11-12-13

          It's another one of those fun dates here in a country where we put the month before the day.  November 12, 2013.  Next year I think is the last cool one we'll get for a while so I'll have to hunt for other neat dates.  Today was marked with a beautiful sunrise over snow, the first snowfall of the season and it was measurable without being a pain.  I finally got some of the great shots I was hoping for with ice and colorful fall leaves together.

          Today was a very good day.  We purified our ferrocene in lab and ran UV-Vis, melting point, and some new cyclic voltammetry characterization where we reduced Fe 3+ to Fe 2+ then oxidized it again and got to see a pretty graph form.  I forgot my lab safety glasses but was able to run upstairs to the lab I do research in to get a spare pair.  While I was up there I ran into Arielle who was pushing particles through gold filters that I will analyze later.  After lab I went back to my apartment to eat a couple tamales that we made over the weekend with D's family.  They turned out fantastic!  We will definitely be making them again.  We joked about making it a Christmas tradition since that is a time that the whole family will be together to help build the tamales.

          As I was eating I posted a few pictures of the snow and fall leaves on my Facebook page and played my free Lumosity games.  I then quickly bundled up and made it to the research lab in time to ask my professor a few questions before I measured the concentrations of Arielle's solutions.  I stayed a bit longer to start making PDFs of my data that will help me write my semester summary.  It was nice going through my old data and seeing all that I accomplished this semester.  It didn't feel like much, but looking back I ran many useful tests that changed our course of research several times.  I am currently stuck on my research so it is nice being part of Arielle's group so I can still be productive while trying to solve my own puzzle.  Our professor will be very happy if we can reach our group goal by summer, so we will be working our butts off to make that happen.  Research is very fulfilling because it is one thing I am doing that can benefit someone other than myself.

          So far this semester has not been too bad.  I have been busy but not nearly as busy as I was last semester.  It is nice having down time that doesn't need to be spent eating, showering, and catching up on sleep.  I am getting As and Bs in organic, As in inorganic, and then there is lab where I will likely get a B because she grades data sheets far more strictly than any other professor I've had.  It's still a new lab so I understand that they are still working out the kinks.  I am having fun in lab.  We've made ferrofluids and silly putty, played with LEDs, and run several titrations and other color changes.  This week I get to reacquaint myself with mass spec. and H NMR although ferrocene is a very simple case.  Bethany and I will be presenting together again and I have high hopes for that.  We work very well together.  I have a few written assignments to do, 5 exams, and 1 quiz before Christmas.  Perhaps that should stress me out a little, but it doesn't.  Compared to last semester this semester is a total breeze.

          I've been fortunate enough to get to see D every weekend except one so far this semester.  On one special weekend he even made me study while he made food and did the dishes!  I got a very solid B on that exam thanks to his understanding that I needed to study but still wanted to get to spend time with him.  Don't worry, he got to work on his own hobbies while he wasn't helping out.

          So what is there to complain about when I have so much good in my life?  Who would want to complain when there is so much good to focus on?  I am very happy and loving life.  Even though there is work ahead I am confident that I will get through it largely unscathed.  And if I do ever stumble, I know that I have D here to pick me back up and keep cheering me on.

2013: The Year of the Endless Fall

D and I went to Silver Springs to see how it looks in the fall.

          I am declaring 2013: The Year of the Endless Fall!  When I returned to campus in late August I was surprised to see that a pretty maple tree had already added red highlights to its leaves.  Two months later and the maple is still going strong with much  more red, a few oranges, slight hints of yellow, and still holding onto a bit of that deep green.  Several other trees have joined it in donning new colors while the rest are waiting for the right time to change.  I'll be the first to admit that my memory from year to year is not that great, but do you remember having a fall like this recently?  I am loving it and making sure to try to capture as many colorful pictures as possible.  For those of you living in areas that aren't experiencing this amazing fall beauty, head over to the Midwest as soon as you can so you can catch a glimpse before winter truly sets in and scares all the leaves off the trees.

Backyard bonfires with s'mores are a lot of fun.  Especially when you bury a bunch of acorns beneath leaves and wait for them to POP.

D went with half of my family to go for a hike around Devil's Lake.  The weather was perfect.  Even the nephews had fun.

This is a smaller maple that went red very quickly.

D and I enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the river.

I've been watching this maple since August.

The DZ Origin Story

          On June 12, 2011 I am deciding which college I will attend to get my chemistry degree.  At my best friends' (Mr. and Mrs. M) bbq my friends ask about my decision to return to school to pursue a different career path.  I'm not yet positive about which school I want to attend.  I'd looked up top rated schools for chemistry and made an Excel sheet ordering them by affordability, distance, rank, and other interesting attributes the schools offer.  At one point while chatting in the living room, my college friend A suggests I speak with her cousin who attends a highly rated school in Chicago.  She says he'll be at the bbq she and J are throwing on the 25th and that he can tell me about the school and some of the neat projects he's working on.  I am already leaning toward one school and the school her cousin goes to is definitely not within my affordability zone, but I politely say I'd love to speak with him, anyway.  Secretly I'm not much looking forward to the conversation because I am not good at small talk, and what else do strangers talk about?  Maybe I'll get lucky and he won't show up, or at least plenty of friends will be around to rescue me if the need arises.

All muddy after running my first Warrior Dash.  I loved the coolness of that mud so much.

          By June 25th sore legs from running my first Warrior Dash the previous Sunday put thoughts of cousins from my mind.  I am just looking forward to another day spent eating great food and hanging out with my favorite people.  I ride to J's apartment with the Ms after gassing up and grabbing cookies at the store.  It is nice getting to see so many college friends together again, and I am eating dessert when A's cousin arrives.  I glance over, curious to see what this guy looks like to see if I can predict how well this conversation might go (our eyes meet for less than a second and I get a sense that he is a nice guy) but I quickly return my focus to my dessert because staring might be rude.  Also, maybe I'll get lucky and she'll forget that she wanted me to speak with him.  I really dislike small talk.

          No luck.  As I'm listening to their conversation while also focusing on my cupcake I am suddenly summoned with a very enthusiastic, "Czarina!" as A beckons me over to meet her cousin, D.  Ok, is it just me or was that way too enthusiastic?  Something is clearly going on here that I don't know about and I'm guessing this poor guy probably doesn't either.  Yes, this feels like a set up.  I've never been set up before, I should also probably note I've never even been on a date before, but I've watched tv enough to be able to recognize a set up.  At least that means he'll probably feel as awkward as I do.

          I get up to greet him and A introduces us, starting the conversation by asking D to tell me about the project he's currently working on.  Now it might be good to mention here that he was still practically in the entryway and I was leaning up against the arm of the couch.  D starts telling me about a mechanism that his lab is trying to create that can land on vertical walls with hopes of future space applications.  He starts talking about electrostatic adhesion and explaining the science behind it and, as my journal that night says I was blown away.  Sure she told me he was into science but she didn't say he was super smart!  As he describes all of this another guest I don't know asks questions and they start talking and understanding each other and My gosh, I felt way less intelligent than normal.  I understand most of what he talks about but not as deeply and clearly as I would like.  Listening to these two guys talk reminds me of when my dad and brother start talking about their work and it all goes over my head using terminology that is specific to their field rather than plain English.  We are still standing near the entryway, well actually I've been sitting on the armrest for quite some time now, and finally someone suggests we take a seat on the couch to continue our conversation.

          Once we're seated and he's helped me open my impossible water bottle we start talking about other things.  I learn that his childhood has a lot of similarities to mine full of a variety of animals, a cornfield and some woods just outside or near our backyards that we both enjoyed visiting, and we both have a slight interest in cars although I prefer them for their aesthetic qualities and he knows more about the mechanical side.  Maybe I can learn something from him!  We've been talking just the two of us mostly, ignoring much of everything else going on at the party, for at least a couple hours now.  Other than his intelligence and interesting childhood I note several qualities about his character and I am quite certain that I have just met a truly GOOD person.  I feel far more comfortable speaking with him than I expected to, and I feel like he's someone I can trust instantly and for me, that is huge.

          With me trust is something that people usually have to earn.  I don't often give out trust freely to people I've just met.  A poor guy in high school got (hopefully) kindly shot down by me because I didn't trust him enough to ever want to be alone with him, and how does someone go on dates without ever being alone even if just briefly in a car?  Yet, within this conversation I feel nothing but good vibes, so to speak, from D.  There are no little alarms or warning bells going off in my head or even a shadow of suspicion that anything he has said or done was full of anything but kindness.  No sneaky arm finding its way around my shoulder, no hand reaching for my knee, no hint of anything even mildly improper.  There is definitely something special about this guy.  To make a long story short, when I say he's someone special I mean I can actually picture an 'us' with him . . . All I know is that I would really like to get to know him a lot better.  And with that feeling in mind, as the Ms and I are about to head out the door I realize I must have some way of contacting him again.  I'm not bold enough to ask for a phone number as I'm not good on phones; I just can't hear as well without being able to also see lips moving.  So instead I ask if he has a Facebook page, and thankfully he does.

          As my friends tell it, when I stood up to leave D "practically jumped over the couch" to say goodbye.  Oh I wanted to hug him right then and there, he was just so adorable, but with so many people watching our departure there was no way I would do that.  After making sure I knew how to reach him online we left and started the drive home.  The Ms asked once, very casually, what I thought about D and I admitted that he seemed very nice.  They didn't press any further so I kept the more exciting thoughts of a possible 'us' to myself as I sat smiling in the backseat.

          It wasn't until two days later that I started getting some of the details on the setup.  Apparently this wasn't the first time A, J, and D's sister wanted D and I to meet, but the other plans never worked out, once because I didn't go to the party.  So this plan had been around for months if not a year or more.  On the 25th the Ms had been in charge of making sure I showed up to the party, and they made the very wise decision of not letting on that anything was up or I might have had a sudden "bout of the flu" or something and skipped the party.  Today, D and I both agree that it was good that I wasn't informed.  He did know that I was someone they wanted him to meet, and I'm impressed that he still showed instead of chickening out.  I guess he is braver than I am.

          We started chatting online and on the night of the 28th he finally asked me out!  I say finally because it wasn't quick enough for me.  If he'd waited any longer I would have asked him out.  I swear to you that before I met D I had a lot of patience.  Waiting 24 years to go on a first date should be evidence enough of that.  But ever since I've met D my patience has vanished, and not in a bad way.  I'm  antsy to start dating him.  I'm antsy to get to know everything about him.  I'm antsy to tell him I love him.  I'm antsy to start talking about the future of us.  I'm antsy to get engaged and be married and live together and start 'our' life.

          But just as I lose my patience, I am once again forced to wait.  My family is going on vacation out of state and the earliest possible date would be the 7th.  We set the date, not wanting to wait any longer than we must.

Love and Fireworks: The Perfect Weekend Combination

          D was lucky enough to get the Fourth off which gives us a four day weekend to enjoy together.  The best way to start an extended weekend is by sleeping in, so we do.  When D was here last year he climbed a mountain with a bunch of other Fellows to watch the fireworks, but he said the view of the actual fireworks wasn't that great.  I love fireworks and this is the first time we'll get to watch 4th of July fireworks together so I request finding a spot on the ground near enough to fireworks to feel them, and he agrees.

          I'd found a website that lists several celebration locations in the greater LA area and D finds another website, so we begin reading reviews and summaries and checking Google maps to see what kind of parking is available.  We narrow it down to three fireworks displays within a 30 minute drive and pick the one with the highest rating in Rosemead.  There is ample street parking so we're confident that we'll have a good trip.  Getting ready and eating a quick dinner doesn't leave us too much extra time, but I grab my camera and we're heading out the door.

Santa Monica Beach: A great way to end a long weekend.

          The first sign of trouble is the traffic as soon as we get into the Rosemead area.  It seems like the entire town is trying to get to the park.  I see one parking spot near the railroad tracks off to the right but the park is off to the left and so should be lots of street parking so at the last minute I suggest we turn left.  Ultimately this was the wrong choice.  We end up parked several blocks away from the park and across a busy street and the fireworks begin as we are still heading toward the park.

          I suppose I should say the official fireworks began as we were walking.  Fireworks are legal in California and families are already setting them off EVERYWHERE.  Imagine the last war movie you saw during one of the most intense shootout scenes where things are exploding and bullets are whizzing past in every direction.  That's close, just replace all that with fireworks and you can begin to see what getting to the park is like.  D has to dodge fireworks that are going off in the streets as we find parking and we make sure to give wide distance around exploding and snapping fireworks as we're walking.  We see fireworks being sent across the street ahead of us and when we get closer we see that it is the brilliant result of drinking while holding a roman candle as the young man's hand is aiming it at the streetlights across the road.  For the first time I am very grateful that Illinois does not allow fireworks.  I am much happier having just a few families gutsy enough to set off fireworks instead of every neighbor filling the sky with explosions.

          People have pulled out lawn chairs and are filling the sidewalks in front of their homes.  We continue walking until we reach the fence at the edge of the park.  We find a great spot where we can see the launching area and we stand watching the fireworks explode above us as the sound fills my chest with that wonderful drumming sensation.  I get some good video and a handful of clear, beautiful pictures, and several other colorful shots.  D makes sure I am happy with this spot before relaxing and enjoying the show himself.  It's nice standing with him at my back as we watch our first 4th of July fireworks together.  The finale arrives and fills the sky with color and light.

The Thriller

          The carnival in Rosemead Park will continue for another hour and a half so we fight the out-pour of people to get inside.  They have the typical Zipper, Gravitron, rocking boat ride, and then something new called Thriller.  I pull D closer so we can see how this ride works.  It looks like an enclosed flying saucer with lights on the outside and in the very center of the inside.  After several minutes the door closes and it spins like a top.  I'd really like to know what's going on inside that draws people to this ride.

A perfect game for a pirate.

          Next stop is the food stall to get the traditional cotton candy.  For the past few years my sister and I have gone to the fairgrounds in our town to watch the fireworks in the grandstands, and then we always get cotton candy and walk around looking at the animals and rides while we wait for the parking lot to clear.  It's time to introduce D to this tradition.  We eat our candy as we walk around looking at the fairway games, rides, and exotic food stalls.  Normal carnival food in the Midwest includes elephant ears, funnel cakes, giant pretzels, lemonade, corn dogs and the like.  Here we see Korean, Thai, and other authentic food stands.  It all smells so good and we're tempted to try something.  Looks like they give good sized portions, too, a full meal's worth!  If we weren't both so repelled by crowds I'm sure we would have bought something.

I love riding the Zipper.

          I grab a great shot of us as we leave the carnival and we return to our rental car to find it unscathed much to D's relief.  Now that we see what the Fourth is like on the ground, we decide to watch them from atop a mountain next year.  We just need to remember to pack a  couple small flashlights.

          The next two days are spent relaxing, getting groceries, and D gets some work done on a paper.  Sunday is July 7th and that is our 2 year dating anniversary so my job is to pick someplace to go.  I decide on Santa Monica Beach since it is the closest beach to us and it has lots of good reviews on Yelp, a website I discovered this summer.  D also wants to go out somewhere nice for dinner but I couldn't decide on a place.  We can pick one after the beach.

          Happy Second Anniversary!  I wake up excited that we finally get to spend an anniversary together.  Last year on this morning I was awoken by the doorbell.  My parents must have been out somewhere because no one answered the door.  I quietly crept to the door and saw a van in the driveway when the phone starts to ring.  I check caller ID and see it's a florist.  I answer the phone and am surprised to hear that the call is for me, not only that, but she pronounced my name correctly so this is no mistake!  Now my heart is starting to pound and I stop caring that I'm in my pjs as I answer the door and run out to the van.  The woman reaches in back and presents me with a beautiful bouquet of red roses, white carnations and beautiful pink lilies.

They safely made it to the kitchen.

          I'm in total shock to the point that I still ask, "Who are they from?"  Of course I knew the answer, but I was so surprised that my brain still hadn't kicked back in.  Thankfully she directs me to the card and I rush onto the porch and sit down on the door mat before my shaking hands drop this gorgeous vase and bouquet.  I grab the card and cover my mouth as my streaming eyes make it hard for me to read the sweet note from my D wishing me a happy anniversary and wishing he was here to spend it with me.  I am so overwhelmed with emotion that I just sit for a few minutes before I am certain that I can get the bouquet to the kitchen without dropping it.  Needless to say I take dozens if not hundreds of pictures of all the flowers.  More lilies bloom throughout the week and it is such a treasure getting to enjoy those flowers, just for me.

          This year my morning treat is getting to wake up next to the man I love, within reach and more importantly within kissing distance.  We decide to wait until afternoon to head to the beach to see if I can get any good sunset pictures over the ocean.

I want to think that is just clouds but I'm afraid it's not.

          We decide to drive in the back way to avoid driving through LA and this allows us to see some of the shorter mountains near the ocean.  As we leave the mountains we can see the smog covering the city and it's hard to imagine that it used to be worse.  Once we are in the city, though, it is harder to notice.  We find our parking garage near the beach and are surprised by how cheap parking is here compared to Chicago.  The first thing we notice about Santa Monica is that it is certainly a city that caters to its pedestrians and the sidewalks are full of people.  It is a beautiful city with a variety of shops everywhere and they all look well kept.

Santa Monica Pier

          After a short hike through the city, across the Palisades Park, and over a bridge over the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) we reach the beach.  There are tall, narrow, fancy buildings lining the ocean front walk and we begin guessing how much it must cost to live there.  We first head toward the Santa Monica Pier to get a view of the roller coaster and Ferris wheel.  It looks so crowded and I think D is relieved when I say that I don't want to actually go on the pier, just wanted to get close enough for pictures.  We head back and pass a live band again.  Finally it is time to take off our shoes and trek through the sand to the water.

          This beach is kept very clean and it probably has 100 yards of beach width that stretches for miles.  We are on a hunt for shells today.  We are going to be painting some models and I want my models to be standing on the beaches we've visited so I'm collecting sand and shells to make their bases look more interesting.  Before we even reach the beach we're finding small shells that will be more to scale with the models... if you pretend they live in a world with really huge clams.  I'm good at pretending, how about you?

          As we are walking on the ocean's edge we continue collecting the small shells we find here and there while also enjoying the sound and view of the waves.  The water feels very cold but the longer we are exposed to it the more our feet get used to it.  I am happy that I brought my jacket, though, the dropping sun  is leaving the sand quite cool, also.  Now and then I find a smooth, round black stone and do my best to skip it into the ocean.  I get a few skips usually.  After a while D hands me another black rock and I skip it on into ocean.  It won't be another week or more before I realize he intended for me to keep the rock... oops.  Thank goodness he doesn't take offense at my throwing his gift into the ocean and just shrugs it off, happy that I'm enjoying myself.

He stood very still for pictures then bolted as soon as he got in the water.

          In Florida as we walked along Cocoa beach my family and I noticed all the tiny snails that live right under the top of the sand.  Remembering this I dig into the sand to see if anything is living right below this surface but I don't find anything but more sand.  As we walk, though, we begin to notice movement under the sand as the waves recede.  I bend down and dig and this time we spot dozens of little sand crabs.  We saw sand crab shells on Cabrillo Beach but here they are alive and burrowing quickly back under the sand every time a wave reveals them.  In the handful of sand I scoop there are several crabs that quickly try to burrow down and run into my palms.  They tickle and the sensation is also a bit alarming so I release all except one.

My favorite picture of the "volcano."

          D and I look at this little crab for a while before finally releasing him back into the water.  Can you tell we really like wildlife and little animals?  We continue along the beach until the sun reaches the tops of the mountains.  I take several pictures and love that the sun's rays look as though they are exploding from the top of a mountain making it look like an erupting volcano.  D makes sure I get all the pictures I want before we head back.  On our way we find an abandoned plastic beach shovel and keep it just in case we need a shovel next time we got to a beach.  We try digging up a beach hopper but we were actually digging into empty holes.

          Santa Monica is all lit up when we get back to the car.  The trees have purple and yellow lights shining up into their leaves.  The ocean spray left us feeling sticky and gross so we decide to head home to have a quiet dinner by ourselves instead of stinking up a restaurant.  D made french toast for lunch and I bought us a celebratory Reeses ice cream cake so we made today special ourselves. Soon we are stuffed and ready to crawl into bed and pass out.  Today was a very nice, relaxing anniversary getting to go for a long walk on a beach together.

Fireworks to end our second year together and a beach to begin our third.  I think we're on the right track.

My Heart's Been Stolen by Cabrillo Beach

A striped shore crab at Cabrillo beach.

          On Sunday, June 30 we are heading to San Pedro to see a small but highly rated donation-based aquarium.  We arrive shortly after ten and the greeters correctly guess that this is our first visit.  We are told about tide pools on the beach that we should go explore a bit then be back by eleven to take part in a grunion hatching, whatever that means.  We thank them for the information and head to the Cabrillo Beach tide pool area.

One of the hundreds of hermit crabs moving between the rocks.

          When we get there we are stunned by how many hermit crabs, red crabs, and snails are everywhere.  This beach is covered in rocks and doesn't have sand like I would normally expect.  Instead the areas between rocks are covered in fragments of shells and rock to create a very colorful ground.  We spend most of our time hunting the fast crabs that dart between and under the rocks.  I'd love to catch one but they are so fast!  I make sure to get pictures of my first time seeing the Pacific Ocean before we head back to hatch grunion.

My first view of the Pacific Ocean with the waves crashing in.

          We make it back to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium with plenty of time to spare so we hang around in a shady building and read some information while we wait for the show to begin.  A woman carts out a tray full of little jars and a full water bucket and everyone gathers around.  We will all get to hatch our own grunion eggs after we do the grunion song and dance.  The little kids all get into the simple motions and now they are handing out jars of sand and fish eggs.

Tiny limpets that live on the rocks.

         D grabs a jar for us and I have my camera at the ready for pictures and video.  We can see the tiny silver bodies inside the eggs but nothing is happening, yet.  We are instructed to shake the jar with our hand over the top to mimic strong waves that tell the grunion it is time to hatch.  After a couple minutes of vigorous shaking we begin to see tiny silver fish pop out of the eggs just like popcorn.  D stops shaking so we can watch as more and more fish pop out and begin swimming in the jar.  After naming all our fish the same name (I think it was Fred) except one, we hand our jar back and begin exploring the buildings.

D hatched a bunch of grunion!

          There are two main buildings separated into three exploration areas.  The first building we explore is their Aquatic Nursery where aquaculture and research are being run to learn more about the marine life and find ways to protect the endangered species and the ocean in general.  Many fish are also being raised to be shared for education purposes to prevent wild animals from needing to be caught.  There are many interesting fish in here including a creature that looks like a mix between a seahorse and worm.  It is long and straight with a long thin nose sticking straight up like the rest of its body.  I don't take any pictures in this room since most of the tanks are covered in condensation and even my eyes were having trouble picking out the details on most of the animals.

A super fast fiddler crab who disappears almost as quickly as you spot it.

          Now we head next door to the Exploration Center where we start to learn the names of some of the creatures we just saw at the beach.  The crabs we saw are striped shore crabs and all the tiny shell creatures are limpets which can actually dig themselves into rock.  In this building are a few tanks of fish and plants with one tank that we can crawl under to be surrounded by the fish.  That one is very cool and great for taking distorted pictures.  We learn about rockfish at the next tank and are then surprised to find living specimen of several creatures under microscopes and in open shallow tanks that we can explore to our hearts' content.  I start up a conversation with the women working there to find out what some of the creatures are and why they look the way they do.

A pretty white animal with a brittle sea star.

          We see sea slugs, anemone, urchins, kelp, star fish, baby swell sharks and even swell shark eggs which look like plant seed pods rather than animal eggs.  We learn that sea urchins also dig into rock and that they are in their own secondary container within the tank to prevent them from digging a hole in the side of the tank again!  I can't imagine what it must be like to live here and have all of these animals and plants be just a normal part of the ecosystem.

A really colorful sea cucumber (?) with a large anemone.

          Before moving on we explore the jars of preserved specimen, skeletons, and exoskeletons of a few more animals: sea otter, a 30 some year old lobster , and shells of all kinds.  There are a few more crabs to explore under the microscopes and it is fun to focus on their mouth parts and shells to see all the detail that is harder to see with the naked eye.

The two sea horses on the right were wrapped around each other in a very cute way.

          Onto the main building full of tanks.  The Susanne Lawrenz-Miller Exhibit Hall manages to fit so many tanks full of colorful and exciting creatures that it makes the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago look like it doesn't know how to manage its space efficiently.  We easily spend hours exploring these tanks and trying to learn the names of the animals.  D loves the seahorses and I like watching the jellies.  We head to the highlight of the aquarium, the touch tank, to find out when it will open next.  We have some minutes to wait so we get a closer look at the huge crabs and lobster in a nearby tank.  Another area is full of orange, pink, purple, and white star fish much larger than my hand living with deep purple sea urchins and pale pink brittle sea stars.

Bat stars, brittle sea stars, and sea urchins.

          Suddenly a mouth opens in the next tank taking in a gulp bigger than its whole body to strain out the small krill for food.  Is this some type of unusual sea slug?  We've already seen a couple pretty sea slugs but none had mouths like this.  I catch a quick video of this strange thing before we look at the next tank. I'm beginning to learn that when it comes to the ocean it is harder to distinguish plants from animals.  The giant acorn barnacle fans out like a plant but it retracts its long "fingers" as to tries to pull in small bits of food.  A group of red, spherical feather dusters share the tank and definitely look more like a plant than animal.  As we loop around we realize we can get behind some of the tanks to get a different view.  One tank has several back-lit swell shark eggs at various stages of development so we can see the growing embryo feeding on the yolk.  I get a couple pictures of D next to a huge lobster before we go back to wait for the touch tank to open.

These hooded nudibranchs have large mouths!

          As usual we are asked to only touch the animals gently with one finger and then we are allowed to the edge of a large tank full of anemone, star fish, and sea urchins.  Little kids and their grandparents alike are leaning over the edge, excited to get a close look.  Amusingly it is the older generations who are more hesitant to reach in for a feel.  The inner tank that we are not to reach in has leopard sharks and some large fish.  Leopard sharks are generally docile, but they eat food the size of our thumbs so it's best not to confuse them and scare some poor little kid who gets a nibble.

Back lit swell shark eggs with hatched shark resting on the bottom.

          I am really excited to get to touch the urchin and anemone.  I got to feel star fish at the Shedd before but these two are new to me.  The anemone tentacle is covered in what feels like tiny velcro spines and they grab onto our finger hoping we're food.  Our skin is too thick to worry about getting stung, though, so don't worry.  I touch a tentacle first then feel the inner slick circle.  As I touch this area several tentacles close in and slowly grab my finger and I feel like I'm in an old fashioned horror movie.  I carefully detach my finger from all the tentacles and laugh at the experience.  D does not like anemone as much as I do and he's satisfied with one touch.

D touching a sea anemone for the first and last time.  I couldn't get enough.

          Next I touch the spines of a sea urchin.  They feel like the same material as a fingernail but are very sharp and pointed.  As I'm touching these spines I notice small flexible "fingers" come out and try to suck onto my finger.  I touch one of these and it attaches itself to me.  I gently pull my finger away and the suction is broken and the finger withdraws.  That was cool so I do it again, and this time it gets a much better suction on me.  Now the tip of this little finger is about the size of a mechanical pencil lead so it's hardly big enough to feel, but as I pull my finger away this time, it doesn't let me go.  I slowly pull further and further and I can feel the suction grip me tighter and I don't know what to do.  It doesn't hurt, in fact it more tickles than anything, but it won't let me go.  So I pull further away assuming at some point it will let go but it breaks off instead.

Touching the spike on a sea urchin before I discovered the small suckers.

          Aww, I feel bad.  I didn't want to hurt it.  At least it has hundreds or thousands of these tiny suckers so losing one probably doesn't matter.  We take a quick look at the sharks and head back in to explore the rest of the tanks.  Sand dollars burying themselves and jellies glowing under black-light are the last exciting things to see before we hit up the gift shop and head to the beach.

Waves crashing over the breakwater that separates the bay from the rest of the ocean.

          After a quick phone call to my sister we decide to spend some leisure time on the beach and postpone our trip to the USS Iowa battleship.  We can come back on a low tide day to explore the tide pools then visit the ship afterwards.

D's foot prints in the bi-colored sand.

          As we walk along the inner bay side of the Cabrillo beach the sand appears to be the typical tan color, but as we walk we notice a lot of black hiding beneath the surface.  The sand getting stirred up by the gentle waves makes it hard to see below the surface of the water as we dip in our feet.  It feels so nice to be walking barefoot in the sand, letting the water pull the sand from below my feet as the waves roll out.  We walk along the shore hunting for shells and soon I'm excited to spot a live sand dollar.  I pick it up to show D and several small water "rolly polly"s or pill bugs go crawling away and I quickly rinse the remainder into the water.  Eek!  I don't expect sand dollars to be covered in creepy crawly things.  As I release the sand dollar back into the water something bites my foot.  I shoo it away with my other foot and we continue hunting.  Soon our feet and ankles are getting bit again and we decide we want to get away from this water.  Maybe the locals are used to getting bit by tiny unseen creatures and are willing to brave them to wind surf and play, but we've had enough of this biting.  (It turns out the "rolly polly" creatures are the offenders called beach pillbugs that will attack human feet if they are hungry enough.)

A view of the shipyard from atop the rocks.

          The view of San Pedro from here is wonderful.  The city sits atop a hill that is currently obscured by low clouds.  This is the first time it's been this cloudy since landing.  We climb up some rocks and walk along the fishing pier taking in the view of the shipyard across the bay.  The USS Iowa is somewhere over there.

          Seagulls fly up and circle back to their spot as we pass, only slightly caring that we are here.  After looking at the long stretch of beautiful San Pedro that ends in cliffs at the ocean's edge, we head to the ocean side of the beach.  The waves are strong enough to push us around by our ankles and sometimes we're surprised with a splash that gets the bottom of our shorts.  We're holding hands and D stops to maintain his balance every time a wave comes making me halt as well.  Kelp tangles itself around our legs.  Walking sure can be a chore when you're fighting the ocean over who is stronger.  I love the views of the distant waves and watching as they crash onto the shore, but we did not come prepared for all the water's power, kelp, and the flies that come with it.  While all of this is normal for the people around us, we Midwesterners will have to get used to it.  I am very eager to learn to get used to it.

A seagull returning to its post on the fishing pier as pigeons also fly in from the left.

          Back at the car we promise to return at the lowest tide opportunity we'll get in the next month to explore the tide pools.  I wonder what we will be able to see.  We rinse the sand off our feet and begin the 55 minute drive home.  How awesome is it that this treasure of a location is less than an hour away?

We'll be back under those cliffs to explore the tide pools the next lowest tide day we get.