LET'S GO SURFIN' NOW.....

"The best surfer out there is the one having the most fun.." -Phil Edwards

When I was a student living  in California, it seemed like all we did was find an excuse to visit the beach.  Any sort of beach. So every so often, in  the latter half of the 80’s ,we packed into  one car, the five of us, a pink beach umbrellas, food and a map. To find  sand and surf and surfers. 

Crater Lake 1985

In 1985 we decided to go outside California. We’d heard about that elusive “Old Man” in Oregon, at Crater Lake. We wondered wo WAS the old man?We drove  straight there, arriving at dawn, running over a  few rabbits in the dark. ( Nothing worse than the squelch of road kill. )Crater Lake dawned cold that August, I remember. We hadn’t slept all night.  We asked about the “Old Man”. Much to our surprise ,we discovered it was a weathered log bobbing about in the water of the Crater since 1894. BORRRRING.. So back we zoomed to California. I think we hit  something soft  along the way.  Yuck.

San Clemente 1987

Our next journey was closer to home; San Clemente,  Orange County. A train puttered back and forth along the sand. It was hot and sticky. No surf that day; no surfers. Beach goers  hovered on the sand. “Shark” I heard.  

Beach was instantly closed. Older ladies in frilly bathing suits and flowered caps shrieked and carried on. I just wanted to see the shark. No shark.

Corona Del Mar 1987

   Corona del Mar we visited in late Sept 1987.  The "Beautiful people"  sauntered up and down the pale sands.    Kind of place you see on those rich and famous shows.  On the way there we ran over a seagull. Squish. Made a mess of the front tire.  

All those elegant bathers. No surfers. No anything but sand.

Aboretum Pond

The Los Angeles Arboretum as next on our list.  Not exactly a beach, but we hadn't been there before.

Fantasy Island , Arboretum

Pretty cool seeing the  Fantasy Island house. Peacocks yelped like angry puppies, chasing us up and down the pathways. 

I think I saw Tarzan swinging from the palm trees..........

Carmel By the Sea , 1985

In 1985 we trundled along to Carmel By the Sea.. Doris Day had come to live there in 1981, so we got it into our heads to try and find her house. Wouldn't it be cool to get her autograph? We even drove up to the front door buzzer . 

We’d heard that if you rang the bell you could speak to her, if she was home. 

We rang the bell, and then chickened out. High tailed it  to the beach as fast as we could. 

We dragged that beach umbrella to the far end and huddled under it to get some shade. Except for our feet. By nightfall, when we got home, we all had swollen burnt feet. For a week my ankles resembled pink balloons. 

Santa Monica

Then there was Santa Monica. We ended up lost and out of gas.  And there were a couple of wasps in the car  that refused to leave. Tormented us to no end. We finally squished them into  the air vent.By that time we were towed to a gas station. We had to pool our money to get gas.

When we got to Santa Monica beach we forgot the umbrella, but we DID manage to get into the ocean. Until we heard the lifeguard yelling “Shark” “Run”. We didn’t look to see where the shark was. We just stumbled  onto the beach with everyone else. At the last minute, I saw a dark shape near the  shore. The Lifeguard  yelled “Shark”. The shadow disappeared.  So did we.

San Juan Capistrano, 1950's

One of the last places I wanted to see was San Juan Capistrano.Mostly because my parents had been there in the 50’s. My mother said the pigeons would swarm over you, if you stood very still.

1989

I never saw the pigeons. I did see  the swallows dive and swoop over the ocean. And there were finally surfers.  Riding the huge waves. We  celebrated by jumping into the sea, after checking for sharks.Then we sat on the sand and didn’t say anything for the longest time. It was a perfect day.Wet sand wriggled between our toes. 

We smelled like wet dog all the way home……but the Beach Boys were playing on the radio, and we sang along, laughing till we could laugh no more.

Photographs 2022