When I was a little boy, maybe 7 or 8 years old, my grandparents took me on a camping trip to the coast. They had this cab-over Lance truck camper and I loved spending time with them in it. I remember I would swing like a monkey from the camper through the pass-thru window into the cab of the truck.
I vividly remember this trip we took 25 years ago. We literally drove to the most magical place I had ever been. It was the greenest, most alive, country I had seen and it just stuck in my memory. I felt like I was swallowed up by ferns and berry branches, the sunlight showered the moist undergrowth with big beams of soft light but only after it found a path through the thick tree canopy. I saw big bright yellow slugs and when we walked on the beach I found a starfish. Up until then I didn't know any of these things existed. This place is called Patrick's Point and it's heaven on earth. I hadn't been back here since that trip but I've always meant to come back one day.
Being here is especially meaningful now because my grandmother passed away last year. I remember playing yahtzee with her in the camper while my grandfather drove and she made us some egg and bacon burritos in the morning. This is the trip she taught me that if you have a stomach ache you can lay down and put a pillow over your stomach to make it stop hurting. I just remember lying on the cab over bed with a pillow over my stomach.. I probably ate too many egg and bacon burritos. She was such a loving, kind and beautiful person. The time we spent together on this trip was just one of the special experiences we got to share together.
You know how sometimes when you remember something so vividly from your youth and then you go back as an adult it just doesn't measure up? It was an experience so powerful and unique to your 7 year old self that it's no longer so unique after you've experienced 25 more years of amazing things? Well, I was going to find out if this was one of those times.. Danielle and I got to our RV park in the afternoon and then went straight to Patrick's Point. We were driving through the park and I've got to say, it still has the same magic I remembered. We walked down to the beach and then i really felt like a kid again! We got there at low tide and we hopped along on the rocks looking at starfish, sea lions, sea anemones, shells, little sea snails and crabs. Then we collected some smooth round rocks and talked about how when we have kids we will definitely take them here.
We drove over to the point but by now it had started raining pretty hard so we decided to just drive around the park a little bit. This place is so lush and green. The little walking paths through the forest look like something out of a children's book. What a perfect day this turned out to be. My memory of this magical place is still intact, it wasn't an overgrown remembrance that got too big for reality. I'm glad that I was able to experience this place with two of the most amazing women I've ever known. Now if only I could get Danielle to make me some egg and bacon burritos... :)
-Tommy
Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14097442@N00/sets/72157626407846881/
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