“Don’t you just love squidging your toes in the sand? Did you know it’s a natural exfoliant? Mom says if you can walk on a beach and you got a steady hand with nail polish…there’s no reason to ever pay for a pedicure.”
-What a Girl Wants
For 25 years, I lived within a short driving distance to the Pacific Ocean. Whenever I was sick or sad, my mom used to take me to the beach. There was something about sitting in the sand, squishing it between my toes; feeling the spray of the ocean on my face, the smell of salt and kelp in the air. I learned from a young age that the beach has magical powers. The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea. Thank you, Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen).
Even though I was in Northern California, I made it a point to dip my feet in the Pacific Ocean. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, whatever your culture might be, people love the beach. People love to swim in the ocean. People love to sunbathe. It’s soothing and relaxing, no matter what language you speak.
Although instead of being able to lay out in a bathing suit in San Francisco, most people were fully clothed and wearing sweatshirts with blankets. It’s a little colder up here, apparently.
After a long day of exploring Half Moon Bay, I wanted to relax a bit before heading out of the city for the evening. The skies had finally cleared and I wanted to be able to watch the sunset and see the Golden Gate change colors. I made my way back up the coast and found myself at Baker Beach.
I was nervous that I wasn’t going to get down to the beach by the time the sun started to set. Fortunately, I scored a killer parking spot and ran down to snap this picture above. There weren’t too many people around, which was really nice. The sand wasn’t too cold and was fine like I expected it to be. I kicked off my shoes and started to squish the sand between them. So satisfying.
Baker Beach is located on the west side of the Golden Gate, opposite the Presidio. Seeing as how I had a little bit of time until the sun actually set, I started walking the mile or so to a large pile of rocks to try and get a good picture.
It was fun to see all the kids clambering around the rocks, teenagers standing next to it (too cool to actually have fun and play), a couple of college kids playing frisbee, the older couples walking hand-in-hand along the water. There were a few kids playing in the water in their clothes and were crazy. Too cold.
I’d like to think that it was one of the kids who tried (and failed) to write “San Francisco,” but I’ll never know. No, it wasn’t me, in case you’re wondering.
See? THIS is why I wear flip flops…random trips to the beach! Hehe. I must say though, my toes were quite cold by the end of the night. And now…I give you Baker Beach in all it’s glory!
A few days later I was hanging out with some family at Angel Island and we decided to find a particular swing that we had seen floating around Pinterest and Instagram. After some googling, we headed over to Kirby Cove.
Getting to Kirby Cove was a trip. We turned off the highway right before crossing the Golden Gate back into San Francisco and started to wind our way up the hillside. At this point I was paranoid. I was running low on gas. I was in a rental car and the light had just come on. I wasn’t sure how long we were going to be and knew that the closest gas station was in Sausalito. There were TONS of people driving around the hillside too, which made me even more wary. We snaked our way up until we came to a roundabout, and made our way back down to the gate. Apparently, getting to Kirby Cove was a little tricky…you have to find the right gate and then walk about a mile down to the shore.
We were fortunate that a police officer was at the top and let us drive down. No way was I going to be able to make that trek back up. Still stressed about not having enough gas, we coasted down to a small parking area next to a campsite. My cousin opened his trunk and pulled out a small ladder. Huh? I didn’t realize the genius of this revelation until we started clambering towards the coast.
Just over the ridge, we saw the spot.
On the shores of a rocky beach, there’s an old tree that someone fastened a crude swing to. As we were standing in line, I realized why we had a ladder. The swing is pretty high off the ground and appeared to be difficult to get into. Some of the people that were there before us were having issues. Kind of like watching a girl trying to wear stilettos for the first time…baby giraffes.
I couldn’t believe how many people were struggling to get up onto the swing. I wish I took some pictures of them. They’d get on and forget how to swing. Who does that? My 2 year old nephew knows how to do it. So then this girl wearing the skimpiest bathing suit and unflattering daisy dukes struts up to the swing and jumps on like a pro. She’s swinging and taking selfies, tossing her hair around and kicking her feet. Then when she was done, she swung high to slide off…
…until her skin caught on the swing and she stopped sliding…
…and then face-planted in the rocky beach.
Classic.
Then of course, it was my turn. I was a little nervous. Most of the people getting on the swing before me were a lot smaller and younger, so naturally I thought that mattered. Whatever. I hopped on like a pro and started singing (to myself) Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball” while my cousin shot the most amaze-balls picture!
And then after about 30 seconds it was over. I didn’t fall on my face getting off and kept my dignity intact, knowing that even after all these years, I still know how to work a swing!
What’s your favorite beach in San Francisco? Have you ever visited Baker Beach or Kirby Cove and had a ride on the swing?
PIN ME
