Home is where you roam... but it's always better at the beach

When we were driving back to California from Oklahoma in December, Evelyn started saying she missed the beach. It couldn't have had anything to do with Mommy saying that kind of thing! Hehe


By the time Christmas was over and we had settled into a (then intended) two more weeks in California, our minds and hearts were at the beach. We had to get a Doheny trip in before we sailed off into the great country again. Evelyn very much wanted us to stay in "one of those sites that goes right up to the sand" because "we've never stayed in one of those sites before", at least not that she would remember. The last time for her was when she was two months old and we stayed seven days at a beachfront site with infant Evelyn.


So, I started scouring Reserve America and, not surprisingly, came up short. Even in January, there are not many spots to choose from for a full week because the weekends are completely booked. I did, though, find a Monday-Friday reservation at site 41, our favorite site, and booked the dates.


We suddenly had something to look forward to again. Since we've run into a lot of heavy pressing matters with Brent's dad falling ill, Brent helping to organize and sell things around his parents' house, and me returning to work, our adventure has felt a lot less of an adventure and more of a strange temporary housing situation without promise of new experiences ahead. THIS was exciting, indeed. We were going to Doheny!


When we reached the familiar turn off of the freeway and got our first familiar glimpse of the ocean, all other matters seemed to melt away. Despite concerns, our beast of trailer fit into site 41 and our new neighbors popped over wielding glasses of wine and smiles of welcome. Doheny is a completely different place outside of the summer months.


We spent the week sitting on the sand, scavenging for rocks, riding bikes, walking dogs, and even shopping in thrift stores. We finally felt like a family again, pressed together into one car and locked together in our own moments and our own space.


Brent's dad's condition turned far worse while we were there, so Brent did leave for a night. We are sick with worry over Jerry's health and it was hard to turn our minds to the moment, knowing we couldn't do anything for him in his current state. We looked to the ocean before us and the smiling faces surrounding us to find peace and strength and knew that we would be putting our all into the weeks ahead of us for Jerry.


For now, Doheny offered us a mini-adventure and a reconnection we needed far more than we knew.


In lieu of the typical blog entry, I created a featurette, capturing highlights of our moments together in a photo journal.


Enjoy!


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