week at the beach

the small beach hamlet of cayucos, california is the beach town time forgot.  very little development.  lots of funky houses.  surfers and skateboarders and beach bums -- me for the week!  -- crowd the main street and the large, wide sandy beaches during summer.  this is our second year of seeing the summer out by learning to be simple and chill, frolic in the surf, watching the stars in the night sky, and listening to the roar of the pacific ocean as sea meets sands.

we saw dolphins 10 yards from the shore.  we witnessed the majesty of humpback whales breach the ocean creating massive wakes.  we were awestruck when pods of orcas roiled the waves. 

you don't swim in the pacific at cayucos.  you dive and ride on its waves.  i tried body surfing and boogie boarding.  yep, you got it, i did more wipe outs than rides.  nick took to the surf like a natural surfer.

the thing is when you go on vacation you take your burdens with you.  it takes a few days to learn to let go and unwind.  americans usually don't give themselves enough time for a proper vacation.  a week is not enough.  as soon as i started to learn the rhythms of beach living i had to start thinking about home, work and their attendant stressors.

still, it's better to have had a week than not to have one at all.  as faulkner so eloquently wrote, between the beach and nothing i'll take the beach.