A Saturday Afternoon at the Beach

A couple weekends ago, C and I decided to spend an afternoon at one of the many beaches up Highway 1--we packed a beach bag, loaded Buckwheat in the car, picked up some sandwiches on the way out of town and embarked on a beach adventure. We were shooting for a beach that our friend had recommended but the directions were vague so, after realizing we had missed it, we decided to stop at Greyhound Rock Beach instead.  

The beach was reached via a descent down a narrow trail and was home to a enormous rock jutting out of the water just offshore.  It was also fairly unpopulated.  We walked south past a couple groups of people and selected a spot that we thought looked sheltered.  C proclaimed himself starving and ripped into his sandwich as soon as the blanket was down.  Moments later, Buckwheat, in a burst of excitement, kicked sand all over the blanket (and all over C's sandwich).  It was our first lesson of day: always keep your dog secured or at a safe distance while eating at the beach (or your sandwich might end up with some actual sand in it!).  

Soon after we finished our sandwiches, it became clear that our sheltered location was actually not that sheltered.  This was most evident when I found myself chasing a brown piece of paper 100 feet down the beach (it kept blowing away just as I was about to grab it!).  A bit of scouting solved this problem.  Beach lesson #2: figure out which way the breeze is blowing before unpacking your beach bag. 

Our last lesson of the afternoon came when we sat down to play backgammon.  Neither of us had played in several months and there was zero cell service to assist us.  I set up the board to the best of my recollection.  It was not right.  The game felt clumsy.  It just wasn't as fun. Beach lesson #3: know how to set up a backgammon board before heading out of cell phone range (this lesson proved useful for our trip to Tahoe).

The rest of our afternoon was uneventful (which was just how we wanted it).  I read Ender's Game (because we had recently seen a preview for the movie and I hate to see a movie before I read the book).  C read The Great Gatsby (because he had somehow made it through high school without reading it and we wanted to see the movie later that weekend).  We ate some chips and salsa and a bag of Skittles Blenders (I don't even like original Skittles but these things are delicious!).  There was some exploring and some snoozing and some goofing around.  C and I agreed we should do it more often.  We're talking about exploring a different beach this weekend.  I hope we do!

Below are some photos from our Saturday afternoon at Greyhound Rock Beach: 

Buckwheat explores

Beach Essentials or Things that Start with B: Buckwheat, Backgammon, Book, Blanket, (Sun) Block, (Ray) Bans

Backgammon Fail

Buckwheat Basks

People like Ants on Greyhound Rock

Buckwheat Does Tricks 1

Buckwheat Does Tricks 2

Beach Day Portraits

Caught in the Breeze

Love Him.

All Packed Up

Cliffs.

Looking Back

Scruffy Pup.

Surf and Sand.

Greyhound Rock from Above.

The End.

It's afternoons like these that I feel especially grateful to live here.