there be whales

Today I learned that there are gray whales migrating south along the California coast right now because we walked along parallel with one for probably 20 minutes at Pescadero State Beach. It was moseying along out where the swells formed, surfaced every minute or so, and looked like it was covered with pink splotches that were probably its barnacles. We saw a few other sprays of water where other whales were surfacing, but they were quite a bit farther out. There was a seal out there, too, but we only saw that once, and a dead jellyfish washed up and back out. Fun was had by all, except probably the jellyfish.

In other beach-related news, lots of EIs I've talked to say that they do great at the beach, and standing in the water seems to make everybody feel great. I felt ok, but definitely not great. I never feel all that good at the beach. I don't know why, either, except my mom reports that the beach always gives her a runny nose, so maybe it just runs in the family.