Whilst planning my trip to California, I sought the help of two friends I’ve known for years. They were Cali girls, although not from the San Francisco area.
And although I feel like I know these ladies as well as I know my Tennessee friends, I’d never met them before.
I cyber met these ladies on the ABC Lost message board many years ago. Okay so it couldn’t have been that many since the show has only been on 5 seasons, but you get my point.
When I asked for their advice on which attractions to hit and which to skip – they suggested something that I hadn’t considered – meeting them half way between our B&B and their homes and hanging out for the day.
I loved the idea, but I did have to run it by Jay. Would he really want to spend the day hanging out with two strangers? “Now Saz is the the one that…and Hello…”
Okay so maybe I talk about them enough that they weren’t strangers to him. He was more than willing to meet up with them – and for once in my life I was willing to give up control! I told the ladies that since they were the locals they could decide what our itinerary was for the day.
After another festive breakfast with our B&B friends, we headed to Half Moon Bay. The scheduled meeting point was a historic (and reportedly haunted) restaurant. As we pulled into the parking lot, I noticed to women bundled up sitting on a truck bed looking out at the ocean.
“That has to be them. No one else would have bundled up that much for a trip to the beach!”
We offered to drive them around for the day, rather than waste gas in their vehicle following us. But they had to have their own vehicle for their dirty little habit. (Might I add it was an odd feeling being the only non-tobacco user in the group. Jay’s habit is just as – if not more so – dirty, it just also happens to be smokeless).
First stop was the tide pools.
Feel free to look around, but don’t touch.
Or should I say, don’t get caught touching.
Is there a rule that we’re not willing to break?
Although, in their defense, they wandered out that direction via the tide pools, not the beach. So they didn’t notice the sign until I yelled “Jay get a picture of them on the other side of the “do not enter” sign!”
On the way out Jay rigged the camera for a group photo. Hello is terrified of heights, so she was afraid as he ran toward us to hop in the picture that he’d run right off the cliff. Thankfully he did not.
The day was warming up, so we headed down to the Sea Horse ranch for a little horseback riding on the beach.
“That one is biting. I hope I get that one that looks asleep.” Hello was worried about what horse they’d give her.
They gave her the biter.
Unfortunately, cameras aren’t allowed on the ride, but there is a dude on a segway that follows you out for some pictures. We didn’t realize that for $10 extra bucks he’d follow us onto the beach. Those would’ve been some cool pictures.
Mariposa, the name of the biting horse, didn’t do right by Hello. Our guide Juan, kept smacking Mariposa on the rear to get him to go on. Which in turn scared the daylights out of Hello.
I think all of us were a little uneasy when we walked the horses down the cliff to get to the beach. The view was beautiful. Juan even showed us how to make the horses gallop. Jay & I had a great time getting them to run – Juan even got the two of us to twirl our pretend lassos.
Jay and I couldn’t be certain if Hello & Saz enjoyed the ride or not but we loved it. Even to the point of talking about getting horses for our 5.5 acres. Of course neither of us knows how to care for farm animals, but it was a fun idea.
Saz & Hello (and it was very hard to call them by their real names instead of the screen names) argued for 5 minutes on which way the restaurant was. Couldn’t tell you who won that one, but whoever did was right because the restaurant was in the direction went.
We had about 45 minutes to kill before they opened for dinner, so we took a walk on the beach. On the way down the stairs, we all smelled something that was horrid. The Jay stepped on a squish step. Turns out a dead sea lion had washed up to the stairs.
Bleck.
Jay was facinated by the giant seaweed.
I enjoyed watching the sunset on the beach, since on our coast it rises over the ocean.
After dinner Jay and I called it a night. I hated to end the day with them, but I was exhausted and we still had to pack up for the trip home the next day.
I won’t bore you with a travel home blog. The only thing significant was that Jay, claiming he knew where he was going, took us to the wrong airport. When we pulled it, and I saw a terminal suitable for Sandpiper Air (from the TV show wings) I knew we were in the wrong place.
So that’s our trip to California!
