Summer Beach Day at Morro Rock
A summer beach day at Morro Rock. We parked right on the sand — the whole lot in front of the Rock is packed dirt and tire tracks — and hauled everything out to a spot in the dunes' lee: blanket, buckets, an inflatable kiddie pool that never saw much water.
The sky couldn't make up its mind. Blue and clear inland, but a bank of gray sat over the ocean most of the day, and down at the waterline it felt like a different afternoon than it did back at the towels. Didn't stop anyone. The girls were in swimsuits regardless, the older one in rainbow stripes, the little one in orange, both coated in sand to the knees within minutes.
The Rock itself is enormous up close, all cracked gray faces, with that lone sea stack standing off in the surf beyond it. Shorebirds worked the wet sand in a line, and a kid with a skimboard kept running the same stretch over and over.
The dog got a long walk on the leash and then stood at the edge of the water with her, both of them just watching the waves come in.
