This entry was posted on Sunday, September 21st, 2008 at 9:31 pm and is filed under Bay Area Backroads, Out and About, Pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
When I think back to growing up in San Diego, the pieces of time that I remember msot vividly and fondly are surrounding thoughts of the ocean and Mission Bay. I can remember fishing, boogie boarding, body surfing, snorkling and sailing as though it were yesterday and I am thankful every day for those experiences that brought me so much joy from life. Even today thoughts of the beach bring me happiness and my dreams include sailing with my family to distant shores. I’m thankful that my children have a similar love of the ocean and they really seem to come alive whenever we’re even near to the beach.
This year, after visisting the fair, we decided to visit Santa Cruz’s Natural Bridges State Park and Beach at the northern end of Santa Cruz. It’s a relatively small beach, and as you can see it’s quite beautiful. So beautiful in fact that someone decided to have their wedding on the beach and we showed up in time to watch the bride creeping out across the beach in at least 6 inch platforms. It was a site to behold, but she made it and hopefully their wedding was as beautiful to them as the day at the beach was for us.
The first picture, at the top of the page, was a great start for our beach exploration - Natalie figured out that there were hearts and stars on the sole of her shoes and she could see them in the loose dirt. It has always amazed me how these simple things can be such a surprise to children and this was no exception. It’s so beautiful, too, as you realize their pleasure out of something that I’ve forgotten to even look for. Like the ocean, I am thankful to my children for reminding me of the little things and how special they can be.
We didn’t make it all the way to sunset, but the slightly overcast weather, light winds and relatively low tide allowed us to have a nice walk along the shore and then towards the tide-pools. The girls had a great time and as you can see from these pictures and those in the gallery it was a great time for all.
Papa
