Bobcat!

I went to Año Nuevo on July 4th with a group of friends to check out the elephant seals. The highlight of this adventure was not the elephant seals, but a bobcat (or so I am told that is what it is although I don't recall ever seeing a bobcat so sleek) stalking its prey.

Our day was pretty amazing. We started out the day around 8 by loading the Suburban with essentials before heading to the store for picnic supplies. Once we finally got food and gas we headed out on 80W towards San Francisco. I think it is bollucks that there are no signed indicating that there is a new Bay Bridge toll fee until after the last exit, so if you've only got $4 on you, you're screwed because you can't pay with a card. Fortunately, I always carry a tenner on me so I have enough money for both bridges.

Anyway, we were fine until we got to Half Moon Bay....tons of traffic, so we rolled down the windows and blasted 'America, Fuck Yeah' for all the young Americans walking along the side of the CHP heading to the beach for Independence Day festivities. Twas glorious. LIBERTY, FUCK YEAH!

We finally got Año Nuevo State Park and got acquainted with the visitor's center before heading out on our 2.4 mile hike to the elephant seal beach.

Año Nuevo is the epicenter of ants. Majorly large ants that enjoy thrill-seeking.

The young bulls were all over the beach and fighting in the water. Definitely a sight to behold. Twas awesome.

On our way back, we saw the bobcat! So cool!

We checked for ticks after our little hike and found 5 on two people, so everyone tweaked out and did crotch-checks in the bathroom.

Upon leaving the state park we saw a hitch-hiker on the side of the road and since we were 6 in an 8 seater Suburban, we picked up Eric, who's from So Cal but lived in Asia and Turkey but just trying to get to Santa Cruz for the firework festivities. During our drive to Taco Bell, we saw our friends in the other car flick out more ticks several times.....7 more were found after leaving the park, one of which was located belatedly on someone's arse.

We went to Taco Bell and 11 people feasted for under $40 which is kind of terrifying.

After we went to Trevor's aunt's house in Watsonville. Her property is mind-blowing. Horses, dogs, hat factory, outdoor patio, massive house, amazing eclectic furniture and a lot of awesome people.

We went for fireworks at Seabright Beach.....amazing! There were thousands of people there with bonfires and illegal fireworks. No surprise that after about 20 minutes the police showed up and slowly started making their way down the beach fining illegal firework and bonfire owners. So, of course, everyone started setting them off at the same time. ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL! It was like a watching a finale firework show for 20 minutes. The boats along the shore even sent up a couple of flares!

It took almost 4 hours to drive home....meh, but overall, EXCELLENT DAY!!!