Journeys›Photograph

Labor Day Weekend at East Beach Santa Barbara

·Santa Barbara, California·#california#summer#family#santa-barbara#beach-trip
A white boat with shark teeth on a sandy beach, with palm trees and a building against an orange sunset sky.

Labor Day weekend, and Santa Barbara had it all going on. East Beach runs along Cabrillo Boulevard east of the harbor, and even at sundown it was still busy — rows of white chairs set up on the sand near the bathhouse, and a lifeguard rescue boat parked on its trailer with shark teeth and an eye painted across the bow.

Our daughter went straight for the water in her clothes, skirt and all, chasing the foam back and forth while the Santa Ynez Mountains went dark behind the beach houses. She ran the wet sand until we made her turn around, leaving a line of footprints all the way down toward the point.

The skimboard came out in the sunshine. She's getting the stance down — knees bent, arms out, tongue out — and rode it in the wash while sailboats sat offshore. The board is still bigger than she is. She dragged it back up the beach herself anyway.

A child in a pink shirt splashes in shallow ocean water at dusk, with sand, buildings, and mountains in the background.A child runs barefoot in the ocean's foamy edge on a sandy beach, with buildings and mountains in the distance.A child in a pink shirt stands barefoot in the foamy shallow ocean water at a beach with mountains in the background.A barefoot child runs on a sandy beach at dusk, with the ocean and distant hills in the background.A child runs barefoot on a wide sandy beach next to the ocean, with hills and trees in the background.A smiling child on a skimboard at the water's edge on a sunny beach, with the ocean and boats in the background.A child in a swimsuit skimboards on a wet beach, smiling, with the ocean and boats visible in the background.A child in a swimsuit balances on a skimboard at the water's edge on a sunny beach with boats in the distance.

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