California coast trip, Day 4: Battle with an Oxnard surrey, inspiration at El Capitan beach

A day of change and strange little surprises. First, Mary Frances, Grace and I hopped on a surrey at the resort in Oxnard, aiming to roll carelessly north and south, as we did on bikes in Hermosa Beach. The beach around the Mandalay Bay resort is vast and wide, with low dunes and a stiff wind kicking up great feathery sprays atop the breakers. The riding path ran parallel to the beach.

But the surrey (and no, there wasn’t a fringe on top) is a strange contraption. And this one didn’t seem to like us. Even with the wind at our back (and the winds were big again today), it was a battle for two grown persons (and one 4-year-old passenger) to build up any momentum at all. And because the thing is so bulky and wide, turning is like performing a pirouette in a dump truck. I’ll never complain about a chance to meander alongside so much wide-open beach, but I do suspect that the surrey was actually created as a medieval torture device.

When we got back to the the teenage girl running the surrey stand, I wondered out loud if there was a problem with the brake, the wheels, something. She listened patiently, prepared to take my $20, and looked me in the eye.

“It’s you,” she said.

Next stop was the Oxnard airport, where I said goodbyes as planned to Mary Frances and Grace (who have Los Angeles obligations), and picked up a rental car. First I pulled my bags out of our family’s Toyota Corolla, then I tossed them into … the Toyota Corolla from Budget Rent a Car.

Now it was time to cover about 150 miles, and cross a key boundary, the Gaviota Pass. It may not mark a state line, or a county line, or even a city limit, but once you’ve made that inland bend north of Santa Barbara, you know Southern California is history. I delayed that moment a little with a late-afternoon stop at El Capitan State Beach, and ran into Mike and Randi, out west on a vacation from Colorado.

They’re my new heroes. When I first encountered them, Randi, 35, was out in the water and Mike, 40, was sitting on a big chunk of driftwood in his boxers. Soaked boxers. Around him lay their clothes. They’d come up on a drive from Santa Barbara, got fired up by the beauty and emptiness of the beach here, stripped to their skivvies and jumped in.

“It’s effing cold,” said Mike, which I had suspected, it being Jan. 4, the wind slicing through my sweatshirt. But then he went on: “This is as good as it gets. … For two minutes, you don’t feel old and fat anymore.”

About this time, Randi came ashore and got dressed while I fixed my gaze inland and tossed questions to her behind me.

“I could hang out here all day long,” she said.

Carpe Pacificum, people. Seize the Pacific, whenever you can, however you can. Worry later about the grit in your underwear.

P.S. Tonight, my cheapest lodging so far: The Inn at Morro Bay, a smallish room with no immediate view, but Morro Rock close at hand. Fifty-nine bucks! So of course I celebrated at the inn’s Orchids restaurant by ordering what promised to be a classic California dinner: abalone appetizer and a steak from Hearst Ranch, just up the road. Poof! Forty dollars gone, with less flavor and more chewing than I’d counted on. On the bright side, however, they served the abalone with its shiny little shell, and let me keep the shell. (Carpe abalone.) I know a 4-year-old who might like it.

- Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times staff writer

Top photo: Live in Oxnard: Mary Frances, Grace and the medieval torture device.

Middle photo: These stones, at El Capitan State Beach in Santa Barbara County, are arranged to read: “CARL LOVES SHANON!”

Bottom photo: Some people see the swells at El Capitan State Beach, in northern Santa Barbara County, and start shedding clothes straightaway.

Additional Day 4 photo:

Worthy advice, discovered in the parking lot at the Ventura Harbor.

Photos by Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times

Related:
California coast trip, Day 1: From Tia Juana River to the Hotel Del
California coast trip, Day 2: Juan Cabrillo, our state’s 1st European tourist
California coast trip, Day 3: South Bay bike-riding, Malibu boat-watching, Oxnard hot-tubbing

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 6:00 am by Susan Derby and is filed under California, California's Central Coast, Family & Kids, Hotels, Islands & Beaches, Morro Bay, Santa Barbara, Ventura. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.