We were going to go away for the weekend.

Unfortunately, when you want a room on the beach the next-to-last weekend of summer, and don't start looking for said room until late Friday, you're not going to find anything for under $200.

So we slept in.

And had hot dogs for lunch in Alameda.

Then headed over to the peninsula.

We stopped in Half Moon Bay, because I needed a pair of pants.

If you ever happen to be in Half Moon Bay, and need a pair of pants, right when you come into town, before the intersection, there's a little strip mall on your left.

In it are several stores with the same Discount! signs out front. The one in the middle has all manner of really cheap clothing.

I got two pair of lightweight plaid pajama pants, eight pair of earrings, a package of cute hairpins, and six pair of patterned anklet socks for $23.

We passed a cherry stand on Highway 1 and I told Chad to stop at the next one on the right. The only other ones we saw were on the left, and I never got my cherries.

We ended up at San Gregorio, which you may have heard mentioned in a Beach Boys song.

Chad left the biggest footprints along the entire Northern California coast.

There were lots and lots and lots of crabshells, from tiny sand crabs and bigger eat-em crabs, but they were mostly crushed to bits. The undertow there is very strong.

I had a baby blue and white baseball jersey in junior high that looked just like this. It said California in a sparkly informal script.

Ewwwwwwwwwww, jelly.

At the family picnic last month, there were zillions of blue jellies (Velella velella)washed up at Stinson (and other places).

After a month of lying out in the sun, they looked like toe calluses.

We also spotted a rare kelp palm (Palma laminaria).

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