Out with a Bang

Friday morning Mel, Jamie, and I got up and went to breakfast (Jerome thinks ‘morning’ is a bad word). After breakfast Mel went to class and Jamie and I went to the Mystery Spot. Originally everyone was supposed to go, but they aren’t on vacation, and we are.

Even though I had been before, the Mystery Spot is still very mysterious, surprising, and worth giggling over. This time the tour I was on was much larger so it was not as personable, but the guide was different and he had a few different tricks up his sleeve and a different way of presenting the mysteries of the Mystery Spot. The guide informed us that the more people passing through the Mystery Spot in a time period, the less the effect; the effect is not even the same from day to day. Today’s effect was only moderate. Jamie and I hung back and took all of our own pictures after everyone was out of the way. An advantage of being in the back is that we got to try all of the things that were demonstrated by others. Jamie and I shrank and grew, grew and shrank, stood on walls, hung at angles etc. One thing that we did notice was that it is not possible to buy the bumper stickers – you can only get them on the tour. I have one on my car and Mel has even put one on her truck. Our guide let us know that Bart Simpson has one on his fridge in Springfield. Jamie was amazed and I still love it, so the tourist trap legend of the Mystery Spot lives on.

For lunch, Jamie and I picked up a giant sandwich and fruit and headed to the salon for pedicures with Mel. It was actually quite busy so it took a long time to get three chairs together. It was kind of silly to do especially since we were all putting on grubby shoes to head out in the field a little later in the afternoon, but lets face it, pretty toes are fun.

We separated again and Mel was off to a meeting, while Jamie and I headed home to change. We were off to be elephant seal biologists again – my third time in a week. Because of our trip to the city the previous evening, this was to be an afternoon excursion. Timing is difficult for some of the field work because the researchers try to stay out of the eye of the public because lets face it, uneducated people and peta-type activists could misunderstand what’s happening. So the researchers try to stay out of sight (the main reason for such early mornings) unless absolutely necessary. Some parts of the rookery are not accessible or visible from the state park except to the researchers, but seals go where they want and don’t know about these invisible boundaries.

This seal was way out of sight – behind the first set of dunes, up a hill, and under some scrubby willows. What made it even tougher for Mel and Nikky to find her was that she was laying on her side with her head and back (where the radio tags and dyed tags are visible) facing into the hill. Her location actually turned out to be advantageous because the area was sheltered from the still blasting wind and the sunshine.

After seals, we girls headed home to shower and get ready to go out. First we went to “I Love Sushi,” the best sushi bar in Santa Cruz. We did not get there till late and it was still very crowded. The owner is a crazy Japanese man that Jerome and Mel warned us about. “Hawwwwww. Good Choice Hawwwwwwwww.” We were asked to move so a larger group could have our table. “Thank you Hawwww.” For moving we got two giant beers shared between the five of us – including him. Before AND after this we received some free appetizers of sushi, marinated cucumbers, and fish. I even ate with chopsticks because they had some rubberbanded together that I did not have to think about. Normally I use my fingers because I like to eat with my fingers and because I am horrible and inept at using chopsticks. We ordered sushi called Jenny Love, San Jose Sharks, Cowboy something, and Black Jack. All of it was fantastic.

Jamie and Mel were astounded by how much I like ginger and wasabi – and me by how little wasabi they use. I do not like soy sauce so I put some wasabi on each sushi piece before I eat it. Jamie and Mel said they use the same amount of wasabi that I put on ONE piece of sushi in a dish, dilute it with soy sauce, and then use that for all of the sushi they eat. That’s hardly any wasabi at all! And I do love ginger.

After dinner, Jerome headed home, Mel strapped on her heels, and we went to Clouds, a martini bar. I’ve never had a martini and the ones I tried were delicious. Jamie is not a martini girl so she had Guinness instead. We sat around and people-watched and chatted until the disco music got too loud and headed home.

A short time later, my alarm went off so that Jamie and I could get to the airport for my early morning flight. The sun did not even rise until I had been sitting in the airport for quite a while. So up at 4:30 Pacific time and home to Virginia at 1130 East coast time – anyway you look at it, its going to be a long day.