I'm not a beach girl…

Thursday, February 10, 2011

…not if being a beach girl involves baking in the direct sunlight and 90-degree heat for hours at a time, anyway.

I'm totally a beach girl when it involves much cooler temps, lots of rocks & caves and driftwood, and no other people on "my" stretch of shoreline.


I love the beaches here on the central coast of california. If you're in the mood for crowds, there are piers & surfer beaches. If you want some isolation, there are some more secluded stretches. If you just want to sit on a rock and watch the waves roll in, you've got that, too. Just bring a jacket…it gets downright chilly sometimes!


You can explore tidal pools and caves and find sea creatures and collect driftwood and rocks and shells.


Of course, you've got to read all the signs carefully, as huge stretches of the shoreline are closed to protect the snowy plovers during their nesting season. Since we've seen them running all over on the open beaches, I tend to think they're not really in all that much danger. But that's just me.


It was fun exploring things when we first got here and my husband had some time off for house hunting and settling in. He took me to beaches I never would have found on my own.


And even some of the more touristy places are fun…watching the pelicans dive for their dinner at Pismo (occasionally a lazy one lands and hopes for a freebie from one of the many fishermen along the pier).


On the Avila pier, follow the barking to find the pile of sea lions sunning themselves down below.



Yep, give me these beaches over a body-strewn stretch of white sand any day!

3 comments:

becky said...

ahhh I so need a beach right now :)

Victoria said...

I never had a desire to move to go to California - until you started posting pics and talking about all the real-life fun to be had!

Chilly? You've been away from NY for too long!

Mom said...

I'm on my way! Wish that were true, it was 5 below this am. Will definitely need to explore those beaches when we do come.