toddwouters

For the most part, I haven’t taken to the beaches here in the Bay Area.  I’m not entirely sure if its the standard issue cold and gray weather, or the distinct lack of gaudiness that I’ve come to expect from years of exposure to Jersey Shore culture, but as a destination, the beach almost always is an also-ran.  Just about the lone exception to this is Ocean Beach at night, but that is another blog entry for another day.

Following the winding roads through the hills of Marin County to find Stinson Beach was a slightly nauseating experience, but glimpses of the shoreline as we made our descent let anticipation take over as we neared our destination.

Walking around the beach, the one thing I did find in common with the Jersey Shore was a healthy distrust of interlopers.  As such, nobody I talked to would give me their last name.  Whatever.  Annie, a San Francisco resident also visiting the beach that day gave me some idea of what could have been had the weather cooperated.  “On a clear day, unlike today, you can see the [San Francisco] skyline from the beach,” she said.  When asked where that would be, she waved her leg around indiscriminately and attempted to point south with her foot.  Glad we cleared that up.  I would have, at this point, taken a picture of the wall of gray that stood between me and my blog-entry-making shot, but minutes earlier I dropped my camera (a Kodak EasyShare v550 for anyone wondering what camera NOT to buy) into some sand and that was it.  Camera busted.  As an aside, I absolutely cannot believe that 21st century technology was done in by what wasn’t more than a pinch of sand.  It got in there and just wrecked everything.  My camera was the Death Star and the sand was Luke Skywalker.  I am outraged.

Be that as it may, my trip to Stinson Beach was memorable for positive reasons.  Late in the afternoon, the clouds broke and with the exception of San Francisco to the south, you could look out into the vastness of the ocean, watch people throwing a frisbee, see the gulls, feel the sun and wind, and with a cold beer grape soda in hand, remind yourself: If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.