Sunday, May 3, 2020
Poor Cindy has to work five days a week and can only go play on the weekends. She has been really missing the beach, after seeing and hearing about all my fun. So we decided to head down and play along Morro Bay. She also wanted to show me a breeding area for the endangered pipping plovers.
We went down to my favorite beach and immediately were blown away by the rising fog. As the sun came up, we saw a fogbow. Cindy had to combine two pictures to capture the view. And Morro Rock finally appeared out of the fog. And then there was the light, making everything more beautiful.
I saw lots of art in the beautiful light and changed my camera to the watercolor setting for some of them.
After a few beautiful hours wandering around on the beach and taking lots of pictures, we moved back north to Estero Bluffs State Park. We parked in a big pullout and walked down the partially paved trail after watching kayakers hauling their kayaks down that trail towards the beach. We had to spend the first several minutes trying to capture the beautiful, partially foggy light.
Poor Cindy has to work five days a week and can only go play on the weekends. She has been really missing the beach, after seeing and hearing about all my fun. So we decided to head down and play along Morro Bay. She also wanted to show me a breeding area for the endangered pipping plovers.
We went down to my favorite beach and immediately were blown away by the rising fog. As the sun came up, we saw a fogbow. Cindy had to combine two pictures to capture the view. And Morro Rock finally appeared out of the fog. And then there was the light, making everything more beautiful.
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| Fogbow by Cindy - she had to combine two pictures to show the actual view |
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| Cindy posing in front of Morro Rock |
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| The view from the beach of the sand dunes and the mountains behind them in the early morning fog |
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| Cindy's picture of me on the beach |
I saw lots of art in the beautiful light and changed my camera to the watercolor setting for some of them.
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| Arrangement by the tide |
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| Just a shell in watercolor mode - loved the purple |
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| Even the purple flowering invasive mustard added beauty when backlighted by the rising sun |
After a few beautiful hours wandering around on the beach and taking lots of pictures, we moved back north to Estero Bluffs State Park. We parked in a big pullout and walked down the partially paved trail after watching kayakers hauling their kayaks down that trail towards the beach. We had to spend the first several minutes trying to capture the beautiful, partially foggy light.
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| One of at least a few score of pictures I attempted to capture the amazing light - and this is the landmark for the parking lot that |
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| We followed a couple of kayakers down to this beach - and saw another fogbow |
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| Male American goldfinch feeding |
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| Song sparrow singing |
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| Tiny beauty dressed in fog droplets - found this is invasive rose clover and out competes native clovers and grasses |
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| A watercolor modification of a shoreline view as we walked north |
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| The only banded snowy plover of about seven we found - I turned in the band pattern |
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| Whimbrel taking his crab to shore |
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| Sanderlings hunting for food along the edge of the incoming tide |
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| The only least sandpiper I saw |
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| Cliff swallows were racing to collect mud and build their nests |
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| View down San Geronimo Creek towards the beach |
We had intended to only spend a couple of early morning hours on the beach. But we had arrived before sunrise and spent over five hours before we noticed we were starving. But this was the BEST medicine for the isolation blues. And I had three miles on my step meter. Cindy walked over two miles- the longest she has been able to walk in over a year.
Yes someone has to pay the rent and utilities. Sigh. These are snowy plovers, not piping. It was definitely a day for the books.
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