Tilly’s First Tide

Vacationing without vacationing seems to be our rallying cry this summer. Keeping things local, daytrips, and ‘cheap entertainment’. Like so many of you, COVID has left its mark on many. We continue to be grateful, however. For health and the health of our extended family as well.

And, of course, for Tilly and all of her unadulterated joy. It is her one and only goal in life: to play.

We thought it was time to venture out and introduce her to the Pacific Ocean for her four month birthday. She’s 16 weeks old and we have had her for exactly half of those weeks. She’s changed and grown in a million ways! (And literally grown. When we got her she was 6.3 lbs and is now 26.8 lbs!)

The beaches were full, but nothing like what you see on tv. People were broadly spaced and many wore masks. Bodega Bay is a more liberally-minded area of Northern California so it was nice to step into their heightened concern for public well-being and not feel like the odd man out like we do sometimes in the Sacramento suburbs.

It felt so good to hear the waves and smell the salty water. Driving through the mighty pine trees was also filled with the undeniable scent of fresh pine in the air.

Tilly loved the water. No surprise. But what she was mostly interested in were the other dogs and people! She is a quarantine puppy so she’s been severely people-limited. I’m not sure how socialization will go in the future, but she seems to be endlessly curious about all these potential playmates!

She ran Scott up and down the incoming waves!

She was a mess when it was done, though! Her curly hair was not quite curled right since it was naturally blow-dried in the ocean breeze.

We ate in town – crab and fish. This town is known for their crabbing and oysters. Someday Scott plans on doing some crab catching at the cove – hopefully with a fish-loving dog in tow.

We also ran across this crazy flower. I don’t know what kind of flower or plant it is. Seems like it would be on a cactus but I don’t think that’s what it was. The bloom was as big as a dinner plate.

What a day! Admittedly, it was a lot more stressful than if it had just been the two of us, but we were excited to introduce Tilly to the ocean and were thrilled that she loved it!

Here are a number of videos of her first time experience…

 

It was slated to be a hot day in Sacramento (dry heat or not, 107 is HOT!), so we did the only logical thing and headed to the shore. The sun was high but it was 66 degrees of pure heaven.

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sea level: 0 ft

When we’ve had enough of the ‘bedroom community life’ of Sacramento, our first instinct is to drive over to Berkeley/San Francisco; it always feeds our urban-loving souls.

According to Google Maps, it takes us 1 hour and 31 minutes to get there. Piece of cake. Not to mention the fact that the west coastline is so much cooler than the middle of the state.

It feels good to get lost in the busy crowds of college students getting ready for the new semester as well as rubbing shoulders with the ghosts of revolutionaries past. Those sixties demonstrators that, surely, would be gobsmacked at the state of our political climate today.

Okay, so it’s a horrible picture – but I found a new Berkeley sweatshirt that I hope to wear to some Golden Bear football games this fall. Plus – it’s proof that I wore my Birks in Berkeley. (I think it’s a city ordinance or something.) 🙂

I’ve never been to a college town that doesn’t have a few fabulous thrift stores. Of course it’s always hit-or-miss but this time, I found a treasure.

I mean, their doorway caught my attention first. I have saved years and years of broken dishes to someday learn to mosaic. Someday!

I walked the aisles of this vintage shop, waiting for something to call my name (kidding, not kidding) until I ran across this soft, leather backpack. I checked it over really well but had a hard time finding a pricetag. Finally, I reached into a suede-lined pocket and pulled out a tag: $28. What?! It promised to carefully protect my camera for many years to come. A match made in….well, Berkeley!

Love and peace and bicycle racks.

Before leaving the Berkeley area, I met up with a person I’d met online who was interested in one of my favorite chandeliers. I used it in my shop down in the West Bottoms and was selling it on FB Marketplace. When she said she was interested in buying it and lived in San Francisco, I told her we come to the area often and would let her know when we were coming next.

When we knew we were coming, we decided to meet up at Whole Foods in Oakland. She works for Google and guess where she’s from….

….Lee’s Summit, Missouri! -ha! It was nice to stand and chat about our favorite KC places – and the fabulous California weather.

While we were in Oakland we had to stop by our Arch Nemesis and show them who’s boss!!

(yessss……we brought this flag from home for this specific reason. -ha!)

Thank you for letting us crash your cool town, Berkeley (even though we’re boring suburbanites.) We’ll be back soon.

We decided to try a new-to-us beach in Marin County: Rodeo Beach.

It was a perfect day outside. There were some surfers and the beach was sprinkled with sun-loving families. We weren’t intending on lazing on the beach, but wanted to check out the beach and take some pictures. Scott said ‘take me to the ocean’ so to the ocean we went!

(He takes as many pictures as I do.) (Almost.)

I’m not sure I will ever get used to succulents growing all over the place like wildflowers do in the Midwest. It’s so bizarre for me to see. These succulents were everywhere.

I like rocks. I love to see their crags and formations from years and years of existence.

I love to see a girl in a pink tutu that doesn’t take it too seriously. Dirty and sandy and in perfect use. 😉

Rodeo Beach is also a dog-friendly beach. Is there any joy more pure than a dog playing in waves??!

Title: A Pug in the Pacific

Livin’ their best life. An old Jeep carrying surf boards and an old van equipped with camping pop-outs and cooking gear. Twenty-something and digging life.

Swimmers. Surfers. Sailboats. Fishing boats. Yachts….it really was a perfect day to be near the Pacific.

I can’t believe we get to live so close to the ocean’s shore. This is always a fun daytrip.  We’ve finally stopped doing only the kitschy touristy thing and branched out into the less-known areas of the shore. We continue to be tourists in our own state!