Playing at Fort Bragg, CA

We have been working HARD and decided today was the day we WOULD go play. We researched the closest beach to Beale and four hours later found ourselves at Ward Ave Access Beach. 

This trip has cemented Yuuki's status as our family's "best" back seat driver. ::snort:: 

No, she wasn't licking his neck 

She was getting as close to the driver as she could 

The drive was an adventure in itself. A friend shared this quote from Wallace Stegner. He said to appreciate the West, "You have to get over the color green; you have to quit associating beauty with gardens and lawns; you have to get used to an inhuman scale."  I thought of this quote as we drove through the Mojave and I thought of it again today as we drove through diverse beauty. Farmland, golden hills, redwoods and fir and the beach...all in one four our drive. 

We headed to MacKerricher State Park, as Trip Advisor seemed to say that was the launching pad to find Glass Beach (it wasn't - separate post on glass beach). The park was totally full and they wouldn't even let us drive through to check out the park...but they did tell us how to get to Ward Ave Beach Access....and part of that is also State land.  They also gave us a list of camping sites which will accommodate our trailer.  I'm glad we explored this beach.

Initial thoughts: It's not as cold at a CA beach as it often is at a Japanese Beach. It is CERTAINLY warmer here than Florence or Crescent City.  The beaches are more crowded in CA than in Japan. The beaches are free of trash in CA. There are many more posted rules for conduct on the beaches in CA - but most people seem to ignore the rules. We didn't.  We spent a bit of time individually and corporately marveling we were on the other side of the Pacific...right across that ocean is Misawa.

All the signs about this and that rule are a bit unnerving....to be fair there may have been tons of prohibitions in Japan we just couldn't read the signs. ::grin:: 

We had a great day - a long day - 8 hours of driving for 4 hours of fun - but we're used to this from our Japanese explorations. 

We dressed to visit the Japanese or Oregon Beach; though the kids were able to scale down.   ::snort::

The colors are spectacular....blues, reds, yellows, green, white....

The girls reached the conclusion that horse poop must be easier to pick up than dog poop - thus the signs. I explained horses are less likely to attack small animals or people? Not sure my reasoning was sound, but it satisfied their desire for justice for Yuuki. 

It was fun to watch a colony of seals...and we saw some swimming around Glass Beach as well. 

SQUIRREL - Our family Mascot. ::snort:: 

Michael enjoyed taking a few shots of  the kids 

Arielle -  16 yo Junior

Zander - 11 yo 5th grader

Nolan - 14 yo Freshman

Stacia - 8 yo 3rd grader

We all look forward to more time in Fort Bragg. Some are intrigued by camping and hiking, exploring dunes, and watching for wildlife....I must admit I want to explore Main Street. ::wink::  

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...