20030816 Plover plover plover

I fired up the V-Star to tour some new places today. First up: Zmudowski State Beach. It required negotiating a zig-zag path through the fields north of Moss Landing. It's a lush area, yet oddly low-profile; I don't think anything they cultivate in Monterey County is taller than my cruiser bike. Zmudowski seems a good place to get away from the crowds. Snowy plover are common on the beaches between Watsonville and Monterey. I heart those little guys. The way they chase the surf, their tiny legs whirring, and then the surf chases them—back and forth, back and forth—I know they're just trying to eat, but it seems more like a show just to make me laugh. It's hard to get a decent snap of them without a telephoto lens and tripod. Next up: Salinas River State Beach. Many horses with green riders—I stayed well way from them. There were also a lot of fisherpeople. This beach was too busy for good plover watching, so I moved on. The entrance to Elkhorn Slough was surprisingly far inland. I'd like to hike and take some kayaking classes at ES. Road leathers being less than ideal for long walks or boating, I turned around and made my way back along Dolan Rd to Hwy 1. I had intended to take some close shots of the Duke Energy Moss Landing power plant from the side, but Dolan Rd is plastered with No Stopping At Any Time signs near the plant even though it's plenty wide for safe parking. Security issue? Normally I would have ignored the signs, but with the current hysteria over terrorism and electrical power, I thought better of it. I checked out a surplus/survival gear store just north of Moss Landing, found nothing interesting, then tootled on into Watsonville for Death By Burrito.