I don’t trust the ocean. But I like to look at it and notice the way it reacts to the sky. Every passing moment brings a change in light. The water is a mirror for the cosmos to look down into.
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My friend’s husband (who is also my friend) told us he had a surprise for us. We were nervous about it because he likes to shock people (though he is very excellent at crafting wonderful surprises, too) and so we asked for hints and our dialogue over a few days went something like this:
“Can you give us a hint?”
“There’s going to be a buffalo.”
“Should we wear something specific? Will it be hot or cold?”
“What you have on would be fine.”
“Wait. Will we need goggles?”
“Sure. You could wear goggles. You could wear a bikini, too.”
“What?!! Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise!”
We had no idea what on earth was in store for us and we were very afraid and imagining all kinds of terrible and weird things. Finally, en route to our surprise, he turned our truck towards a little airport in the San Diego area and she and I looked at each other and I yelled out:
“OH MY GOSH. WE ARE GOING TO FLY TO CATALINA TO SEE THE BISON HERD!!!”
My friend and I proceeded to scream our heads off and jump around in our truck seats and he was delighted because no matter their age, boys always love to make girls scream. He was smiling enormously when he said, “Yes. You are correct.“
So she and I bounced around some more and hollered and whooped and grinned at each other and gave each other high fives and said, “Happy Birthday!!!” Because it’s always one of our birthdays when we see each other and this was too nice a gift to be fluttering around and not attached to something special.
And we looked at him and told him it was a very good surprise, indeed.
We loaded up into a little orange and white Beechcraft Duchess and took off into the sky. The fog was too thick and so we changed our plans slightly. Instead of zooming out to Catalina Island to see the bison we flew up and down the coastline and marveled at the color of the ocean and the sun on the water and the light mingling with clouds and the hue of the surf running to shore and the mud of the insidious riptides pulling the sand out from beneath the break. I looked at the millions of people below us fading away into specs until they were out of reach and out of sight and we were resting in that wild, unruly place between the Earth and the stars.
From there, we cruised inland, up and over the piney mountains and into the crumpled, thirsty plains of the desert. We landed on the airstrip in Borrego Valley and had a casual lunch at the cafe there before taking to the skies once more and slipping back over to the sea — that great big ferocious blue thing that so effortlessly refracts the heart of the sun.
It was such a grand day. It was such a thoughtful surprise. I have had the great pleasure of flying in so many little planes and helicopters over such beautiful, wild country in the past 12 months of my life it has had me thinking, for a while now, that I might work on achieving my pilot’s license.
Wow~ee, what great pictures. The Ocean… you should never trust it. I have been a lifeguard, done open-water swims during triathlons, and am referred to (by my friends) as a Mermaid and I do not EVER trust the ocean. It changes with each wave— and each wave has its own personality! Granted, the ocean gives such joy (I’ve been joined by honu who seemed to be content swimming/swooping around me) but it is dangerous.
I camped in Catalina in The Nineties and had such a great time. We heard howling at night, and saw such great creatures/plants. Your adventure sounds wonderful!!!
You brave, brave thing!!! Swimming in those deep ocean waters must be like wrestling a wild, invisible beast! I’ll stick to the rivers and lakes, thank you!
such a grand adventure!!
stupidly….foolishly….i climbed on ocean cliffs just like these, in 1981. i can say i did it, but, golly gosh, the fear i would have at doing it now….because i just don’t trust the ocean….
xx
Part of the cliff I was standing on in some of these photos actually FELL DOWN while I was in the San Diego area — it was on the news. 😕
I love the ocean, I love the mountains, I love the desert, I love cities, I love love love nature I love a lot of things I guess……(I live on an island before I lived in a skiing resort and I also lived in my home town Paris) beautiful pictures, beautiful post, beautiful day and….what a great project=> the pilot license thing….fascinating!!!! it suits you very well…
I love all those things, too, except the cities. I still, more than ever, find them terribly overwhelming and overstimulating. When I visit a city, I almost always have a headache for the duration of my stay, even if I’m having a wonderful time!
Thanks for coming to visit.
Give me some time to get my bird airworthy, it would make me happy to be the one that helps you get those wings. It puts a smile on my face knowing that you want to try your hand at being a pilot.
And that motorcycle thing, we can get that figured out too.
In due time, all in due time.
I’ll visit you guys any old time! It’s really, such a pleasure. I already miss the Turnip Green — give her all my love.
X
oops press the wrong key and my post went before i finished.
About not trusting the ocean: it is quite an hostile environment for a human being…that’s for sure.
But the direction of the pilot license….hum…very very like you. Good luck.
Anytime I have been IN the ocean, I am extremely aware of my terrestrial-ness. 🙂
You always did remind me of Amelia Earhart.
“You haven’t seen a tree until you’ve seen its shadow from the sky.” AE
I thought a lot of Amelia while we were up in the air above the ocean. I thought about how brave she was to fly like she did on those solo long-haul trips. What a human. What a woman.
It’s so isolating up there, in the air between the water and the stars…even if you are with three other people, like I was, behind the solid hum of an engine. I thought she must have been so lonesome at times. But being lonely is beautiful, too, and awfully illuminating at times. I wish I could have known her. I think we might have been cut from the same cloth.
And that’s a favorite quote of mine and something I have realized to be true in this year of planes and helicopters.
X
Oh Jillian! So happy you were in my neck of the woods and enjoying yourself! Catalina is a delightful little island. Of course you would go all that way to see bison! Would expect nothing less 🙂
Gorgeous photos, as always. Be well.
XX
Cathy!
Well, I married a Californian and when I married him and he showed me California and I realized immediately what a beautiful state it is. Did you know, after we eloped in Reno, we immediately drove from Grass Valley over to San Francisco down the coast to Santa Barbara, over to Bakersfield, Kern Valley and then made our way up the East side of the Sierras and back to 49er country? It was a grand little secret honeymoon. And it was when I fell in love with California. And the time I fell in love with it even more deeply is when I hiked the entire John Muir Trail with Rob’s sisters. That was a marvelous time I won’t ever forget (though I was grouchy and starving the entire time…it’s a long walk, you know?).
XX
…the John Muir Trail—> awesome!!
Oh Jillian, you must go visit the Eastern side of the Sierras again and see Mammoth in the fall or winter. Absolutely stunning, it’s a Technicolor dream. And the aspen trees cascading lakes of yellow through all the mountainside. It’s just gorgeous.
And if you have time (or the inclination), go up to Monterey and drive the coast down to Pacific Grove. Amazing tide pools you can see (and go diving if you’re the underwater sort). Then take a trek down to San Luis Obispo and head over to Cayucos for the browned butter cookies and the sand dollars you can collect by the dozens.
Now I want to take a road trip.
Beautiful photography…velvet wet stones…most appreciative, H.
Thank you for being here, Helen. X
Woah!! Jillian Sue a pilot…you and Stevie would have a lot to talk about :). xoxo, things are beautiful here as always!! love you!
I KNOOOOOWWWW!!!!!!!!
XX
ps – Eloise’s middle name is Amelia (though i suspect i told you that before…)
You did. It’s a perfect name for the daughter of a pilot (and maybe she’ll be one too, someday).
I’ve spent far too little time on the Pacific Coast, but your pictures remind me a bit of the wildness of the northern Oregon Coast up near Astoria, at the very tip top of the state. So powerful and demanding of respect. Intense. Untamed.
Also, I’ve been meaning to ask for some time, would you ever consider giving a mini-online photography class? I’m sure you have far more exciting ventures calling to you, but just had to ask!
I wouldn’t consider doing an online photography class but I would do an in-the-flesh class or workshop over a weekend or a span of a few days. I don’t like computer work, not at all, and I fear that having to build and then moderate an e-course might actually kill me!!!
I can’t embark on any kind of a teaching journey until Rob and I live in one place, year round. It’s just too much right now with all the moving around we are doing.
Thanks for asking about it!
An in-the-flesh class someday would be even more delicious 😉
I second Emily’s delicious comment!