It was one of those days that San Diego is justifiably famous for.It was one of those days that San Diego is justifiably famous for. January with a high in the upper 80's. A 'Santa Ana' is what they call it. The winds blow down from the mountains, warming as the air compresses on its' way towards the ocean. The smog is banished out to sea and the sun beats down as if it were mid summer. Not hard to take having grown up in the Midwest. Not hard to convince myself to call in sick and head towards the beach. A 'mental health day' as they say. I knew without a doubt where I was going to head that day - Black's Beach. Fabulous Black's Beach, where clothing is optional but excellent eyesight is mandatory. I figure, if you're going to go sightseeing, you might as well get the best view in Southern California. Although officially nudity is prohibited at Black's, this ordinance is widely ignored, and I've never heard of anyone actually being arrested for 'skinny-dipping' (or sunbathing, or volleyball, or anything else ...). The beach is fairly isolated considering its' proximity to a metropolitan area. To get to the beach you have two choices; either walk over a mile along the shore from one of the regular beach drive-in accesses or climb down the 300 foot cliff at Torrey Pines. I always chose the latter. I got my knapsack together with the usual stuff - some water and granola for sustanence, sunscreen (us deskbound types do need to be careful about such things - especially 'things' which are not at all used to solar exposure ...), an Olympus XA camera (just in case ...), a frisbee ( just in case ...), and some 7x35 binoculars (DEFINITELY just in case ...). And, oh yes, just a pinch of California's finest agricultural product to enhance my faculties in preparation for the upcoming aesthetic event (for SURE, no 'just in case' about it!) I wore a t-shirt, my Speedo briefs, and some sweatpants which helped to blunt the early morning chill, since I would be riding the motorcycle. |