Camping - Winter 2022

 We woke the next morning to find Caleb already up and ready for a walk along the ocean. He had flown in from the East Coast last night to enjoy a week of spring break. So after a sumptuous breakfast of berries and waffles, we walked the coastal path—a good three-mile walk, I think. We stopped to look at the fish market along the pier in the harbor. Then it was time to say good-bye and head back to Jalama Beach for one more night. (Rocket launch was successful.) It was mild and sunny, with almost no breeze at Jalama—such a difference from the wind and cold we’d had the first few days. It was good just to sit and read, listening to the surf and the bird song. There is something healing about this place…..

 Everyone except Phil and me left for work and for school, so Phil and I spent the day reading, doing laundry, and walking the dogs. So relaxing, and Amy’s home is like a gracious inn, so comfortable and lovely. I did take Toto for a walk along the ocean footpath, which is one block from their home. For dinner, Amy fixed an amazing pasta dish, and Paul brought out some great wine. We all gathered around the table and feasted. So nice to have Hannah and Kai join us, and Emma reported an enjoyable visit to a possible university in her future. Go, Emma! The evening was finished off with a rousing series of episodes from The Bachelor, in which we all dissected and analyzed the participants and enjoyed watching emotional scenes unfold. Great drama!

 Hardly a breath of wind when we got up this morning, so we enjoyed another walk on the beach with the dogs. I love how the long, shallow beach at Jalama allows water to coat the sand as waves ebb and flow, creating almost a glassy mirror that stretches all the way to the surf.  We drove back through the verdant coastal range, making our way south. It’s about a 75-minute drive from Jalama Beach to Santa Barbara. We ordered out Mexican food for dinner, and enjoyed seeing Emma again, who had been in Oregon checking out George Fox University when we’d visited earlier on the weekend. We enjoyed wine on the patio, and later on the upper deck overlooking the Pacific.  After dinner, we watched The Great Gatsby (Leonard diCaprio), because Emma is studying the book in school. Wonderful day!

 Today was memorable for the walk I took up the road out of the park and up along the bluffs.  Further up the road is a fence, warning walkers to stay away from the cliffs. However, a distinct path led right to the cliff, so I took it, and found a grassy plateau that overlooked the beach, with spectacular views all around. I sat for a while, enjoying the wind against my face, the sound of surf far below, the hawks that circled overhead.  It is difficult to convey the feeling of peace, of remoteness, of the healing beauty of this stretch of coastline. I would return here, lack of phone signal notwithstanding. This afternoon Phil and I took our lounge chairs and sat in an empty campsite that overlooked the rest of the campground and the ocean, reading our books. This was our view: The wind has died down, and the air is much warmer. It is nearing perfection here. However, tomorrow we must drive down to Santa Barbara with the dogs, because Vandenberg Space Force base is launc...

We woke to clearing skies, wet earth, and rainbows.   We took the dogs for a walk on the beach. Today was a good day for that, because the sand was wet and wouldn’t blow into their eyes. Every day here has been windy, and every day we’ve had windsurfers hanging on to their colorful sails, leaping over waves, cavorting and turning in the surf. This is a splendid place for it.  The park is supposed to have WiFi, but we have stopped trying to access it; it’s too frustrating. Sometimes if we sit within ten feet of a certain pole and the wind is not too strong, we can get a faint signal, but it disappears as soon as it comes, and e-mail or texts are impossible. Funny how attached one gets to that electronic tether. Am enjoying reading all the books on my Kindle that I’ve never had time for. 

 We woke to magnificent skies of blue with huge, drifting clouds. There was a stiff, chill breeze. Most of the weekend crowd emptied out this morning, so we were left with lots of room to ourselves.  We had water hookups and electric, but no sewer, but were right across the lane from the bathrooms. Showers required quarters, which we had few of, so we decided to take brief showers in the trailer and just empty out the gray water at night, into the soil. Not really kosher, but it doesn’t harm anything, so…. The biggest drawback is the lack of phone service and Internet. One of our first activities at Jalama this morning was to drive 20 minutes back into the hills, to where we could get phone connection (we’re selling one of our rentals and needed to stay in touch). This is where we finally found a signal: Later we both took long walks along the beach, which stretched for miles to the south (at low tide), running below high bluffs covered with shrubs, grasses, and yellow leopard...

 We were on the road by 8:45, hoping to cruise through the Los Angeles freeways. It was busier than we’d hoped, and Phil had a trying time of it, maneuvering our Wolf Pup through stop-and-go traffic, trying to change lanes, trying to remain civil when cars sped past and around us without the courtesy of blinkers. By the time we got to Paul and Amy’s in Santa Barbara, he was done in and had earned himself a break. Thankfully, Amy is a hostess extraordinaire, bringing out wine and arugula pizza and veggies, throwing our load of laundry into the washer, and in general cheering us up with her warm smile and laughter. Paul brought home some goodies for lunch, and gathered around the outside table with them and Kai and Hannah. Caleb joined us via Skype from college on the East Coast. After lunch, Phil was able to face the traffic again, which wasn’t bad at all, going up 101 north, then to Hwy 1, and finally to a small, winding road that led deep into the California coastal range toward t...