The Disgusting Underbelly of Santa Cruz

They didn't tell me about this before I got here. Did you know Santa Cruz is world-renowned for it's land mollusk population? Google banana slug. Go ahead, do it. The second result is the website for UCSC, because it's their damn mascot. Santa Cruz is technically a temperate rain forest, and as a result we have one of the highest populations of banana slugs in the world, apparently. Oh, and this is what they look like when they try to make the sex.

How gross is that?

I just walked out onto my patio barefoot and almost stepped on 3 snails, and there's another one trapped inside a vase. I wish I had a camera so I could document the terror I face on a daily basis. A few weeks ago, boyfriend found one IN THE KITCHEN. There's not even a door anywhere near the kitchen, which means it must have traveled for hours on it's quest to gross me out.

Moral of the story: not all clams are created equal. I'll stick with these little guys, thanks.