The North Central Coast - Santa Cruz and Capitola

I recently went to Santa Cruz to visit friends and look for some edible mushrooms. Unfortunately, my patches haven't borne any chanterelles in a couple years, after about 5 years of great fruitings, but here is what I found along my journeys...

I don't think this bodes well for this fir, often these are evidence of a deeper fungal infection of the tree, and they can die in a few years.

 These are called 'Dead Man's Fingers' after their gravely appearance (they start black and turn a greyish white, with lots of airborne spores).

 There is a possibility this is edible, but not really work the work of making sure

 It seemed like springtime more than mid-February

But the rain on the plants showed some moisture was still to be had

 A spider living in the folds of redwood bark

 My alma maters mascot

 Up-close

 A wild Iris

 This cup fungus is not your usual mushroom

 As is this Black Witch's Butter, a slime mold

 The old growth was logged here to make limestone bricks to build San Francisco. The local rocks were baked in these kilns for a couple days, and the redwood is the best kind of lumber for such a hot, long, intense task.

They are so old, trees grew up through them, the park district cut them down a few years ago. The easy one to see in on the left, but a much bigger, and older, tree is on the right, overgrown with plants and vines.

 Capitola is a really great town on the beach south/east of Santa Cruz. Still touristy, it is much more manageable than further up the beach. 

They have eclectic shops, beach bungalow's, surf, sand and the California lifestyle in spades.

 

Around sunset

 This is a hotel facing the ocean with Dahli inspirations.

 There are a lot of metal sculptures in downtown Santa Cruz, but these caught my eye.

 This is an outstanding spot to have some authentic Greek food. I love the stuff and their lamb shank was to die for.