"If you don't see the book on the shelf, write it." ~ Beverly Cleary
*We’re busy eating delicious Thanksgiving leftovers and chatting-up our family, so we leave you with a sunny post from one of our beach days in Carmel. Oh how we miss that place. Have we mentioned it was a delight? We did? Well, it was just that, delightful. Hope your Thanksgiving was full of thanks.
We had a few days while we were in Carmel that we were packed up and practically loaded into the car and we made a split-second decision to change plans and stay close to home and lounge on the beach. The days we did that were fruitful and we never once wished that we’d gotten into the car and gone elsewhere.
The days on the beach were the days that we’d make Mimosas and sip on them while reading our international bestsellers and scooping sand into our pail. The smell of sunscreen and PB & Js were mixed in with the smell of kelp. We got to watch divers enter and exit the water with great skill and took many strolls on the pebbly sand.
But sometimes the beach just didn’t feel like it was going to be enough for us and we’d head out the door with our bags packed. (Here I write this in November and now, one month later, I’m wondering what the heck was wrong with the beach that I needed to leave it???? Jeesh!) We went to Monterey, Big Sur, and Santa Cruz on our adventure days…..avoiding long car rides unless a nap was involved.
We discovered that the Santa Cruz boardwalk really didn’t involve much fun, at least if you wanted to drink, walk your dog, ride your bike or skateboard. Instead of bemoaning all the wrongs of the ‘no fun’ sign, Barry bought Maggie some cotton candy and we were all happy.
When we origianlly decided that we were going to spend a few weeks in California, we set our sights on Santa Cruz becuase of everything that we’d read about it suggested that we’d like it. After spending the day there, which I am glad we did, we came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t have been as good of a fit for us. Our little Carmel beach cabin with all its funky charm was a perfect fit.
We’re not huge shoppers and our version of going out on the town is picking up a couple bagels and smoothies and finding a park to enjoy them in. Plus, we really like to have Sydney with us and it makes us sad to either leave her at home or keep her cooped up in the car. Although I was somewhat jealous of all the beach volleyball courts set up and I know we would have rented beach cruisers for the duration of our stay, I felt pretty good about our decision not to make our base camp in Santa Cruz.
We also spent plenty of time in Monterey….Barry rented a SUP and we took Maggie to the aquarium. We also rented bikes and rode them along the shore from Monterey practically through the Pebble Beach Golf Course. Neither Barry or I had done much research about the area of Carmel and so when we discovered that we were practically staying on the 18th hole of Pebble Beach, we both wished that we were fancy golfers for a day.
But even if we were super fancy-pants golfers, what would we have done with Maggie? Had her be our caddie? We would have been something else out there….probably would have been kicked off on the 1st hole.
We rented bikes and rode through a few holes and discovered a beautiful sandy beach loaded with tons of surfers. I’d take surfers any day over golfers, so it worked out for the best. Maggie hated her helmet and kept kicking Barry’s butt yelling for me. Meanwhile, I was trying to keep up with Barry’s massive triathlon legs and take pictures at the same time. Suffice to say, I only snapped a few images.
Nearly every single day of our trip involved water and us being in close proximity to it. I give Barry a hard time about how much enjoys all things water, but in reality, I feel the same way. Whether we were just out front of our cabin, on a hike or walking the boarwalk, we were always near the water.
Our days always ended with a s stroll down our favorite path. Tonight before it was night-night time for The Mags, we strapped on our head lamps, bundled up and headed out for a walk in the cold, stormy weather that November brings the PNW. It was cold and wet and I wondered silently to myself if snowflakes weren’t too far off in the future. I also thought about how just a month ago we were strapping ourselves into our car because spending another day at the beach was just too much to handle. What the heck?
Now that we’ve been home for a few weeks, vacation seems so far away. So much has happened since our return and looking at the images of our time away makes me want to carve out a little niche to preserve what we left behind. It just isn’t possible to do that and create the same ‘we’re taking it as it comes’ attitude here at home. For some reason the To Do list looms and speaks to me in a very non-vacation way.
Thankfully Maggie is neither here nor there on the issue of To Do lists and vacations. The little nugget is just bursting with words these days and has become a heavy-duty bookworm, intently looking at all the details of every story. She is again in love with “Is Your Mama a Llama” and I’m certain that both Barry and I can recite it with our eyes closed. She’s intent on getting anyone to sit with her and read, which makes me very proud. Except sometimes I’ll be directed to her rocking chair by the point of her index finger and some harsh “mamas,” with books piled in her arms.
As long as it’s not “Is Your Mama a Llama,” I think I’ll be able to imagine that I’m still on vacation and eventually the To Do list will get done….