Best weekend ever

It was a solidly fabulous weekend. Beekeeping class on Saturday, a wander around Santa Cruz, overnight camping at a state beach including a most improbable and unfortunate hula show, breakfast at the beach in Capitola and last but not least a kayaking adventure through Elkhorn Slough ("sloo") on Sunday.

I'm still not sure what a slough is, exactly, but from what I can tell it is place that includes a really really shallow tidal river that connects to the ocean on one end and who knows what on the other and is full of animals.

Here are some of my favorite animals that we saw, starting with...otters! These guys were hilarious. They would pop up nearby out of nowhere and then rub their bellies and pretend to wash their hair. Then they would do these crazy rolls, going around and around and around. If I had to choose a water animal to be, this seems like a good option. They certainly look like they are having a lot of fun.

These guys, who are either seals or sea lions I'm still not sure, also seem to have it pretty good except that boy do they stink!

And then later, this one was looking at me.

These are gull-lings. I don't usually find baby birds particularly cute but holy gray spotted fluff balls are these little dudes adorable!

And then there was the sort of wildlife that just makes you shake your head.