We set off at 9:40 in the morning and returned around 9:00 in the evening. The cell phone ran out of battery and we were still fully charged, because it is a very refreshing day trip to the beach! The sound of the ocean waves washed away the distracting murmurs in my mind and the dense negative air (oxygen) ions along the seaside replaced the heavy things on my mind…

We drove and stopped freely along the way because we didn’t have a fixed schedule.

After seeing the roadside advertisement of “Five avocados for one dollar”, we agreed to stop and get some bargains before continuing on our way.

We stopped at the roadside vegetable stand which had ample parking space, walked to the stand to look for the five avocados for one dollar sign. We only saw green shiny avocados the size of mangoes for $1.99 each, then we each bought a few very fresh local sweet potatoes and tomatoes, just $0.99 a pound. Ann said she would steam the sweet potatoes, and I said I would make sweet potato porridge. I asked the cashier if she accepted credit cards, and she replied, “Credit cards will add a 79 cent handling fee, cash no fee.”

After getting the goods, I told the casher unwillingly: “I didn’t see five avocados for one dollar as saying on the roadside advertisement.” The casher lady pointed to the store upstairs behind her and said, “Inside, seven for one dollar.” I asked: “So cheap, is it good?” She raised her thumb and nodded. We walked up the stairs and entered the store, where we saw black bumpy avocados that were slightly bigger than eggs with a sign of: seven for one dollar, limited to 14. Since I was here to get a bargain, I happily bought 14 avocados for 2 dollars. As we paid in cash, I made a mental note always bring some cash when going out.

Today’s temperature and wind speed are very pleasant, perfect for a topdown convertible ride on CA Route One along the oceanside! We smelled the scent of canola flowers in the wind and saw a big field of yellow canola flowers. We could also smell the strong ocean salty air in the wind before we even reached the seaside.

We stopped at a viewing point which overlooked the coastline view and the mansions. The azure blue water was beautiful and the sea breeze was refreshing without any chill. Ann, a skillful photographer, captured many of my happy moments. Thank you, Ann!

It seemed like Point Lobos State Natural Reserve was having a big event today, as many cars were parked on the roadside. While driving past the long line of pretty parked cars, I constantly saw people walking towards the gate of the Reserve and I started to feel that many people are also not working on a workday.

The Bixby Bridge is a must-see for me. Today, the parking lot at the corner of the bridge was closed for construction. The parking spaces on the roadside were also full. Again, I felt that many other people are also not working today. From a distance on the roadside parking spot, I saw two young couples facing the Bixby Bridge and taking photos of themselves on the roadside close to the ocean, I felt sweet air floating nearby and quickly took photos to keep the memory.

Walking near the bridge, I remembered seeing a romantic newlywed couple leaving messages on their car window asking for a congratulatory drink through Venmo. I also remembered the time when I jumped up and down more excited than my son here. These are special spiritual tonics that come from revisiting a familiar place and I felt these tonics were silently nourishing my soul.

When I stood at Hurricane Point, which I am familiar with and like, I remembered the scene and mood when I saw a cage of strong little flowers here for the first time after my mother passed away in 2018… In my heart, I comforted my mother in heaven that everything is fine here!

Today’s strong wind that could blow people down was not cold at all, which was rare. I deeply enjoyed the layered and spectacular scenery between the blue sea and the sky: the curved coast, the surging white waves, the steep cliffs, the green grass, the undulating mountains, and Bixby Bridge. Thanks to Ann for suggesting we go out today.

On the way back, we stopped by a roadside that already held many parked cars. After getting out of the car, we followed the people walking along the narrow path among orychophragmus flowers, weeds, and shrubs towards the seaside. We soon went downhill and came to a narrow valley and saw many calla lilies blooming on both sides of a stream flowing down the hill. We had arrived at the Calla Lily Valley!

Personally, I think the calla lilly scene was too small to be worth a special trip, but it was a worthwhile surprise. When I was admiring the beauty of the Flower Valley with a middle-aged lady, I said: “This is my first time here. It’s beautiful.” She replied: “Is my first time too.” Before I could say a word, she smiled and said: “I’m from Colorado.” I didn’t say anything, because her first time was not at the same level as mine, and there was no comparison.

Then I was secretly happy: California is really a good place to live and travel! The ocean waves at the seaside in front of the Flower Valley hit the rocks hard and roared violently, I thought I felt the roughness of the wilderness.

Afterwards, we went to the beach with silver sand at Carmel by the Sea. While sitting on a big wooden trunk on the beach to rest, I thought the scenery of the seaside is really rich and diverse. The silver sand of the beach came with a calm wind and gentle waves which were full of relaxing people and happy dogs. It was a very peaceful scene. I couldn’t help but think of the sweet scene when my grandson Ben was still a single child and he came here to play. Ben is a big brother of a year and half old sister now. I wrote the names of Ben and his younger sister Sue on the silver sand of the beach using my barefoot slowly and joyfully, feeling the happiness of being a grandmother.

After leaving Carmel by the Sea, we stopped by Lover’s Point Park where the purple flowers had not yet bloomed. I was pleasantly surprised to see a beautiful picture of “pink clothes”: an old couple sat on chairs facing the sea, the lady wore a black wide-brimmed hat and a pink short-sleeved shirt and the man wore a white hat with silver hair and a blue short-sleeved shirt.

This sightseeing made me think that pink clothes are suitable for women of any age, because a little story of pink clothes had recently surfaced in my memory. In February, on a Saturday morning, after my daughter and I took my two grandchildren to play in Happy Hollow Park, I squatted and watched them playing in a miniature metal car. My daughter suddenly said that the pink sweater I was wearing was pretty. I was very happy to hear this and felt that this saying was familiar but couldn’t remember where I heard it before. After returning home, I checked my past messages and photos and found that my daughter bought me a very beautiful pink sweater cardigan for my 50th Christmas in 2015 and also wrote me a famous saying: “Women over fifty should always have at least one pink shirt in their wardrobe. It’s much cheaper than a facelift.” In the spring of 2016, I wore that pink sweater went to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco with my daughter: eating my favorite fried sweet potato at Stow Lakeside store, visiting the Japanese Tea Garden and climbed the hill behind the artificial waterfall by the Stow Lake. I also discovered that red quince flowers also come in white, pink, and light green variations! The memories evoked by the pink shirt made me realize that my daughter’s constant love and care for me. I am grateful!

After leaving Lover’s Point, we went to an Italian restaurant by the sea for dinner. Ann noticed that during the dinner service tonight, there were only waiters and no waitresses and that the other diners also did not look like locals. We ordered today’s seasonal meal: freshly caught fish (with vegetable and rice) and fresh scallops (with vegetable and pasta), and one fried squid appetizer. Oh, the free bread was very hard. Tonight’s rice had lots of butter, the pasta had a lot of olive oil, and the fried lemon in the fried squid was very unique. These were all
dishes that we usually did not make at home so we enjoyed them a lot.

We happily returned in the dark and cold with the convertible top up. While chatting about family matters and unforgettable events in the past and seeing the faster cars speeding by, I remembered my daughter had said to me, mocking me for driving slowly: “Mom, you should buy an ‘Asian woman driving’ sticker to put on your car.” Despite this, Ann encouraged me to drive slowly. She also ensured I was on the right path, as I tended to misread the GPS map . I sent Ann home, and she waved goodbye to me in the night. It was a warm and sweet scene, I felt grateful for having Ann as a long time good friend!

Today, my grandchildren are in daycare, and Alex is on vacation at home as his company gives employees three days off for Juneteenth. I decided to go out, so I quickly prepared a simple lunch, then drove to the closest beach (Santa Cruz State Beache) along the W Cliff Dr. It is one of my favorite beaches.

It was already noon when I arrived at Lighthouse Field State Beach, and there were still many empty parking spaces near the lighthouse. After parking my car there, I brought my lunch with me and walked along the sidewalk of W Cliff Drive towards the Beach Boardwalk. This is a busy sidewalk with joggers, walkers by themself or with dogs or with baby strollers, bike riders, and more. While walking among them, I enjoyed the white clouds floating in the blue sky, breathed the salty air unique to the seaside, and felt refreshed. On the right side of the sidewalk under the shade people were sitting on the reefs relaxing and eating. As I happened to pass the concrete steps leading to that area, so I changed my mind and walked down the steps to the seaside where huge reefs were randomly piled up. There were big gaps between the reefs. Afraid of slipping, I used my hands and feet to walk and crawl, passing a few people who were sitting on the reefs earlier than I, and came to sit on a flat reef about ten meters away from the steps.

After sitting down, I looked around. A big reef in the water was right in front of me, steep cliffs were on my right and behind me, and the reef seaside and the concrete steps were on my left. While sitting in this noisy and beautiful, secluded and shady place, I watched the vast curved connecting line between the blue ocean and the blue sky in front of me, saw the white splashes flying high when the ocean waves hit the reefs under my feet, listened to the echoing of the loud sound of the waves crashing against the reefs, I felt relaxed and casually placed my lunch box on the reef to take photos of my lunch and the beautiful landscape behind it.

Today’s lunch is almonds, raisins, celery slices, and purple plum slices. While sitting on the flat reef enjoying the surroundings, I slowly ate my lunch. Chewing almonds along with raisins, I tasted sugar and oil and felt the mix of a crunchy and soft texture, a new way of eating I recently discovered while feeding my grandson Ben healthy snacks. Raw celery slices are juicy, tender, with a strong flavor, I often brought them with me as a snack while going out, as celery is rich in fiber. Purple plum is seasonal, very juicy and sweet. After finishing my health and light lunch, I felt that adding one or two boiled eggs will be even better and I will remember to bring eggs next time.

I was looking at the sea and the memory of the 2022 Chinese Zhongyuan Day at the seaside of Acadia National Park was quietly floating in my mind. I felt that the rocks in the distant East Coast are neater, and the waves here on the West Coast are louder. I took out my phone to find that I was facing Due East, where my late parents are in my thoughts, so I talked with them: “Have you heard the loud sound of the waves at the seaside? I felt it was the happy note of earth, containing the vitality of your grandchildren. There are only two people surfing here today. Oh, a surfer is swimming towards the shore now.”

I started to pay attention to the surfer who was swimming towards the seaside where I was sitting. He stopped by the big reef, unzipped the back of his full-body wetsuit, then continued to swim towards me. I saw that he seemed unable to climb onto the shore, because the reef on the shore where he was leaning against was covered with sharp edge mussels which made climbing them with bare hands painful. He tried to take off his full-body wetsuit in the water, but the waving water made him taking a long time to just get his arms out of his wetsuit. I suddenly heard someone next to me shouting, “Don’t move, I’ll help you!” I looked up and saw an African-American man with finger-thick curly hair was standing near me, then I watched him jumping nimbly over the big gaps between the random big reefs and running to the edge of the shore to the person trapped in the water. I thought this guy must be an athlete!

I watched him bend down to take the surfboard out of the water, then quickly pull the surfer out of the water as well. The surfer sat tiredly on the reef a few steps below me. When the young man carrying the surfboard walked past me toward the cliffs, I looked up and asked, “Are you his coach?” He said, “No, my friends and I were watching him up there.” I said, “Wow, you’re a Good Samaritan!”

The guy put the surfboard against the cliffs behind me, turned around and quickly jumped over the big reef to help the surfer take off his full-body wetsuit. After the surfer took off his wetsuit, the guy carefully choose the foothold, one reef after another, to guide the tired surfer, who was using his hands and feet to climb up slowly, to reach the cliffs. When the guy and the surfer passed by me, I saw the surfer like a child and couldn’t help but ask: “Boy, how old are you?” “Thirteen.” the boy replied. Seeing the scratches and bleeding marks on the back of his thigh, I told the guy, “Look, he is bleeding, is it serious?” The guy lowered his head and looked at the boy’s legs and said, “No problem.”

I heard applause from above the cliff behind me. I guess it was the cheering for this 2-minute reality show of the Good Samaritan, from the leisurely people who were watching the scenery on the sidewalk. It took less than three minutes for the Good Samaritan to go from standing next to me to helping the surfer up the concrete steps.

I guess the boy lives nearby so he came here to surf alone. Thanks to the Good Samaritans in the world, he is safe. Here are nine-square photos of the Good Samaritan helping the 13-year-old surfer today:

After sitting in this noisy and beautiful, secluded and cool place for more than an hour and after watching the last surfer steadily coming ashore, I left the reef under the shade and climbed up the concrete steps. Today, I was very touched to witness human kindness in action at my favorite beach.

After going back home, I self-evaluated a bit. I was only about five meters away from the surfer who was trapped in the water. I saw him trying to take off his full-body wetsuit and climb ashore, but he failed because of the big waves, the floating surfboard, and the mussels covered reefs. Lacking physical strength and mobility made me not think of helping him. It seems that incompetence will kill impulse and thinking power, sadly.

Little Episodes

Bumping into a Good Samaritan by the sea:

While watching the last surfer steadily climbing up the shore, I also saw sweet scenes of a family of two (the mother in black clothes and red jeans and the daughter in a light blue dress) and a family of four (parents and two daughters) playing nearby on the reefs, which was very soothing.

In the afternoon, I jogged along the seaside sidewalk towards the Natural Bridge Beach. The road that had been closed for cars for nearly a year, was now also closed for walkers, so I turned back and stayed on the dog leash free beach near Lighthouse Beach until 7 o’clock. The scenery on the dog leash free beach was charming: by my resting area, people were relaxing on the beach, dogs were at ease, and a family of five were walking their black dog.

In April 2024, my son, daughter-in-law and I had a day trip. We visited Santa Cruz Beach too.