If you’re going to get stuck in slow-moving traffic on Highway 17 you might as well sing.
I mean, why not? Getting frustrated is not going to make the car ahead of you move faster. Weaving from lane to lane trying to edge ahead really isn’t going to get you to your destination any sooner. And you’re in the same boat as everyone else, going nowhere fast. Or, more appropriately, going somewhere slowly.
Sunday was a true day of rest and relaxation, the first time in I don’t know how long that I haven’t turned on the computer, talked to a coach, gone through emails and done some work.
Nope, it was just a play day.
Off to the beach, along with plenty of other nice weather travelers, sun and wave seekers, as my roommate, my daughter Ally, her fiancé Judd and I met up in Capitola. Just to hear the waves crash, find a few unique and colorful shells, and people watch; pretty good recipe for a restful day.
It also took my mind off the cold/flu/allergy/whatever it is that has had me feeling subpar for more than a week. Sunday was also apparently dog day at the beach as there were plenty of leashed and unleashed furry friends out and about. Most were on leashes, until they were out frolicking in the water, and it was as much fun watching them as it was doing the people watching.
We ate some seafood, browsed some shops, even popped our heads in at a beachfront restaurant to listen to local musician Alex Lucero and Live Again perform, a little taste of home.
It was busy but there was plenty of parking and most people seemed to be having a good day.
There’s never really a good time to head back, though, you don’t know if everyone is leaving early to avoid the traffic or staying late in hopes that other motorists left first. But with all four of us needing to be back to ‘normal’ for Monday as the work week began, we started back right around 5 p.m.
Along with most of the other folks, apparently.
But, whatever. My roommate and I had her extensive CD collection, including an old fashioned ‘mix’ her sister made for her years ago so we just kept the music flowing. The weather was great, we had the windows down and we sang our way through everything from ‘Walkin’ on Sunshine’ by Katrina and the Waves to ‘Close to You’ by The Carpenters, with a little bit of country and old time rock ‘n roll thrown in as well. Nobody looked at us too funny; but there were definitely some motorists who should have had their windows down so they could join the singing and the fun instead of glumly looking ahead as if they wanted to be anywhere but where they were.
Obviously, we made it back over 17 because Monday found me at work, settling in for another busy week, welcoming in April.
Trips over that way usually are accompanied by some nostalgia, remembering my daughter’s soccer tournaments we played in Santa Cruz and the team visits to the beach we always seemed to fit in between the games.
Once we were a little closer to home we got off the freeway for a quick dinner and a little more people watching. With our own faces sunburned we waited for our order to be ready and my roommate observed another group of folks with sunburned faces and windblown hair – wearing snow pants. They obviously were coming back from a day on the slopes, while we were returning from a day at the beach. Here in the Central Valley we truly are equidistant from some great recreational opportunities and that was never clearer than Sunday night – two hours one way to some great skiing and snowboarding – this year probably until the Fourth of July given our wet winter – and two hours the other way to sand, surfing and the waves. As my roommate noted: Only in California.
Marg Jackson is editor of The Escalon Times, The Oakdale Leader and The Riverbank News. She may be reached at mjackson@oakdaleleader.com or by calling 847-3021.
