Wrights Beach (7)

Ahhhhh, just what was needed: a three day weekend with a good friend at my favorite place on the planet. It didn’t even matter that it poured rain a lot of the time. Or that it seemed possible we might get washed away into a sand dune. The ocean views from those premium sites can heal all the ills of the world. And my new jacket totally rocks.

We got very little traffic on our way out, possibly because most people bailed on the idea of going to the coast during a downpour. Much of the campground was also empty, even some of the premium sites, but those people are obviously not badass campers like we are. Or they have tents, in which case, we would totally have bailed too. Site 9 has an amazing view, but is a bit of a squeeze for a trailer. We planned to use the Caravan Mover to position in the site, but found that there was so much wet sand, the jockey wheels were just being pushed along into a deepening rut. So we spun her to the side, about as far at the edge of the site as we thought would be tolerated by the campground host. Bruce just barely fit beside her and we counted on that AWD to be able to get back out.

Our Altoistes friend, Annie, came over for drinks after we got set up and we got caught up while I cooked. She did me a HUGE favor by getting me replacement wine cups from Casini Ranch when she was there. Turns out these things are not dishwasher safe, and mine came out looking more like a shot glass than a wine glass. Not ok. Glad to have replacements.

Overnight it rained quite a bit, but the view through the windows in the morning, combined with a nice boost from the heater, made everything cozy and awesome. Since I’ve again accepted the necessity of daily walking, I got yet another jacket in order to combat the whining. This one is a Patagonia hard shell rain jacket and I can wear it over the top of my puffy. We practiced rain walking a couple times over the weekend and I’m happy to say the upper body situation is working out nicely. All the rain just beaded up like tiny diamonds, with no dampness whatsoever inside. Lower body however…. did you know that once jeans get wet they actually don’t ever dry out for the rest of your life? Of course you did. That comes as a surprise to no one. Still, I wore them on the first day and went “oh yeah.” and had to hang them over the heater vent all weekend. Then I tried fuzzy lined snow pants things I bought after I got cold last winter, and those worked pretty well. I also have over the top rain pants, but those seem like wearing garbage bags, so I’m not sold.

The hikes were really beautiful though, and we even got periods of blue skies and pseudo-sun. The Sonoma coast never disappoints and the views were spectacular, as always.

As the rain continued, we got some pretty impressive pooling in our site. I became fascinated with it, and started wondering if I could channel the water by digging trenches. If only I had a shovel. My mind pondered all the utensils I had at my disposal until I realized kayak paddles are quite shovel-like. Then the curiosity overwhelmed me and I went outside, in the rain, in the sand pools, and began digging. This was more of a childlike curiosity endeavor than anything practical, but I ended up with a rather impressive French drain installation, if I do say so. The water flowed perfectly into my little river trenches, until it exited in a waterfall and joined up with all the other runoff streams. It was cool to see the slow formation, and later disappearance, of a lagoon between the campground and the surf. Wrights Beach is basically a big sand pit for grown ups, which is probably why I find it so therapeutic.

We had a lovely time, hiking on the Kortum trail, having happy hours together with Annie, and going out to dinner at our Mexican place. Sunday, we took our requisite selfie, said our “see you soon”s to Annie, but then met up again at the dump station at Bodega Dunes. The daily walking and Yoga have definitely been helping and this felt like a much needed mental reset. It was a great weekend.