nisene marks adventure walk

that's right. we had an adventure walk today through the forest of the nisene marks state park. we don't know what the name nisene marks means, but we like it. this is what it looks like in the afternoon sun:


this forest is the home of the epicenter of the destructive 1989 loma prieta earthquake (occasionally, and erroneously, known as the san francisco earthquake of 1989), and is a short 15 minute drive from our house. perhaps you remember it as the earthquake that rocked the bay area during the world series in 1989, when the oakland a's were playing the san francisco giants. the greater bay area experienced significant damage, including the collapse of a portion of the bay bridge, seen here:

while the destruction closer to san francisco was well known, the epicenter of the earthquake was in the heart of this quiet redwood forest in santa cruz county. according to our book "The Santa Cruz Mountain Trail Book," there are areas in the forest where one can find deep fissures in the ground and gaps in the fencing where the earth lurched forward. we didn't find these geographical landmarks. we did, however, find this:

our hike in nisene marks gave us an outstanding opportunity to take our new christmas binoculars for a test drive:

it was also a great opportunity to catch up with our old army buddy joe, who helped guide us along the banks of aptos creek: