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Aug. 30th, 2010 12:37 amStill enjoying retirement over here.
I do a lot of armchair traveling, and found a good campsite at New Brighton State Beach that coincided with the small heat wave earlier this week. The lovely neighbors were happy to take care of the cats for a night, so off I went.
I had SUCH a good time. It was really nice to travel by myself. I packed the car the night before (because it was cooler) and I suppose I could have been off right after morning commute hours, but I poked around and Did Stuff Around the House, not leaving until 12:30. It was so lovely to not be inconveniencing anyone else; more importantly, not to be hearing about it from someone. Henry, back in the day, would have been getting mad for hours. So it started really nicely: on my own time.
I'm very familiar with the campground, and hadn't been in this spot before, but it was a good one. My good old tent made a good nest. I experimented with a bunch of different types of Thermarests and other pads -- had sort of a Princess and the Pea stack of them all held together with a twin fitted sheet -- and was really comfy and cozy.
I took my bike down, again, and rode it to Santa Cruz both days. I'd found a swim center online before leaving, and also lap swam. It was great to get so much exercise, and I loved riding around. That whole area is SO bike friendly: even the major streets have bike lanes. I went to the Santa Cruz boardwalk, went on one ride, admired the calliope and merry go round, just enjoyed walking around.
The last day, off I went to Gayle's for breakfast, then back to my tent to finish reading One Day and wait for my tent to dry off (the fog rolled in the evening before and the tree I was under condensed and dripped water all night long), then to the beach. Anchovies are running and the waters were a riot of wildlife. It was SO FABULOUS. There's a pod of dolphins that's been there for a week, other beachgoers said. Two of the big ones, males most likely, were doing that wonderful swoopy leap that they do to breath, and then slapping their tails REALLY hard. I read or saw somewhere that they do this sometimes as a hunting technique: it stuns the small fish near where they slap for a few seconds, and they swoop in and eat them. There were riotous seabirds trying to steal food from the brown pelicans that were divebombing the water regularly, and nearest to show, scores of sea lions would surface and stay for awhile staring at the people on shore staring at them. But the dolphins, well, it's always magical to see them. I'm still not sure how many were there, but definitely two really big fins/dolphins, lots of medium-sized fins, and then you'd see tiny little baby fins, awww!
Then lap swimming again, and I decided to check out a portion of the Santa Cruz small boat harbor that I hadn't gotten to on my bike. I stumbled upon a California beach party! It was fab! A restaurant sponsored it to sell their BBQ dinners. Nigel and Clive is the name of the British Invasion cover band and they were good and funny. My last hours in the area were of sitting on a large sun-warmed pipe near the channel to the harbor, watching the small and medium sized fishing boats, sailboats, lone surfer, and a pack of paddleboarders come in as the sun set, then dancing for an hour in the sand before heading north.
Oh, I forgot to say, my neighbors said as I was leaving, if you want to stay longer, go ahead. I was having such a nice time after one day, I booked my site again for another night, so I was there three days and two nights.
It was splendid. I really like this retirement business.
I do a lot of armchair traveling, and found a good campsite at New Brighton State Beach that coincided with the small heat wave earlier this week. The lovely neighbors were happy to take care of the cats for a night, so off I went.
I had SUCH a good time. It was really nice to travel by myself. I packed the car the night before (because it was cooler) and I suppose I could have been off right after morning commute hours, but I poked around and Did Stuff Around the House, not leaving until 12:30. It was so lovely to not be inconveniencing anyone else; more importantly, not to be hearing about it from someone. Henry, back in the day, would have been getting mad for hours. So it started really nicely: on my own time.
I'm very familiar with the campground, and hadn't been in this spot before, but it was a good one. My good old tent made a good nest. I experimented with a bunch of different types of Thermarests and other pads -- had sort of a Princess and the Pea stack of them all held together with a twin fitted sheet -- and was really comfy and cozy.
I took my bike down, again, and rode it to Santa Cruz both days. I'd found a swim center online before leaving, and also lap swam. It was great to get so much exercise, and I loved riding around. That whole area is SO bike friendly: even the major streets have bike lanes. I went to the Santa Cruz boardwalk, went on one ride, admired the calliope and merry go round, just enjoyed walking around.
The last day, off I went to Gayle's for breakfast, then back to my tent to finish reading One Day and wait for my tent to dry off (the fog rolled in the evening before and the tree I was under condensed and dripped water all night long), then to the beach. Anchovies are running and the waters were a riot of wildlife. It was SO FABULOUS. There's a pod of dolphins that's been there for a week, other beachgoers said. Two of the big ones, males most likely, were doing that wonderful swoopy leap that they do to breath, and then slapping their tails REALLY hard. I read or saw somewhere that they do this sometimes as a hunting technique: it stuns the small fish near where they slap for a few seconds, and they swoop in and eat them. There were riotous seabirds trying to steal food from the brown pelicans that were divebombing the water regularly, and nearest to show, scores of sea lions would surface and stay for awhile staring at the people on shore staring at them. But the dolphins, well, it's always magical to see them. I'm still not sure how many were there, but definitely two really big fins/dolphins, lots of medium-sized fins, and then you'd see tiny little baby fins, awww!
Then lap swimming again, and I decided to check out a portion of the Santa Cruz small boat harbor that I hadn't gotten to on my bike. I stumbled upon a California beach party! It was fab! A restaurant sponsored it to sell their BBQ dinners. Nigel and Clive is the name of the British Invasion cover band and they were good and funny. My last hours in the area were of sitting on a large sun-warmed pipe near the channel to the harbor, watching the small and medium sized fishing boats, sailboats, lone surfer, and a pack of paddleboarders come in as the sun set, then dancing for an hour in the sand before heading north.
Oh, I forgot to say, my neighbors said as I was leaving, if you want to stay longer, go ahead. I was having such a nice time after one day, I booked my site again for another night, so I was there three days and two nights.
It was splendid. I really like this retirement business.