Why not begin with the last?

For a rundown of the whole trip and links to other activities from our vacation, go here.

It may've been one of the last days, but it was one of my favorite days. Oh, who am I kidding, they were all my favorite days. Still, this was a treat to see Capitola so stormy. In all my 17 years of growing up there I never once saw the beach completely covered in water. See where the foam ends? That's normally where the shore line begins.

The restaurants on the beach are now restaurants on the ocean.This was the only sand around, and apparently had been underwater itself the last few days as, hold your ears if you are eating, have a sensitive stomach, or generally cry when you hear about sadness with animals - there was a beached seal.I felt I was making a fapaux when I took his picture, but I had to record the moment in all it's sadness. Even then I couldn't take a picture of his sweet face.

Seal aside, it was a gorgeous day to view the power of the ocean. Though all of these photos were taken at the same time, some are perfectly sunny on the west side and stormy on the east as the storm was coming in from the east. Brando and I walked out onto the wharfand felt the power of the waves crash against the pier, making it shake as we walked across it.I held my camera over the side and videoed the oft small waves, now big, and rolling in right after the other. This was definitely an upside to being in California with so many storms rolling through - not only did we manage to drive from town to town avoiding the storms, we got to see the amazing after effects in the powerful, huge waves of the ocean - normally, a passive roll with a decent wave or two, now five powerful, amazing breaks coming in every which way we turned.

One of my favorite parts of Capitola is the brightly colored Venetian buildings. They are tiny vacation homes and always make me think of what the Mediterranean coasts must look like. The color of the buildings with the contrast of the storm behind it makes me in love with this photo.

A fun view point from the sidewalk as we walked in front of the buildings.