Beach weekend in Watsonville
One of our ongoing regrets is that with work and Alina we aren't making the time to hang out with friends of ours. Becomes that much harder if they have children of their own with their own tight schedules. IT was with great pleasure that we met up with Jenny and Brian after Maker Faire. They offered to have us join them Memorial Day weekend at Jenny's family beach condo, outside Watsonville. After determining that we were all in town, and no prior engagements we happily accepted and met them down the following weekend. We had driven past Watsonville on trips to Monterey and Carmel, but that was always further inland. Their condo was part of a nicely maintained complex and looked right out on the beach and ocean. It was super nicely renovated and appointed.
I knew the inland area was a source of a lot of agriculture, and we looked up an organic, pick-your-own strawberry patch that I thought would be fun for Alina and Lauren. After we arrived at Crystal Bay Farm (http://www.crystalbayfarm.com ), Tatyana checked in with the owner. It was the honor system, some eminently reasonable rate per pound. They also had black berries and raspberries, though they weren't quite in season yet. We milled around the beds, Alina modifying get one give one, to pick one eat one. The red evidence splashed across her face and fingers. There was an old tractor to play on, a small stage to perform on, and horsies (!) to look at. After we had filled our baskets we weighted them paid what we owed plus a generous amount for the berries eaten and headed home. With most of the farm workers being Hispanic, the area is also known for its Mexican food and our take-out dinners from a local spot reinforced that reputation.
The next day we headed out to the beach. The wind had died down to a manageable level from the previous day and Tatyana and I both tried unsuccessfully to get a beach kite in the air for any meaningful amount of time. This was troubling because we have bought Lauren the kite as a belated birthday gift. Brian came in to save the day and finessed it to a reasonable height. And without running wildly up and down the beach like Tatyana and I.
The water was cold. Northern California cold which meant low 50's. Cold that I got an ice-cream style headache in my ankles when I went in bare-footed. But Alina loved it. We ran back in forth. In when the waves receded, and then quickly back out when they came in over her little toes. The ocean can still be dangerous so Daddy was there with a hand at all times, and an eye on the incoming waves to make sure none caught us by surprise. We dug out sand crabs, built (and then wrecked) sand castles, and ferried endless pails of water from the ocean up to the beach.
Too soon, it was time to head back and so we bid farewell to Jenny and Brian, and thanked them for a really great weekend outing.
