Moss Beach

With our time here in California slowly running out, our family took advantage of the beautiful weather last weekend. Our closest enjoyable beach is in Half Moon Bay, and our favorite spot is the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve at Moss Beach. The first trip we made here was at high tide, and so we were not too impressed. But, ever since then it has been delightful to visit. We always go when the tide is as low as possible and we are constantly amazed at the many different creatures that we come upon. The tide pools are incredible!
I love the drive to get here. Especially the small curvy roads as we near the coast. There are some neat little shops along the way. The Christmas tree farms were preparing to open, and I will admit that it was strange to see huge paintings of Santa here and there. Mostly because the temperature was in the 80's and we were in a lush, green area.
The boys love to explore here, and play in the sand. Luke thoroughly enjoyed shoveling and throwing wet sand everywhere, including on himself. I spent my time searching for beach glass while Isaac and Andrew collected interesting rocks and shells. I found a shark tooth, which I presented to Dave. The boys thought it was super cool, but when we showed it to the wildlife ranger he kindly reminded us that we were not allowed to take anything from the beach. I asked him about my beach glass and told him that I considered it a favor that I was willing to pick up garbage while at the beach. He agreed that beach glass was not a natural part of the beach. This greatly disappointed the boys since there treasures, along with the tooth, were left for nature to crush and grind into sand.
I love to be on the beach. It is both refreshing and rejuvinating to hear, see and smell the water. As we watched the sunset and prepared to leave, we recognized that everyone else conveniently headed to their cars too. The traffic was so bad heading back east that we drove the coast south a little bit and found a cozy place to enjoy fish and chips.
We have been so overwhelmed with the coming changes that this little excursion brightened our week. It also makes me realize, once again, just how much I am going to miss being here.