Natural Bridges
A family picnic at the beach.
We went to Natural Bridges, which, in addition to the natural bridges (of which only one survives), is where the monarch butterflies come to do their thing in the eucalyptus trees.
We spread out our blankets and ate sandwiches and guacamole and cookies. We took pictures of things. Everyone in my family takes pictures. This is my little sister Maddie with her camera. It's bigger than she is.
This is the seaside of my youth. A proper beach.
A proper beach is littered with massive piles of kelp that dry out and rot on the sand, attracting swarms of flies.
The water here is cold, even in late August, cold enough that you really probably want a wet suit if you're going to be doing anything serious in the water. So most people just splash around. But an impressive number were actually swimming, or more accurately, letting themselves be submerged when the waves came crashing down.
I was surprised that it was sunny. After a few hours, the fog threatened to come back in from the ocean.
I walked down along the cliffs to investigate the tide pools.
The water erosion makes abstract patterns in the sandstone.
The tide was coming in, so it was dangerous to get too close to the interesting tide pools, but I did see some anemones and tiny crabs.
Flash back to elementary school and our class trips to visit the tide pools in Half Moon Bay.
I met a group of high school aged girls. One of them was having difficulty crossing a section where the water had eroded a channel all the way to the cliff and the only way to pass was to jump down and climb back up before the next wave came crashing through, or cling to the cliff and step across a couple of scary ledges. They asked me to take pictures of them. I said I would email them, and we didn't have a pen, but one of the girls had a lip liner so we took turns writing our email addresses on each other's forearms in brown lip liner pencil.
Later the most outgoing one told me they were from a group home, and she had just gotten out of jail and was stuck there until her father or grandmother could get themselves a stable enough living situation. She told me, "I want to go to college, I want to have a house of my own, I want to be a photographer, I want to be a beautician, I want to be a computer technician, I can hold down two full-time jobs; I've been hustling since I was a kid, I want to move in with my boyfriend." All this from a 16 year old with thick black eyeliner and shell-like green toenail polish. I found myself reciting platitudes: "Find yourself the nerdiest friends you can, spend all your time on your schoolwork, and go to college." She said she would write to me.
Digital cameras are a great way to make friends.
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I bought three pairs of shoes today, doubling the effective number of shoes I own.
Packed, ready, and weighed, leaving for Burning Man at 10 am tomorrow. "Our camp "Comfort" will be near the 3 o'clock plaza, close to the BRC volunteer fire station."