I hope everyone’s Monday is going well! I’m sitting outside currently and hoping the gray clouds won’t dump rain on me! I have some fun things to share from this weekend!

On Saturday, I went on a field trip to Año Nuevo to see elephant seals! They are currently in their mating season, so it’s a very unique time to see them.

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It was rainy and cold, but armed with multiple jackets, a rain poncho, and mostly no downpour, it was great! As a result of the cold weather, the seals were especially active.

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During mating season, the testosterone levels on the beach are high, and you have to go on a docent lead tour to go down and see them. Even still, we got pretty close to a few of them!

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These elephant seals are big. The alpha males can be as much as 5000 pounds!

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During this season, the seals come to the beach to mate. Often, the females will give birth soon upon arriving and then nurse their pups.

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Then, they will mate again before heading out to sea. During their time here, these seals don’t eat anything and survive off their fat stores. The babies gain weight incredibly fast-the mother’s milk is 55% fat, and pups can go from 75 pounds at birth to 250-300 pounds in a month.

This was my favorite seal-it kept looking at us and got pretty close! The guides told me he was probably around 1-2 months old.

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It was such a cool experience. We got to see all kinds of behavior-fighting, mating, nursing.

Afterwards, the class went to lunch at Duarte’s in Pescadero, which is famous for their pie and artichoke soup. I had half cream of artichoke and half green chile.

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Then, Saturday night, my sister had a birthday party. And of course, she had all kinds of delicious food-from snicker doodle cake to guacamole to baked brie.

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Sunday morning, I braved the torrential rains and went to a Spinning continuing education workshop. For my Spinning certification, I need 14 units of Continuing Education every 2 years to keep my cert active. Besides that, I was looking for some inspiration for my classes! This workshop was on cadence building and resistance loading. The format was a 70 minute lecture followed by a 40 minute ride to practice the techniques we learned. It was a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to incorporating some of these things into my next class!

In terms of food, here are a couple of shots:

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Mashed banana and cocoa powder, plain greek yogurt, and sunflower seed butter for breakfast pre-spin workshop.

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Mashed root vegetables, tilapia, green bean casserole, and rainbow chard.

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Dining hall breakfast-eggs with cheese, fruit, and roasted veggies. I love that they sometimes have those at breakfast!

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Veggie sandwich with avocado. Because avocado.

Have you ever seen elephant seals?

3 comments on “Elephant Seals

  1. a

    I love it when you post your spin classes! My gym recently got spin bikes for use to use, but I push myself so much harder when someone else designs the playlist!

  2. Kristen@Change of Pace

    Aren’t they beautiful! I can’t believe you got so close! Love all your eats… makes me want a veggie sandwich 🙂

    1. astottler Post author

      They are amazing!

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