Ocean Beach, San Francisco

Today, was the first time I went to the beach of San Francisco. We never even drove by it during the 7 months I've been here.

I came to San Francisco at the end of summer. Fall and Winter came too quickly. I was always at work or at the Southgate Roadhouse (the name I've given my pad, apt as any roadhouse would be -- temporary) in front of my heater. Spring has come, and it has started to get warm. Warm enough for me to wear short shorts and one layer of tights without the pants (during Fall and Winter, I was wearing 2 layers of tights, and jeans over it).

So, imagine my excitement when I heard Ate J told me we were going to the beach today. So excited, I forgot to bring a beach towel, my beach bag and drinking water. So excited, I almost forgot I had sandals I can wear. I almost wore my only pair of rubber shoes.

I'm usually mesmerized by nature, beach, mountain, forest, zoo. Something I learnt from being in Los Banos, Laguna for 8 years.  But, when I went down to see the beach of San Francisco, and saw the sand and the landscape, one thought run through my head -- "no wonder they love Asian beaches".

Grey and black, but totally photogenic in my phone-cam.

I wasn't expecting white sands like Boracay. I was expecting Matabungkay-ish color. But, what I saw was somewhat grey and almost black.

I was scared of walking barefoot because the black patches looked like dung heap or mud in the street gutters of Divisoria. Ate J said, it was ok. I guess, it's really hard to take away the imprints you were raised with.

The sand was fine. You can barely find stones or corals and shells. I'm not sure though if the latter is a good thing or a bad thing. Boracay and Matabungkay had a lot of them, my feet always get cut walking around without slippers on. However off putting the color of the beach was, it was still cleaner than Boracay Station 2 and 3.

And people were enjoying it.  So did I.

Ate J's son, L, and I waded ashore and played tag with the icy cold water brushing the sand. It was extremely cold. Every step bit. The do-M (extreme Masochist) in me liked it very much.

The waves were beautiful. This was the first time I saw waves taller than a man. I never went to La Union, so I never saw one before. Surfers were everywhere. Sadly, when we arrived, a lot of them were on their way home.

I thought of surfing chick C from the Arashi fandom when I saw the waves. Am I too old to learn to surf?

By 5pm, I was tired playing in the water, and the air was getting cold. The sun was still high above us. Well, to be fair, the sun sets at around 8pm. We grabbed our stuff, walked up the shore to the road, and cleaned ourselves up before riding off to take McDonalds drive-through.

Since, it is just the start of Spring, we'll probably go to the beach again. Next time, I'll prepare drinks and food and towel and sunblock and shades (I forgot to bring shades) and hat and my beach bag and extra clothes and ...