Elkhorn Slough

We have talked about a wildlife adventure to Elkhorn Slough for quite a while but it took Ray and Gloria Bell to get us off the dime.  They arranged to get us, Norm and Edie Van Woerkom, Ray Anderson and Karen Wade to go with them in the middle of April.  It turned out to be a gorgeous day and just perfect for our wildlife tour.  Sad, though... .Ray Bell didn't get to go with us because of a lingering cold.  So in honor of Ray, we will post these pictures and let him know to look at them.

So where is Elkhorn Slough?  Perhaps this picture of the electrical generating plant at Moss Landing between Watsonville and Castroville will help you remember.

What a great day for a safari.  We layered on the clothing just in case was too cool but you can tell we had to remove a layer as we got in the boat.  So here is Gloria, Karen, Julie and Ray.

And here is Norm helping Edie get her jacket off

Cormorants on the dock at Moss Landing Harbor

This area is not just for boaters but there are some serious photographers who come here as well.

Much like Pier 39 in San Francisco, some California Sea Lions hang out here.

Here is a lone cormorant on a piling.  When these birds get in the water, about all you can see is their necks sticking  out like periscopes.

A pair of flying cormorants.  They have weirdly crooked necks.

Sea otters always look so playful; floating on their backs with their feet out of the water.  It warms up their extremities.  Notice the red tag on his hind flippers.  He has been marked for tracking purposes.

A bunch of terns on the poles of a now-defunct salt evaporation area

This tern is getting ready for flight

No, this is not a sea lion.  It's a harbor seal (short front flippers)

A seal pup with his mother.

Like they were posing for us.

Notice his white whiskers

White pelicans

Sand pipers

Canada goose

I don't know what the next two birds are (couldn't remember everything we saw that day).

Avocets.  Beautiful colors

Why are we smiling so broadly.

After a fun day meandering around in the slough, we went to lunch at the Fish Market in Moss Landing.

We asked about renting kayaks for a more personal tour.  OK going out in the morning but be careful.  The on-shore wind picks up later in the day making is tough to paddle back to the harbor.  Maybe taking an electric trolling motor along would help on the return trip.

Thank you Ray and Gloria for planning this great trip with good friends.

Afton is Kelsi

The title of this post is what Brady told Stef after Afton successfully auditioned for the San Benito HS (Hollister, CA) production of "High School Musical" (HSM).  It took Stef a while to figure out what he was saying.  Afton played the part of Kelsi Nielsen.  Julie and I went to the 2nd night of the play a couple of Saturdays ago.

If you haven't seen HSM, it's about a group of high school students who are very cliquish: the skaters, the braniacs, the jocks, the drama people, etc.  Some have described the plot as a modern day adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.  It's a story about two high school juniors from rival cliques – Troy Bolton (one of the "jocks"), captain of the basketball team, and Gabriella Montez (a natural to fit in with the "braniacs"). Gabriella is a transfer student who excels in math and science.  They both try out for the lead parts in their high school musical and the cliques are threatened to be divided.  Troy and Gabriella resist peer pressure and rivalry, inspiring others along the way not to "stick to the status quo". Sharpay Evans, a drama queen and high school diva will do anything to sabotage the friendship between Troy and Gabriella and also get a lead in the school musical, assisted by her brother Ryan, and become the girlfriend of Troy Bolton.  So you see the plot has a few "conflicts" in it to keep it interesting.

Afton played the part of Kelsi Nielsen, a rather introverted but creative student who composed the musical being staged by the drama department.  (BTW, the school play is titled "Juliet and Romeo")

Stef worked behind the scenes to help create the program.  She took pictures of the students (jumping) and put them all together on the front cover and played a big part in the internal design.  She also took individual pictures of the cast members and posted 8x10's of them in the hallway leading into the theater.  A very good support for the play.

There were about 50 cast members in all and 20 of them were LDS students.  Several of Afton's church friends had some impressive roles.  Taylor Lawrence played the part of Gabriella, Afton's boyfriend Nick DeHoyos (sp?) played Troy Bolton, Shaelyn Eggers played Ms. Darbus, the stern drama teacher.  There were others..

Afton colored her hair, had it cut shorter and dug up a very nerdy pair of glasses to more fit the part.  Very impressive.  Now that you've read all this, catch some of the pictures below.

Afton's Bio

Program by Stef

Afton as "Kelsi"on the right 

Shaelyn as "Ms. Darbus" the drama teacher (in the green)

"Kelsi" and 'Sharpay"

"Kelsi" and "Gabriella" (Taylor Lawrence) and "Troy" (Nick)

"Gabriella" and "Troy"

Group hug

"We're All in This Together"