the overpriced, overblown and self-important spectacle called The Super Bowl.

Swimming, Sleeping, Sunning Seals

On a walk today on the Monterey Bay Recreation Trail ("Rec Trail"), the waves were big and sloshy, flopping and sliding up onto the shoreline.  They chugged in to the rock and sand margins of land like an old car with its gears slipping.

Just as loose and lazy was a beach full of harbor seals, whose fat torpedo-like bodies were covered in thick spotted coats.  There were about a hundred of them at the Hopkins Marine Station's protected cove, lying one next to another.  Their limpid eyes peered up at us once in a while, head lifted just long enough for a look and then flopping down again with a sigh.  Flippers stretched languidly and regular deep up-and-down motions of their sides showed how contentedly they were resting.

The bay was dark blue and choppy from a brisk breeze that stirred up the surface in gusts but not so bad that anyone was kept from a pleasant walk along the trail.  We headed from Pacific Grove on the mile or less of flat curving walk.  Out goal was the American Tin Cannery building where we enjoyed a hearty brunch at the First Awakenings restaurant, one of our usual breakfast places.

The waitress mentioned, after we told her about the surf, that a scientist from the Marine Station had spotted elephant seals hauling up on the beach there, an unusual occurrence.  Staff there have hopes that the large animals will make the cove a regular haunt so that they can be studied and protected.  The Station is a jut of land where a collection of buildings houses labs and libraries for grad students from Stanford to learn about marine life.

Once we were full to the brim with our meal, we walked back along the trail and took a good long look at the seals to see if we could spot the larger species.  None were to be seen, but the harbor seals were fine looking and very well fed.

More seals surfed in, sliding up on the beach on their bellies and then humping up to higher ground where they simply stopped to sun themselves for a while.  If a bigger wave rushed up to them, they simply lifted their heads and tail flippers up, barely inconvenienced by the swishing ocean water.  Every so often, one or two seals would ride a large rush of water back out into the little cove and take stock of the day with their heads periscoping around, eyes blinking calmly.

Just watching the seals made me sleepy, and I developed a lethargy that only a nap could cure.  Must have been the blueberry-wheatgerm pancake I'd eaten, but I'd rather blame the somnolent seals.