They Don't Taste Like Bananas...

Back in December we picked up a couple of sleeping bags at a good price with the intention to use them for some backpacking trips.  This past weekend, our first trip was foiled on account of rain, so I offered Jess an alternative-  she scoped out a B&B as our base for a day of hiking so we could at least stay dry at night.  On Saturday, after basketball practice with Elijah, we hit the road for Santa Cruz.

We stopped at a sandwich shop in Silicon Valley, where I bought a digital SLR camera from a guy off Craigslist.  Back on the road, rain pelted the windshield as we headed up the mountains.  The rain turned to flurries as we got higher, and stopped (for the most part) on the descent.  It didn't start again until we found a beach where I took my first photo with the new camera.

What prompted the whole "lets buy an expensive camera" thing was recent inspiration from our friend Damon, whose photography is far superior to any I've ever done, until NOW!  Take THIS, Damon!  Yes, that's my Wifey sporting her super sexy pink and gray raincoat.  And how 'bout that background at Natural Bridges State Beach?!  Work it, Wifey!   

There were lots more photos to take, so we hit the road for downtown, which was a bust.  It's one of the most visited beach towns in the whole country, but there wasn't a soul in sight probably on account of the whole driving through snowy mountains to get to the cold, rainy beach thing.  We stopped at 7-11 for a coffee and debated on our plan of attack.  The final plan was simple enough - go to the B& B and then find somewhere to go for dinner.

Along the way, the GPS took us past UCSC, home of Sammy Slug.  Sammy is the awesomest mascot ever.  As a banana slug, his best mode of defense is his prolific mucous.  He's bright yellow, grows about 7 or 8 inches long, and has a penis the same length (of course the college never depicts that in the official merchandise).  He's also a she (hence the sexually ambiguous name "Sammy?"), and can copulate for over TWO HOURS with either him/herself or a partner!

I know what you're thinking... "Why on earth were James and Jessica Gamecocks when they could have been giant simultaneous hermaphrodite mucous-excreting sex-machine mollusks?!"  At least that's exactly what I thought as we passed the school.  I explained to Jessica just how lucky we are that I had never heard of Sammy before choosing to go to USC (the South Carolina one).  Had I known of him/her I would have done whatever I could to go to his/her school, and Jessica and I might never have met! 

Slugs are awesome.  This is a picture of a banana slug I saw with my friend Chris when he visited last year.  We were all freaked out because of the gaping hole in its side, and later learned that the hole, called a pneumostome, is actually a pore that lets air get into the slug's lung!  If you were a slug, it could double as a huge bullet wound or a scar that you could to show off!
 
As a kid I used to pretend to be a slug by wrapping myself in a sleeping bag and using my drumsticks as antennae.  Someone would pretend to sprinkle me with salt, and I would writhe and make the noises of slug death. I got pretty good at making slugs out of wax (I think my brother still has one somewhere)...

Before this turns into an entire book about slugs, I'm going to let Jess change the subject back to our trip...

We got to the Bed and Breakfast called the Redwood Croft and the folks there were very nice but a little disheveled.  It turned out the room we wanted with the private outdoor jacuzzi was still available, but the jacuzzi was broken so they gave us another room with a HUGE tiled soaking tub.  It was like right out of a Roman bath.  It was NEAT!!  Add that to a comfy bed, a wood burning stove and skylights in the room and you've got THE PERFECT bedroom!  James wants to build one immediately... that is, when we actually own our own home again! 

Once we dropped our stuff in the room and made a dinner reservation, we headed back out to get a picnic lunch at the grocery store for Sunday's hike, and then found a nice brewery to sit in until it was time for our reservation.  It was called Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing company and we both had their Golden Wheat beer, it was delicious.  We talked about the usual dreamy things that couples talk about when they get out of the hubbub of everyday life.  We talked about what businesses we want to start and ideas we have for making our millions, saving the world, or being closer to our families.  We continued our musings into our dinner at the Bonny Doon Vineyards Cellar Door restaurant.  Over small plates of flash fried brussel sprouts with smoked chevre, calamari with quinoa and pineapple sauce, and lots of other delightful dishes, we talked about our usual "BIG Plans for Life" and gushed over the deliciousness of the food.  We rolled out of the restaurant with half of a pizza and headed back to the bed and breakfast for a bath in our big ole tub!

Harassing the wildlife- probably a felony...

With a hearty meal in the morning, we ventured out through the snow(!) to the oldest state park in California- Big Basin Redwood Forest.  We got a suggestion from a buddy for the best trail to go on and he did not disappoint us!  We hiked 6.7 miles out to the Berry Creek Falls- Golden, Silver, and Berry Falls, each dropping between 30-60 feet.  It was a muddy trail, but the falls were GORGEOUS- and along the way, we saw over 25 Banana slugs!!  James even stopped to lick one, which he had heard was "interesting" and resulted in his tongue going numb for a little while and me telling him that he couldn't kiss me for at least 24 hours. 

This is with a zoom lens- he was far away at the other end of this redwood log!

Primeval fog...

The hike was really beautiful- the redwoods are like the real live Avatar forest without the trippy colors and frighteningly tall, horny blue people.  It looks like fairies and all kinds of woodland creatures should live there.  If a dinosaur popped its head through the trees, I'm not sure I would really be that surprised- it looks prehistoric. 

The rest of the hike was uphill and brought the final Banana slug count to 50 and the mileage count to 11 miles round trip...Whew!!!  Thankfully, Caitlin and I had walked around 8 miles last weekend because it was a beautiful day last Saturday (in the high 60's and blue skies!), so I was pretty conditioned.  My calves do hurt today though, not sure how James is doing- though he'd never admit he was sore.  We headed home through the snowy mountains back through the thick, ugly metropolis of Silicon Valley and Palo Alto.  It is crazy how close we are to all of these natural wonders- Santa Cruz is only 2 hours away, Tahoe is 3 hours away, Yosemite is 4 hours away, Golden Gate is 30 minutes, Point Reyes seashore is an hour and a half.  Am I starting to tempt you?  Come see it all for yourself and stay with us---We'll just keep making you drool with our adventures until you get over here! 

25 Banana Slugs... ah ah ah!

50 Banana slugs... ah ah ah!