Beach Bums

After soaking in the salty air at San Onofre we were responsible enough to get my car serviced before continuing. We decided the best way to spend our time in Southern California was bumming on the beach. I packed a beach bag, folded up our twister game beach towel, put on flip-flops and a bathing suit and away we went ocean bound. Once we reached the area where the grass met the sand we took our shoes off and let the sand slip between our toes. We watched surfers and occasionally braved the water ourselves. The beach was a little cooler than the East Coast beaches we are used to. Maybe it is still just too soon in the year. None the less it was pretty nice and the water temperature was comfortable. The beach was much rockier and the waves were much more intense than those on the Carolina shore. When they broke the water rose meters up the beach often carrying with it rocks and enormous seaweed. We read and soaked up the rays and the salty air. After a hard day of beach living we set up camp at the esteemed Doheney camping area. We were on the wrong side of the tracks so to speak. We were right next to the highway and not only was there a train but there was a hotel as well. The bright lights never really let the camp get to a comfortable level of darkness. We were able to look past this and make a campfire and snuggle around it. It got pretty cool at night so I was wearing a hoodie and sweatpants and we put our chairs right next to the fire and as you can imagine the very next thing that happened was the roasting of marshmallows. We made smores and of course I had marshmallow somehow all over me. By all over me I mean my face my shirt and somehow a little in my hair. I have no idea how this happened I think Brad sabotaged me. Just Kidding. Anyway we enjoyed the campfire smell and the taste of smores. We spent the next day lounging by the beach the entire day. It was really nice to get ready by putting on a bathing suit and enjoy a day in the sand randomly being sprayed by sea mist. The West Coast is really nice and it was neat to watch the people surf – It made both Brad and I want to surf. There were not as many shells or at least the shells were not all over the beach, I did however find a piece of beach glass.
I spent a majority of the day watching the beach birds. I have seen these birds all a number of times but since we live in the mountains the moments when I get to watch them are far in between. I was lucky enough to watch the birds eat and play and fight. We watched a pelican land on the water and float around dipping its large beak in for fish. It was funny to watch them. We saw a bird fight where one was pushed off a cliff and it looked for a moment that he forgot how to use his wings. He fell for a minute before expanding his wings and gliding for a minute while he looked as though he were gaining his bearings before he remembered to flap his wings and away he went. I was entertained by a group of ducks that were floating on the bay. I watched as they dove down and I giggled almost every time they stuck their little butts in the air. I could not help myself from taking pictures of them upside down. here are a couple of my favorites of these little guys...

One embarrassed duck -

Hey what are you doing?

Jonathan, Rebekah and Jessica?!? -
I also enjoyed watching them fly overhead as I lay on the beach. I could not resist at one point walking towards them and watching them fly all around me. There were at least 200 birds at the bank of the bay and when I walked towards them at least 100 flew around me, if not more. Although I did feel a little guilty for interrupting them I was happy to run with the birds for a second. They quickly went back to their business and I am so glad that I had the experience of hundreds of birds flapping their wings around me at once. There were so many moving at once that it felt like I could feel the energy of their flapping wings. There were pelicans, seagulls, ducks and all other types of birds you see at the ocean. It is always nice to watch birds. I also really liked looking at the sail boats in the distance as they strolled along the water. The scenery was nice as well. The bluffs forced you to look at them. The beaches I am used to are beautiful but there are not usually steep cliffs and bluffs jutting into the ocean. All in all we were really happy with the beaches of southern California and were happy that we allowed a few days to just hang out on the beach.