Capturing the sunrise was such a fail. Not only was it overcast and freezing, but halfway through my jog it started drizzling. To top it all off, Jenny confessed (between coughs and sneezes) that she really had no desire to go dune buggying at all. I coaxed her into the car, but I truthfully was less than excited myself. Even with three jackets on I still shivered against the biting wind.
To my dismay, we actually followed the rental guy onto the beach and drove right on the sand …mere feet away from the breaking waves …in our front wheel drive Corolla. I was doing exactly what car accident attorney Grossman had cautioned me against doing with a car like that. I kept looking around waiting for the police to roll up, or for us to get stuck, or swept out to sea while we crossed rushing rapids (hm, ok maybe they were just trickling streams, but still). We made it to the rental spot glitch free, suited up and I jammed my head into a helmet so tight that I couldn’t even smile (well if I had wanted to smile I couldn’t – I was in full only-child whine mode at this point).
All it took was one rev of the engine before I abandoned all regard for safety and ripped off towards the dunes. Laughing like a mad scientist, I whipped up and over the dunes, burying us with sand. Sun Buggy Rentals (ironic name huh) are absurdly fun and such an adrenaline rush. SO you can imagine how very disappointed I was when Jenny said she didn’t want to drive.
Ok let me back up. So our entire pen pal-ship, we have always recounted our adventures. Jens hiked volcanos in Guatemala before – active ones! We’ve bounced off travel ideas and adventures and it always seemed like the sky was the limit… that like me, there is nothing Jenny wouldn’t try at least once. And here we are halfway through our cross country extravaganza and I’ve had to beg and plead for her to try new foods, convince her surfing would be fun, drag her out at night. And now this! We knew about dune buggying, she should have mentally prepared herself for taking the wheel. So here I am, basically yelling (ok, I was actually yelling) at Jenny to pull herself together and take the buggy for a spin. Blame it to only child syndrome again, but I was so sure that she would enjoy it as much as I did if she would just try!
Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Jenny hated driving. Lesson learned Chels.
After apologizing for acting like a tyrant, we rinsed all the sand out of our mouth, dusted it out of our eyes (I don’t get how Jen couldn’t like it, lol) and drove the Corolla off the beach before we actually put ourselves in danger of being swept away by the rising tide.
Switching gears, we headed to a strawberry farm where we gorged ourselves on the freshest and juiciest fruit I have ever eaten. When I think about California, I envision fresh farmers markets over flowing with avocados and strawberries. Well, all I can say is that this strawberry farm surpassed my farmers market expectations ten fold.
TODAYS BUCKETLIST CHECK OFF:
Capturing sunrise – fail
Dune buggying – check
Being understanding that Jenny isn’t obligated to like everything I do – fail
Picking fresher than fresh strawberries right off the vine – check
Driving along the 1 highway with our shades on and hands out the window despite the freezing temps – check
Alright we’re going to explore the quaint dutch inspired town of Solvang and get our fill of dutch pastries. Lekker! (it means delicious in Dutch, duh)
Paz and amor!
Chelsea
