The one thing I can say is a plus during a pandemic is that the traffic in Southern California is finally reasonable. The ninety miles to Santa Barbara now really only takes ninety minutes. This is in comparison to the Burbank to Culver City commute, which is a whole seven miles and takes forty-five minutes. Even the west side (Santa Monica) which used to take over an hour, now is a mere 35-40 minutes.
With that in mind by mid-July, I decided it was time to get out of the house and get to the beach. Tucker doesn’t like getting wet, but he seems to like the ocean: just being near it, sniffing the things that have been drudged up on the beach, and walking along the coast. He’s not going to go surfing or even go walking off into the waves. But he likes the olfactory view I suppose.
Our first try was to Rincon Beach. I followed the directions and ended up at a campground that bordered the ocean, but there was no way to get where the trail was supposed to begin. Fencing, boulders, and a lack of land made me think I was in the wrong place. So after twenty minutes of giving it my best go to find the trail, I gave up.
I looked back at the map, found another trail a few miles north and off we went.
The Carpenteria Bluffs is directly off the freeway. Literally. The parking lot is within spitting distance, but once you walk past the sign, you’d never know you were so near to civilization. Apparently someone made an imprint of the land like one of those ceramic paw print ornaments and shrunk it down.
With that in mind by mid-July, I decided it was time to get out of the house and get to the beach. Tucker doesn’t like getting wet, but he seems to like the ocean: just being near it, sniffing the things that have been drudged up on the beach, and walking along the coast. He’s not going to go surfing or even go walking off into the waves. But he likes the olfactory view I suppose.
Our first try was to Rincon Beach. I followed the directions and ended up at a campground that bordered the ocean, but there was no way to get where the trail was supposed to begin. Fencing, boulders, and a lack of land made me think I was in the wrong place. So after twenty minutes of giving it my best go to find the trail, I gave up.
I looked back at the map, found another trail a few miles north and off we went.
The Carpenteria Bluffs is directly off the freeway. Literally. The parking lot is within spitting distance, but once you walk past the sign, you’d never know you were so near to civilization. Apparently someone made an imprint of the land like one of those ceramic paw print ornaments and shrunk it down.
The bluff itself was an easy walk and featured some nice climbable trees. But Tucker weren't satisfied with just this. We kept going, crossing the railroad tracks (which is usually not a good idea, but I suppose it depends what side of the tracks you start on).
We ended up on the right side of the tracks. The view from that side of the tracks put me in mind of being a few hundred miles north.
We walked down the slopped trail to the beach below and found that we had the beach almost all to ourselves.
Tucker climbed on boulders, sniffed the air, and got a good noseful of seaweed.
The hour and a half drive was well worth our three mile walkabout.
I won’t be making the drive every day, but with the Bay area in my heart but 300 miles away, we’ll be back here for our ocean fix whenever we need it. Knowing it’s this close makes this isolation thing a whole lot easier to handle.
I won’t be making the drive every day, but with the Bay area in my heart but 300 miles away, we’ll be back here for our ocean fix whenever we need it. Knowing it’s this close makes this isolation thing a whole lot easier to handle.
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