On Saturday, my dad and I drove to the Cabrillo National Monument and visited the tidepools; the weather was perfect, and this is the only time of year you can visit, as in the summer, low tide occurs in the middle of the night. From this area, you can look across the bay and see San Diego and Coronado, and if it’s a clear day, you can also see Mexico (specifically, Tijuana). Also in the area is the old Point Loma lighthouse. 
This statue marks the place where historians believe conquistador Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo anchored his ship on his ‘voyage of discovery’ and claimed the land for Spain. The area now has a huge military presence, and the military cemetary where my grandfather was interred is less than a mile from this spot. 
The rules were pretty simple–if you see a tidepool animal, and you MUST touch it, use one finger and no more pressure than you would use to touch your own eyeball. Don’t pry anything off of the rocks, and just be respectful of the area and the ecosystem. Soooooo, I was pretty angry to watch people’s kids yanking stuff out of the water and stomping on it, with not a single move made by the parents to correct their behavior. There are times in my life where I wish, hope, and pray for a deep blue sea moment. Sadly, it was not to be. 
This seagull was also flagrantly breaking the rules and eating an octopus. 
Mr. Simpson, stop! A barnacle is a living creature! 
Anemone! After we hopped around on slick rocks for a couple of hours, the tide started to come back in, and going back the way we came would have been difficult without getting soaking wet. This was less of an issue for my dad, but I only brought one pair of shoes with me on my trip, so I was interested in staying as dry as possible. We ended up having to scramble up these rocks (I’m hesitant to say ‘cliff’ as it wasn’t quite high enough, but it damn well sure felt like one–my upper body is still weak as a baby kitten and needs much more work) to get back up near where we parked the car, which was the price we had to pay for being more adventurous in the hopes of seeing something truly awesome. 
We both escaped without cracking our heads, so I call this a win.
Is there an even bigger picture of the octopus-being-eaten picture? My poor eyes can’t make it out properly!
Sadly, no. No digital zoom on my camera. 🙁
Next time I demand you WADE OUT AND GET THE SHOT!
Yes’m!
Why would the octopus just sit there as the water went down? I thought they were brainy!
I wouldn’t have touched anything after reading the eyeball part, because I wouldn’t touch my eyeball unless absolutely necessary…
Those rocks look like they were made for climbing … I didn’t say easy…
I am sooooo squicked out by eyeball stuff. If a writer or a moviemaker wants to make me truly horrified, there will be eyeball popping of some sort. That guy who can pop his eyes out of his head makes me want to writhe on the floor in horrified convulsions. They practically have to hold my face against the machine to get the glaucoma test, and I could never, ever, ever look at a laser or a razor blade coming at my eye and not struggle and attempt to escape, which is why I will never be a lasik candidate.
ME TOO! my friend rawl and i actually discussed this EXACT stuff this weekend. it started out as a conversation about headcheese.
also, those little kids SUCK.
I’m interested in both the headcheese starting point and how you progressed from hog brains to eyeball squickiness. 😀
him and i were food nerding it out all weekend and while we were looking for Extreme Noise, we passed some of the mercados and taco places and either there was a sign for a funny food item or it made me recollect the story of Arturo’s and the “brians” on the menu, but i feel like that came after. fuck! i don’t know how headcheese started, but since eyes are in the head, we took that one as an agreed upon item that we did NOT want to try to eat. cos i did mention headcheese was actually good. fuck, i dunno – i should have taped us, the whole weekend was ridiculous. you will enjoy when i finally post up about our lunch at Grumpy’s.
I also do not want to eat anything that’s looking at me while I eat it. I would prefer to pretend that the head never existed.
I agree on Lasik, but I must now know: Have you seen “Black Christmas” (2006)?
Noooooo. Is this something that’s going to make me squirm and cry?
Oh, sweet Lord, for an eye-issue person, yes…
I shouldn’t have brought it up, because now I can’t stop thinking about the Christmas tree…
The worst part is, now I’ll have to hunt it down and watch it. I had been blissfully unaware of its existence, you cad!
Interestingly enough, I believe it was the first movie I watched on YouTube, and I believe this is the version I watched…
Even if you give up on it, you need to see the tree scene toward the end…
OK, OK, I need you to see it…
Get it, I?
I’m just too clever for my own good sometimes…
Bill Stickers is innocent
I just about laughed my goddamned fool head off at the orange sign.
It looks like the guy featured is TOTALLY INTO “EXTREME (XTREME?) DANGER”
In fact, in my mind, the sign is actually reads as a warning to be on the lookout for an unstable thrillseeker named Cliff Edges who may, at any moment, come vaulting the fuck over the railing scant seconds ahead of a roaring landslide.
XTREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEME
I KNOW. You have no idea how badly I wanted to draw in a little skateboard under his feet!