a day at the beach

One of my favorite places to be, no matter where I am in the world, is the beach. Rain or shine, there is something about staring out into the endless expanse of ocean to the point it meets the sky that brings an incredible calmness to me.

As a kid, growing up in Orange County, my parents would take my brother and I to Huntington Beach and occasionally to Balboa; At night, after hours of sand and salt water, laying in the stillness of my own bed I would close my eyes and feel like I was floating in the waves. In college, I lived for a time, in the English seaside town of Brighton. The beaches there were shingle and even on the most blustery of days, I would still go down and sit at the waters edge and listen to the waves endless raking the pebbles smooth. Some days it was so loud, you couldn't hear anything else.

Now, in San Francisco, I end up at Fort Funston, part of the old Battery Davis compound, on the southern portion of Ocean Beach. The area is dog friendly and I don't know that I've ever seen happier crowds of pups there. This past weekend, my dog and I took to the sand. The surf report said the tide was low but once there, that fact was somewhat debatable. Despite a few mishaps, due mostly to miscalculating just how fast the waves were coming, Otto and I had a fantastic time. With any luck, we'll be back soon.