A Little Ways From Home Is Bliss

I like being outside. 

I like looking at the world as it moves and breathes. 

Little movements seen from the corner of my eye catch my attention and set my mind whirling with curiosity. 

As I have gotten older I have learned the art of just being still and letting the world move around me. I find solace and peace in the smaller, easier movements of life outside of town. 

Sometimes I get a break just by going to a good size park or to the beach but sometimes I need a little more of an escape. 
I love to visit beaches in the Oxnard and Ventura area because they are so much less visited than other beaches in the Southern California area, and it is a perfect distance from home because a round trip is less than a tank of gas for my awesome VW Jetta stationwagon  Grocery Getter.

Warm Sunset at McGrath State Beach

Twilight at McGrath State Beach

Not too long ago

I made an afternoon landing into McGrath State Beach , met a friend and settled in for a quiet fire. It was off season so we had the place to ourselves. It was so mild out that we ended up sleeping out in the open rather than in our cars. 

Camp fire

This year McGrath stayed flooded all season (an amazing estuary for all kinds of shorebirds and western migratory birds), so until the water goes down I won't be staying there. 
I am not too sad though, because this February I was led to a little intimate Ventura County campground  that will do just fine in the winter months. It is a 'no reservations' campground so in warmer months it is impossible to get a spot. 

My morning coffee panorama

We were so close to the sea that the waves sent gentle thumps through the ground as they fell on the rocks of the breakwater, and salt spray misted the air. The sun warmed us on this cold January (one of the coldest in CA history) morning, and even Maggy was content to warm her bones in the sun rather than usher off the local brave soul.

Maggy and a brave pigeon

One of the many things I love about being outside at the beach is how the air feels. Being so close to the salt water adds a 'hint of sea' to everything I touch, taste and smell and connects me to what I see on a primal, visceral level. 
It softens the edges of everything I see, and sounds are 'thicker' around the sea.  
My heartbeats and breathing synchronize to the rhythmic rustling of water that lies underneath the ambient sounds of what is going on around me. 
I have been around water for most of my life and there is no denying my connection to the sea.

Moody Dunes

 Just a few miles south of the county campground in Oxnard, the coast looks very different. I love stopping here to take pictures in the afternoon or early morning because the golden sunlight looks amazing on these dunes ..

Iceplant and blue glass

Driftwood

Travel south on Hwy 1 less than 10 minutes and the coast changes it texture and timbre yet again. 
Here, where the beaches are stone, the underlying cadence changes with an added dimension. 
This beach hums.
 I know of no other way to describe it. 
I always hear a constant low level rumbling of fist size rocks moving against one another in louder and quieter tones with the surge of the waves. I liken it to the tuneless mumbling of a person humming to themselves. I try to catch the tune but only get snatches of a beat that sounds like...
Truly...
 the song of the sea. 

Rock Beach