Oh yeah, the ocean!

I think I've landed on something concrete that I don't necessarily enjoy about the Bay Area: there's always some form of civilization in sight.  When you look over the Bay there are tiny buildings everywhere, lights twinkling and bridges spanning every narrowing into the Bay.  I like being able to look out and see just what God made: the ocean, some mountains, even a forested hillside, take your pick.  For example, even in Seattle or Tacoma, when in sight of the sound you can at times see cities across the way but you can also see strips of land covered in Evergreens and the Olympic Peninsula complete with it's mountain range and of course Mt. Rainier when you change your point of view.  Enter this weekend and a trip to Half Moon Bay.  The Bay Area seems like it can consume everything around it with it's nonstop pulse and thriving population and I confess I hadn't really though about how long it would take to get to an actual beach.  This weekend I found out it doesn't take long at all.  Now the aim was really to see Mavericks in it's season of big waves but the ocean of course wouldn't comply with my schedule which happens to permit only weekend visits.  So Mavericks was not big.  But I still went to a beach near the city of Half Moon Bay with my two comrades and we walked along, felt the warm-ish ocean and played in the magical foam the waves produced.  Breathed in the ocean air, felt the salty spray of the crashing waves and observed many surfers.  I felt quieter and calmed.  Free because I wasn't being bombarded on all sides by mankind.  Which really was the point.