Very spontaneous and wonderfully multifaceted. I’d stopped by the White Russian’s house to give her a birthday card – her car was outside, but she wasn’t home, so I left it by the door. Meanwhile I was already planning on a quick beach jaunt so I went down the street and started peering off the cliff (yeah, she lives that close to the ocean, lucky little duck). I noticed a little hollow in a huge wall of rock that interested me and I felt like going down to give it a look-see. Then things took a pleasant little social turn – I turned to walk that way and who did I see? The White Russian walking with a friend of hers.
We all talked for a few minutes – I’d met him a couple of times before; he’s a close childhood friend who still lives in their hometown and visits her a couple of times a year. It was a really nice little interaction – the White Russian tends to bring out both my humor and my competitive streak, and before long we were all doing a mass round of comedic sparring – ridiculous imaginary scenarios, physical comedy, wordplay, a little of everything. I hugged her goodbye and walked away smiling. I admire the quality of people the White Russian attracts to herself; they’re profoundly decent, wonderfully gracious young folks, but also hilariously funny and usually very adventurous outdoors types. I think that set the tone for the rest of my own adventure.
I walked down to the beach to the rock formation that had caught my eye and turned out it wasn’t just a little notch – the gap in the rock went all the way through. There was a part of me that didn’t really want to walk under it – a supposedly stable geographic feature a few miles away caved in recently and killed somebody – but I thought, “this is a comparatively tiny gap in a massive wall of solid rock. It’s been here for God only knows how many centuries. If after all this time it chooses the exact ten seconds you’re underneath it to cave in, consider that God’s way of bringing you home!”
Beautiful discovery number 1
I walked through and was rewarded richly. I’d long wanted to explore a particular strip of land on the far side of a nearby stream but couldn’t do it without wading through what I’m told is heavily polluted water…well guess what that opening in the rock led to? Yes, the far side of the stream!
I walked along the sand, up several thin, water-worn layers of rock to a place where I’d only ever seen seals and seabirds go; I’d seen a handful of humans on this side of the stream before but they always seemed to stick pretty close by the sandy parts. I considered doing the same but thought, “what fun is that? There’s sand all over the place. I could’ve stayed on the other side of the rock if I’d wanted to see sand. Besides, I want to see what’s in that doorway formation on this side of the rock.”
Indeed I had apparently hit a place where few humans go regularly; the green scum on the rocks indicated little sign of foot-traffic; it was likely that the main thing that touched them was water, and this only at high tide. This was when I also learned…
Cautionary note number 1
Watery rocks are slippery, but scum-encrusted rocks are more so.
It was interesting – I literally haven’t fallen in years, and this was quite likely the silliest fall of my life. I landed in this odd-looking but very broad-based shape resting primarily on the insides of my thighs and calves. I remember my grandparents seeing me sit that way on the floor as a child and telling me to stop without giving me any particular reason why. I continued to sit that way periodically most of my life, just not when they were looking, and now I’m glad I did…this is probably an uncommon measure of flexibility for a guy my age, and I have a feeling it prevented me from becoming rather badly injured. As it is, one knee feels slightly “wrong” but not at all painful. (I’ve since put ice on it as a precaution just in case it’s considering becoming inflamed at all, which I doubt it will.)
I pressed on to the doorway formation, now being much more careful not to fall on the scum, and the mystery was revealed! The doorway formation housed…a drainage pipe from the streets about 40 feet up the cliff. LOL. Well, I never had any idea that it was a pristine natural sanctuary I was exploring. This is, after all, the city; it’s a ten-minute drive from my own downtown office, and five of those minutes are due to maddening traffic patterns.
I cautiously walked back down the “scum slope,” as I dubbed it, down the less treacherous layers of rock, along the sand, and back through the magic portal that had led me there. On the way back I noticed some utterly AMAZING purple flowers on the other side of the rock wall…got as close as I felt safe going considering that bees were enjoying the scene too…walked out toward the sea to bathe my hands in the edges of the surf, and went home.
So it was a lovely adventure. Absolutely lovely. Can’t wait for more.
