Beautiful day

Saturday we, and a whole bunch of other people, headed for the beach.  There were more people there today than I have seen all summer.  It was also warmer than most summer days.  (Keep in mind that it was probably all of 65 or 70 degrees.)  It just proves that on any given day you should take shorts and coats to Santa Cruz.  You might  need either or both on any day of the year. 
The monarch butterflies are also a big draw at this particular beach this time of year.  Each year they come to winter in the eucalyptus trees.  It's pretty cool to see so many of them flying around.  In the cooler parts of the day they cluster in the trees which is a pretty amazing sight.

We built two different sand castles, one with and one without a moat full of water.  We had to move down the beach a bit to get the water to stay in.  My Girl specifically requested a castle with a moat and a draw bridge.  Done.



I like the quick sandy sand at the bottom of the holes when the water seeps back in.  Great for toe squishing.

Something else that was pretty fun today was the exceptionally low tide.  You could walk under the bridge.  That doesn't usually even come close to happening.  You can tell by looking at the rock that at times the tide is high enough to nearly cover the opening.  That's a pretty big difference.

The low tide also exposed the anemones, mussels, and a few sea stars.

Beautiful day.