Banana Slugs

I haven't blogged very much lately. I haven't done very much else either. I've been a total slug ever since I got back from Detroit. I've been exercising more and that has sapped all of my spare energy.
My knee is getting a lot stronger, but there are times when it's pretty sore. It didn't help that the antibiotic I was taking caused joint pain. I've been able to take long walks. Last weekend I even hiked some hills and clambered over some small rocks on the beach. It was ok. Tonight I walked/ran on the treadmill for an hour. I only ran for a total of 10 minutes, in 3 segments. I went pretty slowly and I'm sure I shuffled a lot, but it felt ok. This was the first time I've run since before my surgery, and it's practically the first time I've run since I injured my knee last October.
I went up to Mendocino with T last weekend. He was teaching an abalone diving class, and I went along for the food. We stayed at Van Damme State Park. It's right across Highway 1 from the cove where people dive for abalone. While they were out diving, I went for a walk along the Fern Canyon Trail . As you can see, it's aptly named.

It snakes along the river for several miles. When the trail split, I wanted to take the shorter trail to see the miniature trees in the pygmy forest. However, it had rained a lot recently and I would've had to wade through the river. I took the upper trail and didn't make it all the way to the pygmy forest. Nonetheless, I still hiked a total of 8 miles or so.
I saw a lot of banana slugs. For those of you who've never seen one, they really do look like slightly bruised bananas. This one was about six inches long.

I also saw a lot of columbines and wild irises. That was probably more interesting than a bunch of small trees, anyway.

I'll try to blog more about the trip later.