Life's a Beach

I thought you'd enjoy another photo of our beautiful autumn weather. Here ya go:


What? You say I mistakenly uploaded a winter scene? Au contraire. It is indeed a photo I took on the road Friday. William's football game this weekend was a six hour drive away in Eureka, on the northern California coast, so we decided to meet up with Sam and Kyla and make a weekend of it. To get from here to there we had to drive over the Cascades, the northern tip of the Central Valley, and the Coastal Range. The first two hours I spent driving in this unexpected (at least I assume, since there were no snow plows out) early storm.


As you can see, the weather improved considerably on Saturday. This is the view atop my favorite beach in the little town of Trinidad. Sam counted the steps down to the beach - 277. Or 267. Or 282. Something like that. The point here is that 277 (or 267 or 282) steps DOWN means there are also 277 (or 267 or 282) steps one must also climb UP.




My idea of time on the beach is beachcombing, taking photographs, just taking in the sights and sounds of the surf and sand. The boys idea of time on the beach involved lots of climbing. I didn't yell "Get down from there!" Okay, I didn't yell it more than once or twice. I knew it would only make them climb more.

Apparently that first rock wasn't tall enough.

William doing a John Lennon imitation.

Me communing with some of the native foliage. I was gathering a small branch of bay laurel, one of my favorite coastal scents.



Sunday the weather was a bit chillier. And wetter. First fog (which is what we expected in the first place) and then drizzle and finally a solid rain. It didn't stop us from checking out three new beaches however. We were looking for new agate hunting territory. Didn't find any, but we did find some beautiful scenery.


You'll think I'm crazy (okay, craziER), but cold and drizzly is my favorite weather at the beach.

When they couldn't find rocks, they climbed driftwood.

Rosie took shelter as soon as the first raindrops hit. She thought we were all a bit nuts for wanting to be out in the elements when there there was a perfectly dry car to stay inside.

The drive home fortunately involved no snow, but I did get to drive in a pouring rain for a couple hours, gusty winds for another couple hours, and darkness for the last two hours. All on curvy mountain roads. In a car with a stick shift. Between the driving and the climbing up and down cliffs and through sand, my arms and legs were so sore I could barely move by the time we got home. I had a lot to do today though and, fortunately, I worked out the stiff muscles.

There was more than driving and beach walking over the weekend. There was food, shopping, eating. I'll post about a bit of that tomorrow. But now I have to go upload some photos of ACTUAL ARTISTIC CREATIONS, created by Yours Truly. I know, I know. Please don't faint. Instead, go check them out over at the studio.