Surfin' Safari

It was definitely a trip down memory lane for me when I ran across this picture. The minute I laid eyes on it, the summertime song, "Surfin Safari"by The Beach Boys popped into my mind. It was practically the anthem of my youth, and the days when we would take the long drive to the beach from Pasadena to one of the beaches mentioned in the song, slather ourselves in baby oil or cocoa butter and lie in the sun to fry. Sunscreen was unheard of in those days, but Coppertone, with its iconic label claimed to tan without sunburn. I am living proof to the fact that it isn't true. My dermatologist will back me up.

During Spring Break groups of us high school girls would rent a house at the beach for a week. Balboa Island was my favorite. Perhaps a brief stay there with my parents when I was about four lingers in my memory, but it was the frozen bananas on a stick dipped in chocolate and nuts or sprinkles that lured me back. It was not, however, good for surfing because, being in a bay there were no waves.

It was during Spring Break of my senior year that I met John. Well, actually, I had met him at a Cal Tech function earlier, but he drove down to the beach while I was there. Did he come every day? Neither of us can remember,  but by the end of the week we were engaged. It certainly changed the trajectory of my life, for, being a senior in college his choices had been made, while I was just in the process of trying to decide where I would go. I decided on John before I decided on Cal Berkeley....Once I left for my freshman year, I never went back to Southern California for more than a visit again.

Northern California beaches have a whole different vibe. They are colder
and more beautiful. Most of them don't have lifeguards and are more popular for walking, often into a brisk wind, than getting wet. The tides and the weather have a way of re-sculpting the beach every winter when we are also warned of 'sneaker waves' and riptides. It is not the mellow, sun warmed, crowded sands of my youth, but I don't have to spend weeks after every trip to the beach recovering from sunburn, blistering and peeling either. A sweatshirt rather than a bikini is more common attire at the beach these days, and a dog and my husband of 59 years more likely to be my companions than a bronzed lifeguard.... 

Full disclosure, this picture of the woody was taken in 2016, but it was taken at our favorite Dillon Beach, which not only allows dogs but has a wonderful array of birds and sand dunes* to run slide down, or shelter from the wind. There are some surfers, but also kayakers, windsurfers and sailboarders...all strictly spectator sports now for me. 

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