Rancho del Oso

Saturday the 27th, still as part of the birding festival, we went to what I'm currently thinking of as the most beautiful place on earth. I can't believe the 27th was so long ago! Can you believe it's already the 16th of the next month??? I could swear this was just last weekend. OYE!

Anyway, that rant aside, we started out at Waddell Beach which allegedly is a famous surfing spot. Alrighty... if they say so. My cousin is a surfer and he lives not too far from there, so I assume he's hit that spot. Judging on the surfers that were out there though, the conditions must not have been killer because they all looked like over-the-hill (literally and figuratively) surfers. Literally, because they probably were all from "over the hill" as Santa Cruz refers to the Silicon Valley and vice-versa... and figuratively because they all looked 45+ and not in great shape, one guy was using a paddle to catch his wave. Well maybe they were in great shape from a shark's perspective ;) They kinda looked like seals out there...

(click for a larger view)

Across Hwy One from Waddell Beach is Rancho del Oso. The beach is a fine place to park. As my mom noted, we saw the sun peeking over the hill and through the fog. It was pretty cool :)
It was shortly after this I saw a view that just took my breath away... it was more beautiful than any camera could capture!

In fact, whatever angle you turned a new and amazing view was beheld.

We walked along the marsh trail to the trailhead for the Skyline to Sea trail, a 33 mile (one-way) trail up to the crest of the Santa Cruz Mountains at Castle Rock State Park. Along the marsh trail we saw moss growing on the trees like this:
My mom, talks a little about it in that same post. It was a cool area and I'll definitely go back again! I sure hope it still looks as good as I remember though :) Who knows, maybe it was just that day.