No, not me! The Pacific Ocean! A few weeks ago I attempted to entertain you with some photos from
Pt Reyes National Seashore. That spot is incredibly beautiful and it was fun to show you photos. This weekend RR and I traveled in the opposite direction to have a date with the ocean.
Ft Bragg is a fishing and logging town on the north coast of California. Possibly you have heard of its more trendy neighbor Mendocino but I prefer to spend my money in Ft Bragg. It is an economically depressed area but that does not take away from the ocean connection. I have been going there regularly for about thirty years and feel as if it could be home. In years passed I have camped on the Ft Bragg coast or stayed with friends or relatives in town. In more recent years, RR and I have taken to staying in a motel at the northern edge of town. This motel,
the Ocean View Motel, is right there at the ocean's edge. You can leave the sliding glass door open at night (if you dare and I do) and sleep with the ocean's roar in your ears. On Saturday morning, I was impressed with how calm the ocean was - nary a whitecap in view. But then there was Sunday morning. Oh my! What a difference 24 hours makes. I don't believe I have ever seen the Ft Bragg ocean so violent. Such powerful and high swells, breaking way out there and then breaking again closer in. Amazing!
I got to thinking about people who didn't have the privilege of growing up and always living within 45 minutes of the ocean. I feel bad for them and what they miss by not having the ocean connection. I can't imagine what that must be like: to have never seen the power of the waves or heard their roar. I tried to capture at least some of the ocean energy in these photos. If only I could have included the waves, the birds, the breeze, the fragrance that is the Pacific Ocean.
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| Waves! Huge! |
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| Surreal, if you ask me. |
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| This gives you some perspective on the height of the waves. |
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| More perspective. I won't be going beach combing down there. |
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| Foam with a veil of fog |
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| I am always impressed with the many shades of blue in the ocean. |
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| And there was no wind! That was pretty surprising. With waves like these you expect there to be lots of wind. |
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| Beautiful blues |
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| Can you hear the wave hitting the rocks? |
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| If only we could capture the energy in those waves! |
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More blues!
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Having grown up on the beach I can honestly say; when I look at your pictures I can almost smell the salt air and feel the salt on my skin.
ReplyDeleteIt is an incredibly beautiful and immensely powerful force of nature.
Personally there's nothing better than a good nights sleep listening to the waves. Everyone should do that at least once before they leave this earth.
I agree! Sleeping by the sea somehow takes me to the safest place ever. I don't get that but it's true. I can't imagine being raised in the middle of the country and never getting to see the ocean.
DeleteAs you know, we are a short distance from our Atlantic. So sad, now, due to Sandy, Ross and I have not been able to get near the beach. Most of the beaches and beach towns we spent time on for all of our lives have been destroyed.
ReplyDeleteToday, they were letting business & home owners back on the island for the first time. People were camped over night on the only road in. The lines to get over the bridge were miles long.
We probably won’t be able to get over to the beach for weeks. We usually went over to the island at least once or twice a week.
Your photos are wonderful! Makes me long for our beaches even more.
Yes! Someday I am going to really visit with the Atlantic Ocean. SOmehow I think of her as a she but the Pacific as a he. Go figure.
DeleteFantastic photos. Our oceans are so different, but there's still that undeniable tug, no matter what ocean. The rocks and cliffs on your side are so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI tried living "in the middle" for a year, in beautiful Utah, but the pull of the ocean was too strong. When the sea is stirred up, we can hear it from our porches. Even though we plan/hope to sell this house, it will be for another place within the sound of the sea.
Yes, I would have a tough time living in the middle. That's certainly not to say that there are not beautiful venues all over the country (the world, even!) - I just need my ocean to be happy.
DeleteEvery time I see a post of your ocean photos, I wonder again how big a difference being nearer to the ocean might make to my overall state of mind. It undeniably feeds my soul to be near the ocean so it only stands to reason that being so far from it for so long is a sort of soul starvation.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm, now I'm off to play the lottery because a winning ticket is the most likely way of getting a little more ocean in my life.