Sea Lion Naps

I had a wedding in Pacific City this last weekend. Pat kindly accompanied me and lent his assistance in lantern and paper crane hanging. He's handy that way. Pat, Myself, the planners, and their husbands all stayed in a lovely beach house near the Pelican Pub where the wedding was held. They had something like 6 different Michener books. It took a LOT of will-power not to steal them. Hardbacks. That match my copy of Caribbean. Maybe not everyone knows how wonderful Michener books are. Well, they're wonderful. Put one in your brain. This one or this one are my suggestions.
The wedding was small and super easy. But there was of course one obnoxiously drunk gay man who insisted on serenading the bride and groom. Which in itself, isn't necessarily bad. However, his song choice was strange, if not totally inappropriate. China Girl, by Bowie. I don't think that there was a single Chinese or otherwise Asian person at the wedding. So strange. Besides, I think it's safe to assume that any song with the word 'swastika' in it is NOT a wedding appropriate song.
We had Sunday to ourselves and Pat suggested we go to Bob Straub park. It was cloudy but not cold and we actually had a really nice 2 hour walk on the beach. Because the beach isn't one of the super popular ones, I found all kinds of treasures. Totally legit sea shells and my first whole sand dollar! Pat helped me treasure hunt. There were also little jelly things all over the beach but they didn't have tentacles. I had to investigate most of them. Some were orangey. One blue one. Lots of clear ones. Still very curious what they are. The internet has not been able to answer this question in a satisfactory way.

Impressive, right? Usually you have to purchase sea shells this awesome.

Other beach happiness? Stepping on those sea-weed balls and they make that awesome popping sound. Which, makes me think of these super awesome little yellow balls with spots that me and my brother used to love to step on at my grandparents house in Hugo. Everytime I tell people about these expecting that they too will recall the childhood delight of annihilating these crispy little balls, I get blank stares. And I am crushed. I have thought for years that I made these things up. Sometimes I have really realistic dreams. BUT, the internet has come to my rescue. This, my friends, is a Gall.

See how festive it is? How poppable it looks? The inside is kinda furry. It turns out that this is basically a little protective home that oak trees create for larvae of various insects. This is the only picture of a Gall that I've found that looks exactly like the ones I used to step on. I think that I was stepping on dry dead ones.

UH, apparently kinda all over the place on this one but. CHILDHOOD MYSTERY SOLVED!

Back to our beach stroll. We came upon what looked like a dead seal. Which was sad but also I wanted to investigate. I was crouched next to him looking at his adorable dead little face when he opened his eyes and lifted his head up. Totally not dead! Pat kept his distance but I went over to the little guy(not little) and started saying "heeeey buddy. whatcha doin?" He didn't answer me, but he did raise his fin at me. A friendly greeting, one would suppose. I did back up a little when he started to stand up. Pat then said that we should probably head back. I was worried that he was all by his lonesome and stranded on the beach or sick. I couldn't leave the little guy in distress so I googled and then called stranded mammal hotlines until someone answered at the Seaside Aquarium. I described our friend and the nice man told me he was a sea lion. And here's the best part. Sea Lions take naps! Seaside Aquarium guy told me I probably just woke him up from a nap and he was groggy. Apparently when they get sick of swimming, they plop themselves on a beach for a snooze. Aquarium guy said he'd send someone out to check on him anyway but I was already very happy that I'd met a sleepy sea lion and not a dying one.

They have the cutest freaking faces.

Once we got back from the beach, we decided that food was necessary. When we parked at the restaurant, Pat noticed that next to us was a truck that held the biggest dog I have ever seen. So naturally, I snuggled him. He was amazing. He was still there when we came out so while Pat walked around the corner for an energy drink I creepily hung out next to someone's car and snuggled his giant dog.

That is my hand. I do not have tiny hands.

So, good beach trip.