We started the day at the Pack Rat Sale, a benefit for the Mendocino Botanical Garden. This annual event really brought out the shoppers. We arrived at 8:10 am and people had obviously been waiting for the 8 am opening because there were cars everywhere and the place was mobbed.

Despite the fact that I have to pare my belongings down to two suitcases, I couldn’t resist some vintage jewelry from Mexico that I will wear to the Mendocino Music Festival concert on Monday (the California Honeydrops). We also got a second hummingbird feeder so that the hummers don’t have to fight over the feeder in August when we return to Eckhart’s house with the wonderful deck and birds. We’ll give each species their own feeder.

Judging by people buying everything from power tools to lawn furniture, the sale will be a success for the garden.

We decided to continue our investigation of all the roads leading to the coast, this time taking notes. We went to the main entrance of McKerricher state park and realized that on our previous visit we entered somewhere else and had never made it there. The sun was out and surprisingly warm–it is July, though it has only been really warm for a few days. I was ready to try out my new camera that Jonathan got me for my birthday. My new Nikon Coolpix is waterproof AND has an optical zoom, which is a clever design for an underwater camera.

Walking around Cleone lake, we kidded each other about being out at the worst possible time for bird watching, and then we began to see birds. A blue heron, a great egret, a duck and duckling, hummingbirds. After a break for lunch, we explored an extension of the park further south toward Ft. Bragg. There is a pullout and trail head just south of Lyndon Lane. We saw some birds along the trail, and then walked on the sandy beach, where we saw what turned out to be a flock of sanderlings.