The Other Side of the Stage ~ Update!

Before I get to that I want to ramble a bit about my Saturday. My oldest son will be attending school in Santa Cruz which is on the California coast. I went down to see where he was going to live (along with taking a care package and my expertise at setting up a wireless router) and decided to drive along Highway 1 which runs along the Pacific Coast. It did not take long for me to remember why I love living here so much. From the drive through an incredible tree lined highway, passing pumpkin patches, Christmas tree farms, wineries, nurseries, and ranches to the blanket of fog as I reached Half Moon Bay where the ocean is a pale grayish blue.

Along the highway there were many sand dunes and drifting sand and you can literally pull over and step into the ocean in some spots. When I finally hit the Santa Cruz county line at Pidgeon Point, to the right is Big Basin Redwood Park and the fog lifts turning the Pacific a brilliant combination of sapphire blue and emerald green. Amazing. I did not have my camera but I grabbed a couple of shots with my cell. If they look remotely decent I will upload them.

Surfers, wind sailing, kites speckled the coast and I could smell the fresh salt air. I can't recall a more relaxing drive or day. And yet another reminder of why I love living here. The house he will share in Santa Cruz is 2 blocks from the Pacific and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Lucky boy.

I remember when we were remodeling our house that we lived in my grandfather's house in San Francisco in the Sunset District which is 4 blocks from Ocean Beach. On winter days you could see the most amazing sunsets over the ocean and although the beach was dirty, cold, littered with broken bottles, trash, and the occasional used syringe we would walk down there on nice days, usually November or December. The best summers are winters in San Francisco, they say. But the beaches further down the coast are cleaner, some public and some state beaches, but all inviting.

Sorry for the walk down memory lane and that rather lengthy ramble but I've wanted to write that since last night. For those of you who made it through without hitting your drowsy heads on your keyboards, here is the link to Chapter 22 titled Dischord.

EDITED: Adding pathetic shots from my cell. It does not do the place justice but this was a treat all the way down to SC. The speckles in the sky are kites and in the ocean are a couple of surfers and many windsurfers.