After staying out late with Barry and Lisa the previous evening, certain members of our party were reluctant to rise early the following morn. We finally shuffled out of the motel at about ten. Our motel in Marina was about a block from the beach, so we headed down there. The girls wanted to wade and chase waves. It was a beautiful, foggy, morning. And just like Lake Tahoe, the water looked cold.
The first thing the girls noticed was an icky piece of seaweed. Stand back, hold one end to your ear, another to the mouth, and talk to each other. Eeeewwww.
From this, it was on to chase waves. Real waves, not like the wimpy ones in Lake Tahoe.
And since the only thing better than finding one piece of icky seaweed is finding another...
After chasing waves, we wandered down to Salinas to Lisa's place. She offered to puppysit Sparky! while we went to the boardwalk at Santa Cruz. We originally intended to do breakfast with Barry, but our late start changed that to lunch.
Brittany and Sarah thought Barry was the coolest human being to ever stomp the terra. They greatly enjoyed their time with Barry. When we got back to Lisa's, they immediately fell asleep, so another trip with more exposure to Lisa may be in order!
After bidding farewell to Barry, who had to be back in SF that afternoon, we headed for the Bonny Doon winery in Santa Cruz. Brian is an aficionado of the "Big House Red," and I felt that if we were that close to Mecca, we should visit. It was just the coolest road to get there, a one-lane road through forests. It was fabulous and beautiful, and did I mention fabulous! And then we got to the winery, whose hours in the brochure were "daily 11-5," only to find that on that particular Friday, they were closing early for a company function. Grrrr. We turned around and headed for The Mystery Spot. The girls were nervous, until they scanned the brochure I'd obtained at the motel.
Waiting to enter The Mystery Spot. I didn't mean to cut Sarah off, but Leisa was annoyed with having her picture taken. I was shooting without looking in the viewfinder. Dangerous and edgy this way. Yeah, right.
There were some cool flowers. It's California--everything grows!
The Mystery Spot is a cabin on a steep hill, and gravity doesn't seem to function normally. When you think you're standing straight up, you're actually leaning at 17 degrees in relation to the cabin walls. The guide puts a small level on things to demonstrate that, despite what you see, everything's "on the level."
Although the board looks level, gravity doesn't work right, and the ball rolls off of it.
From here, we moved inside, where a level table allows people to lean over the edge.
And I apologize for the sub-par quality of photographs. With the monotone brown background, the camera had trouble focusing, as well as correctly exposing the flash. Sue me. Sue Canon.
Hanging? Vertically?
Look at those cute shoes on Leisa! Let's see more of them.
Oh, wait, I see something cuter than the shoes!
Let's just stay here for a while. Don't scroll yet.
Okay. On to the next room.
Which is vertical? Leisa, or the cabin walls?
Outside is another demonstration of the warped gravity in the area.
When Leisa and Sarah stand at the right end of the supposedly-level plank, they're waaaay taller than the chick at the left end. But when they reverse...
The other chick is taller. "Does this fanny pack make me look fat, or is it this shapeless purple thing I'm wearing." Meow. The yellow thing in the hand of the chick in the middle, the guide, is a level, with which she demonstrates that the plank is level.
Brittany and Sarah, not dealing well with the weirdness that is...The Mystery Spot.
Leisa and I don't look this bad after an entire day of wine tasting!
From the Mystery Spot, we headed back to Santa Cruz to check out The Boardwalk.
Fig. A. Leisa checking out The Boardwalk.
Let's follow her. After checking this out one more time!