California Scenery

Yesterday morning my husband and I went for a walk along a local pathway near our friends' house.  The paved walkway meandered along side a very long white fence.  On the other side of the fence was "wilderness".  We were looking at the various trees, scrub bush and ground cover when we came upon a sign telling us it was a "nature reserve".  We were looking at the Burton Mesa.  We found a gate in the fence and it obviously looked like other people have walked in the Burton Mesa before and on a regular basis.  We opened the gate and walked through.  Now you have to realize that where we come from there aren't poisonous snakes or spiders.  Our friends had warned us that there are rattlesnakes here and black widows and tarantulas.  My husband is a little more daring than I.  I have always been the more reticent of the two of us.  So as we are walking along in the Mesa, I'm thinking of all the poisonous creatures that are lurking out there.  We stayed on the sandy trail and I made sure I didn't touch anything!

There were areas on the sandy trail where you would come around the curve of the trail and see steep hills of limestone!  What a view.  As we came around another curve, nestled in amongst the scrub trees (which I've since learned are called scrub oaks), there was a cactus!!  We took pictures.  I've scene cacti in pictures in books but I've never seen a live cactus.  I got as close as I dared because those spines really look scary!!  I took some pictures.  We followed the sandy trail and came to a fork in the trail.  My husband wanted to continue away from the gate but I decided that I wanted to play it safe and go back onto the paved walkway.  My husband can be directionally challenged sometimes and I just didn't want to be in a situation where we were wandering for hours and couldn't find the gate.  I'm the scaredy cat.

So we took the safe route and ended back at our friends' house.  The rest of the day was pretty quiet but last night we went to Avila Beach which is on the Pacific Ocean.  What a gorgeous little town.  There was a market along the waterfront where I had a pulled pork sandwich and a churro which is a long, narrow, fried pastry which gets rolled in cinnamon sugar.  It was very good!  There were so many different types of food to choose from but only so much room in my stomach.  Too bad.  We walked along the beach and then out onto the pier.  I saw a pelican!  Again, I've seen pictures but I've never seen a real one.  It was flying and fishing.  Then I saw a couple of seals poking their heads out of the water.  We watched one play and dive and flip over on it's back.  I think it may have been fishing too but it was fun to watch it put on a show for us!

I love the scenery here.  It's so different but as always nature is miraculous and beautiful.  I'm off on a drive today to Las Vegas.  So long for now.