One of the locals we encountered informed us that the big ugly slugs are banana slugs and “they melt if you put salt on them.” I don’t think I need to try that to prove it for myself. I suppose it would be a real-life experiment on membrane permeability and concentration gradients. No matter, it sounds too icky to me.

A black-tailed deer. Looked an awful lot like a white-tailed deer to me. A skunk. We haven’t seen one of those for months. This heavily treed, wetter environment is more their habitat than all the desert we have been in. Oh, there was one more critter, and it definitely is not a cuddly little mammal. They have these huge slugs. Really gross. They are slithering across the trails in the forest. I won’t be going barefoot around here. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to have one of those squeezing up between my toes. YUCK.

This cove in MacKerricher Park is a Harbor Seal pupping beach. We have been checking on them a couple times a day since we got here. They are cute and it is fun to watch how the moms get them to do things. Oddly, we saw these signs not to fret over MacMolter. We couldn’t figure it out but today we saw him. He is just lying there. Away from all the other seals and up on the beach near people. It does make me think that there is something wrong. But, he is fine. He is just molting. He doesn’t need water. He isn’t sick. Leave him alone. Ok, I will leave him alone; but you can be sure that I will check tomorrow to see if he has moved on or is still just sitting there all alone!

We checked out the lighthouse at Cabrillo Point (and yes, we were at a Cabrillo Point lighthouse in San Diego. That guy got around). The shore in this area is rugged. There are areas of rocky beached coves interspersed with high bluffs. Beautiful but pretty treacherous. The folks at the County visitor’s center set us up with probably a week’s worth of stuff to see. They were supper enthusiastic. We will likely try one of the restaurants in the next day or two. The local specialty is fish and chips and their version of the ever present Californian Fish Taco.

Pinot Noir from Handley Cellars. It is a wonderful complement to our spaghetti with garlic and herb sauce and Kent’s home made garlic bagel chips. Not a sipping wine though for me. Chewy, earthy, full-bodied. Cool huh, I am practicing my wine tasting vocabulary. Anyway, we are enjoying it.

Key lime, Raspberry Lace, Blueberry, and Mendocino Mama (milk choc center in dark chocolate). We have tried the key lime and the raspberry…….ooooooh. Delightful. I suspect we will be similarly pleased with the others. I will let you know.

holed-up in the motorhome at MacKerricher State park, Fort Bragg
We will suffer through it though. Here we sit with a bottle of award winning Mendocino County wine and an assortment of truffles from a local chocolate shop. I will let you guess which of us picked out which of the sinful pleasures.

The mountain tops are white again and it’s in the 40s and raining in camp this morning. It is a driving day anyway. We are heading toward the coast so its not a big deal. I just hope tomorrow is better!

Forecast for snow at the higher elevations (3000 ft or higher) and night time lows in the 20s here in the valley. Brrrrrrrrrr.