UpTake on soaring pelicans

White oval stickers with black capital letters HMB are proudly affixed to many car bumpers in my “neck of the coastline.” I have one stuck to my laptop and many people ask what it stands for. I often reply with “Heaven Made Better” because that is how Half Moon Bay makes me and my diggity-dogs feel.

This ‘UpTake’ was snapped by yours truly while taking a stroll on Maverick’s Beach with my furry four-legged companions, Lupe and Paolo. It was a beautiful and warm day with just little layer of clouds in the sky. The tide was out, people were picnicking and dogs were happily running in the sand, tails wagging and slobber flying! While my dogs were sniffing in racks of washed up kelp, I was basking in the moment. I looked up to the sky with my camera and these pelicans were soaring overhead in the sunlight. *sigh* Life is good. Wag more, bark less (another familiar bumper sticker).

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UpTake on "My Crossroads"

Continuing on my May blog theme (my pocket of heaven on the Northern California Coast) here is an ’UpTake’  from the Point Montara Lighthouse Hostel.  I may be over 7,500 miles from Cairo and over 6,200 miles from  Rome, but when I am visiting this hostel there is no place I would rather be then right there listening to the waves crash on the rocks and the salty air filling my nostrils.

AND it’s inexpensive to sleep there!!!

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UpTake on Chinese New Year

MY-Oh-MY!!! do we have a weekend ahead of us! I am in a tizzy with all the festivities that are happening the next couple of days.  I am not sure what to UP and TAKE advantage of! Maybe everything here…..

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When I first moved to California, I missed the mountains of my home state, Washington. Then I went to the beach and realized the wildness of a beach gave me with the same sense of beauty and nature’s grandeur I had been longing to see.  Here are the beaches I love in Northern California:

1. Ocean Beach, San Francisco–very much the urban beach, but to me having the Pacific within walking distance was amazing.  (Wow, I really am in California, I can’t believe a beach is this close).

2. Stinson Beach–long white sand beach with a snack shop serving soft ice cream cones and with a good boogie board rental shop.

3.  Bolinas Beach– no crowds, no snack shops, just one long beautiful beach with tide pools, buy a map to get there, the locals always remove the highway signs.  If they aren’t exactly welcoming, just know it isn’t you!  It is them-really it is them, they do not welcome because they want to keep it to themselves. No Banana Republics in sight and never will be.

4.  Santa Cruz Boardwalk–c’mon what is better than a college town with a surf attitude and a boardwalk?

5.  Pt. Lobos–just a beautiful set of trails bordering the smashing, crashing Pacific shore.

6.  The four beaches on Half Moon Bay because of the three mile hike that you can take to reach each one:

7.  Venice Beach (yes, I know there is also a Venice Beach in SoCal, let’s just say they are very different, no body builders at this one.)

8. Frances Beach

9.  Miramar Beach

10. Dune Beach

11.  Paradise Beach–sometimes a quiet little spot on San Francisco Bay is all I need, especially since it can be easily reached from the city within 30 minutes.

12. Muir Beach–I take my visiting tourists to Muir Woods and tell them I will pick them up later while I sunbathe at the beach and grab lunch at the Pelican Inn.  Just cuz I hate paying to see tall trees, when I can see them for free at a number of other places with a lot less people. Not a fan of Muir Woods except when the rangers put on their Winter Solstice show…

13. Capitola Beach–a cute little town for a weekend visit, plus the margaritas they serve at many of the watering holes along the beach are just the thing to quench a beach induced thirst.  Just watch for strong surf in the fall, the locals warn me…

If you do visit  Northern California, a visit to the beach must be on your list.  Just plan ahead, bring a jacket in case the fog rolls in, rent a wet suit if you plan on surfing or boogie boarding and of course bring a frisbee or two to feel like a Californian.  And yes, the Great White Sharks, do patrol our waters, but that is another post…

Photo courtesy of angela7dreams on Flickr.