It's been another very long, but good day - so I'll make this pretty quick before getting to bed.
This morning, we left Santa Cruz where we stayed last night at the University Inn (owned by the University of California - Santa Cruz). We headed up Highway 1, north along the California coast to Ano Nuevo State Reserve (see more about it in the LINKS section). As we waited for our walking tours of the Elephant Seals birthing grounds and wonderful natural areas a couple of miles in -- the Agape Singers, never ones to waste any time, did some rehearsing right in the parking lot!
Then, we split into two groups, each lead by a naturalist and hiked toward the Elephant Seal area. As the light fog hung over the nearby mountains and then burned off, we saw many of the seal females and "pups" (some weighing several hundred pounds at this point in their development). They were up on the beach sleeping and just "chilling" as one of the kids said.
Read more about the Elephant Seals and this tremendous location along the coast at the website for Ano Nuevo State Reserve.
After heading farther up the coast, we headed inland to Portola Valley (near Palo Alto) and arrived at Valley Presbyterian Church. More to come about all of that in another post.....but, before heading off to home stays with members of the congregation and dinner at the various houses......the Agape Singers had a chance to rehearse a little in the magnificent sanctuary (with an all-glass back wall opening up onto a Redwood grove.
We'll all attend their 10:45 am service tomorrow (with the Agapes doing several numbers during worship) - then they'll do a half hour concert at 11:45 am for the congregation. You'll read and hear more later on that -- it's time to sign off from Agape Blog Central and get some sleep. Another full day to come tomorrow!
