A Sunday Drive

Instead of doing house things today, my wife suggested that we go for a drive up the coast to see if we could find some of the big waves. As we were prepping to hit the road, I got a call from a good pal who was back in town for a few hours. We shuffled plans some and went up to Santa Cruz to see him for a little while before heading out for our journey up the coast.

We met at a coffee house and had a good time catching up despite the kook a table away from us who kept trying to draw us into a conversation with him. Despite repeated attempts to engage us on various topics, none of which we'd been discussing, we enjoyed catching up with our friend and his sweet (but huge) lab/Weimerauner.

No offense to kooks or anything but jeez, dude, take a hint and quit trying to bum rush our visit.

Anyway, he (our friend) had to get on the road as he was headed back north to Truckee and some studying for a job interview in the morning. We packed up and headed out for the coast.

Not to rub it in to anyone in the throes of winter's cold grasp but it was freakin' beautiful today. Warm, sunny and just a touch foggy and hazy out on the water. Really a lovely day to be enjoying the natural splendor just beyond our doorstep.

Oh yeah, we also filled up the Escape with gas at CostCo for $1.76 a gallon and a total cost of $25 for 14+ gallons. Apparently the oil producing nations are trying to convince us that we don't need to get off their oil. They are like drug dealers and I hope America is not going to fall for their tactics and we keep pushing towards alternative energy. But it was still pretty damned sweet to fill up the truck for so little money.

We drove north on Highway 1 out of Santa Cruz along with lots of other traffic including a large number of weekend bikers on their tarted up and overly noisy Harleys. But there were alot of other biker out and about too and it made me wish I were able to go for long rides still. But there's something to be said for exploring the world with one's family and I knew we'd have a good time together.

We didn't rush too much and cruised up the coast, I stopped once to take some photos of the big surf pounding the snot out of one of the beaches that just happened to have three people riding horses across it. Made for some decent photo ops but the glare, the haze and my wee zoom didn't really produce anything super memorable.

The boys had been sleeping to that point but were now fully awake and ready for some action so we scouted out a place to get out, stretch our legs and go play in the sand and surf some. The first place we stopped wanted us to pay $6 to park for an hour which felt a bit crazy so we pulled back out and headed south until we found another spot. The parking lot and rest area were way up above the ocean but there was a good asphalt path down to the water. I knew the climb back up would include some pointed requests to be carried by both the boys.

The waves were big, loud and random. Not the kind of day to turn your back on the ocean for very long lest you find yourself being pulled out to sea. One couple who'd been strolling along found themselves in water above their knees in a moment, the man was able to bound out and up onto a small sandy outcropping, the woman nearly got swept out. We kept a very close eye on the boys.

After a little while down on the beach we headed back up to the car, no hurry, just cruising and enjoying some quality family time with a minimum of whining, no television to distract and the fantastic California weather. It isn't hard to understand why I love living out here on days like today, especially when I compare it to weather back in Vermont right now. I like winter in small doses.

Anyway, we headed for home, a little sandier and a little tired out from spending the day out and about.

I got a chance to put on the second coat of Polycrylic to the boy's bunk beds while everyone else took a break, either napping or watching some tube. One more coat tomorrow and the bunk beds will be ready to put into use. I can't wait! It means more room in their room, underbed storage and I get to reclaim alot of my garage which is a win/win/win!

Tomorrow is a return to work and tasklists a mile long. With some luck, I'll get some good stuff taken care of, I'll get a bike ride or two in and December won't suck. Oh shit, its December now. Time to get to bed.

We Took a Drive

Yesterday was my last official full day of holiday break and the weatherman had said it was going to be stormy up north. So we went south towards Monterey, Carmel and Big Sur. Its pretty ridiculous to live so close to such an amazingly awesome place and to not visit as often as possible.

We stopped just a few times to take some pictures but I did get a few that I'll keep. The throwaway shot above is one.

This is another, from one of the many turnoffs and pullouts on the road. Its a neat and very smart idea to have so many turnouts to make it so easy to pull off andreally take in the splendor. Words don't really convey it, pictures hint at it but the totality and sheer majesty of the whole place is beyond the scope of any lens. Not that people shouldn't try, of course.

One of the really unusual and kind of neat sensations I had was at one of the vista points. I stood up on the edge of a cliff some two or three hundred feet up from the water and felt warm air rushing up the cliff face contrasted with the colder air that had settled into the shadier dirt of the overlook. The warm sea air smelled fresh and, very faintly, like faraway places.

In fact,the whole ride was pretty good fun, until Sully got car sick and ejected cookies all over himself and his car seat. That was a bit of a downer for everyone. But we learned alot for our next trip down, which will likely be an overnighter, maybe even with Nande too.