i was invited to "hang at the beach" for my friend kadi's 32nd b-day. now y'all know what hanging at the beach is in nc. be it wrightsville or carolina, it's pretty much the same besides the parking. in ca i live close to the beach. if you walked 2 miles west of my front door, you'd be standing in the pacific ocean. it would be frigged, but you'd be there. i figure, great, i'll just ride my awesome new bike down to meet them. not so fast, we're going to a beach 20 miles nw of me, zuma beach. the traffic headed that direction on a saturday, it took 50 min just to get there, then look for parking.
i'm told we're going this far out because it's a better beach. we never go to the one at the end of my road is what i'm told. zuma beach is less sceney. i've discovered sceney is the word la people use to describe anything they don't enjoy, it's really lost all meaning. there is a parking lot and street parking at zuma. after several passes i decided to just pay to park. that is until i discovered it was $10 and i still had to walk a quarter mile down to the beach. no thank you, i'll find a spot along the highway.
i knew other people were coming so i asked what i should bring. i was told "what ever you bring to relax at the beach." booze? um, no. the beach patrol is pretty strict and they love writing tickets. seriously? i didn't go to the beach to study with out a beer or two in my bag. i grab a bag of cheddar goldfish, figuring everyone else will bring doritos and such, so this will be a nice change of pace. the food was like going to a gluten free, vegan picnic in the park. everything spread out in shallow containers and getting covered in sand. the doritos? not a one in sight. all chips were kettle cooked and made of veggies and flavored with curry or teriyaki. with the exception of one lone bag of salt and vinegar, i was confused.
they're good, but not beach good
the seating, not a beach chair in sight. it looked like someone had gone to a soccer game and put the ocean where the field should be. there was the occasional picnic blanket and even a couple laid out on their snuggies, hand to god. i put my beach towel down and wondered what was wrong with these people.
this is chair was actually in our group
other friends started to arrive and it became clear that this group gets together once a year so they had a lot of catching up to do. i talked a little, being the lone newbie. i zoned out for the most part because all film industry people in la seem to be able to talk about is work. i remember having great convos over lunch on set dec about different things the guys had cooked, documentaries they'd seen, even politics. not the case out here. it gets dull after a while. besides, i'm so annoyed with my work right now, it's the last thing i want to spend hours talking about. there was no music, no ipod dock boom box of any kind.
around 4pm the wind started to pick up, it got to be 65, windy and barely sunny. i'd only brought my cover up dress and had to wrap up in my towel. everyone else started pulling on pants and hoodies. really?!? there are 3 acceptable reasons to be on the beach when it's cold: 1. out of town visitor, 2. you're mad at someone and need the walk, 3. you're building a bond fire on carolina beach. we sat in the cold for a full 2 hours before everyone decided we should go and get some dinner. i actually turned the heat on in the jeep.
all bundled up, really?
i'll wrap this up because even i'm a bit board with myself right now. this weekend i'm gonna beach the way jen beaches. i'm gonna ride my bike down to the end of my street with some music and doritos and do the beach the right way!
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