And no, I am not talking about the hit television series starring Mario Lopez and his dimples.
After five long days of driving across America we finally gazed down upon the deep blue colors of the Pacific Ocean. California definitely made use work for it though. From strange discussions with old people, more flat farm land and desert terrain, ridge line after ridge line of mountains… and the ultimate tease was seeing the ocean fog and sea smoke from about 30 miles away. We were so close we could feel it.
We left Bakersfield this morning after a long discussion about the pros and cons of the Canadian vs. United States healthcare systems. No I am not kidding. We were in the hotel lobby with 8 other people with a median age of about 74. Most of whom thought that operating the Belgian waffle maker was akin to piloting the Space Shuttle. Speaking of the Space Shuttle the orange juice that they served this morning was actually Tang. Again I am not kidding. This was especially amusing because 10 minutes down the highway was a farm with hundreds of acres of orange groves. Sadly the hotel did not have any vodka for Tang Screwdrivers, nor did they have the Tang mix handy so I could make a Belgian Tang Waffle – a distant cousin to the Tangcake.
Once outside of Bakersfield we drove through about another hour of farmland. It in fact reminded me a lot of Oklahoma with farms that stretched out as far as the eye can see. The major difference of course is that things here were green, vibrant and growing. Add to that a) there was variety in the farms – vineyards, orange groves, apple orchards, assorted veggies – and b) they have mountains which encircled the valley floor. Everything added up to being pretty spectacular. After we made it through the farmland we again entered into a series of mountain ridges. They first started off in the same vein as the desert in that they were huge and their features were well defined and they had the dessert colors of brown and tan. But as we made it closer and closer to the ocean things became alive again.
The desert like terrain made way to lush green pastures and mountains that had the Happy Cows roaming across them. With every ridge crested the anticipation grew more and more. Hoots only added to the taunting as well because she kept showing us the ocean on the screen and it was moving closer and closer. It was brutal. After 3500 miles and five days… most of which was spent traversing the Great Plains and the Deserts of the Southwest we were ready for the sight of the ocean. The money shot came once we pulled onto the Pacific Coast Highway – California State Route 1 – where we saw it, our first glimpses of the Pacific Ocean.
We pulled into one of the first state parks and got out of the car. After some deep breaths, taking in the cool ocean air that we know so well I was off and running. It was Hasselhoff time. I had been looking forward to the dive into the Pacific Ocean ever since Brian asked me to join him on this journey. So we went on down to the beach, I walked up to the water line where Brian was kind enough to inform that the water was freezing. I waded in a bit to get a sense of what I was getting into and then it was off and running.
I started running into the water ready to jump in headfirst as if I had no regard for human life. However instead of ending up in a smooth Hasselhoff-esque dive into the water, I more or less fell flat on my face. The bottom of the ocean was not the firm sand that I was used to. It was more like loose gravel and instead of propelling me through the air like I was expecting, the foot that I was jumping off of ended up going straight down about a foot so I ended up in a full face plant.
What can I say, no one ever accused me of being graceful. It is okay though… because in just a few hours I will be drinking some wine with one of my best gals Candace and her unemployed beatnik man (and traveling companion) Brian. And then… no more driving.
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