And the penguins and polar bears were missing but Santa, before he took off, got to see a new colony of pelicans roosting just off the beach next to the campsite. We crawled closer to take pictures but those crafty avians saw through the whole facade and flew off.
It was warm enough to take a dip and we brought a fishing pole along but no luck. Either the pelicans ate them all up (the fish of course) or the fish just weren't digging the cheese we cut up as bait. At least 10 year old Ami thought so. Though that didn't stop him or his culinary escapades in making crab soup.
But the sunset was wild and Sheva and Sarah climbed on Gus, the Baja Beach Bus, to sit on his roof and watch the day end while Aram, Mason and Wayne among others, climbed up to the bluffs to see the tangerine sky slowly drift away in never-ending hues.
The very next day Anton from Sweden broke open his guitar case and began strumming while Jason still in his sleeping bag, sat up, balanced some drums on his lap and jammed away. Dan and Kirk began singing their own made up blues while we all laughed, clapped and stomped around. The coffee was percolating and pancakes were slapped on pans and paperplates but no one paid any mind and kept up the music.
Four days of doing nothing - it was glorious to be be completely still when one felt like it. To do nothing at all, to feel the sand between one's toes, to gaze out at the infinity of white sand and dazzling deep blue. To run and run for miles and still have space and earth and sky stretch on forever in every direction.
Then when one's soul was filled up to the brim, when thoughts gave way to spoken sentences the sharing began. Stories and experiences were shared by the fire, where people had gone to, what people had done, what they had read, how they saw the world, how they lived, what it was like being where they were, being who they were. The night was never too long to stop the large and small conversations that sprouted, faded then sprung up again.
And I sat wrapped up in the stories being swapped in and around Gus longing to keep on traveling, keep on moving, keep on keeping the dream alive.