A Day At The Beach

[Carla in Ca]

We went to Laguna Beach today. We go a lot in the off-season because dogs are allowed on the beach September-June. Jean loves to run in the sand.

[Immad2]

1. Looks like all had a geat time! Was that in the morning or afternoon?

[TahitiNut]

2. West coast. Sun over water. I'm just guessing, but ... afternoon.

:evilgrin:

[Carla in Ca]

3. Those were taken at about 3:00

in the afternoon. The winter months are the best for smaller crowds and finding a place to park. Laguna is a very small place and we avoid it during the summer. We would prefer the larger, uncrowded Newport Beach but no dogs are allowed there at any time. A very snobby place.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. I seem to have some foggy memory from circa 1971

of Laguna Beach and a bunch of orange sunshine (and not the thing in the sky). :hippie:

[Carla in Ca]

5. Hi, Blue

Sounds like you and I may have shared in a few chants and burned some incense there together.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. Quite possible.

Although I spent most of my years in California in the north, I did live in Seal Beach for about eight or nine months in 1971-72. My daughter lives down there now in Santa Monica, so we get down that way now and again. I have a great story about Laguna Beach and the aforementioned "sunshine," but I don't dare post it -- my friends here would be SHOCKED. }(

Anyway, it's nice to see you here, and I love your photos. :pals:

[Carla in Ca]

7. Forget the photos, I want to hear

the story! C'mon, you've really got me curious. Do tell us about the sunshine...please?

[Blue_In_AK]

8. Could they arrest me 35 years later?

:evilgrin: I've got to sleep on this. Maybe I'll PM you.

[Carla in Ca]

9. OK, don't worry

PM me if you want to.

[F.Gordon]

10. Do tell

Com'on. Lay it on us. Unless you committed murder or sumtin'.
:popcorn:

[Blue_In_AK]

See below, F.

[ConsAreLiars]

11. "Once upon a time, somebody I knew well ..."

All candid confessionals begin that way. Anyone who lacks a small degree, at least, of legally "illicit" pleasures, well, they need to get on with living free. You tell me yours and I'll tell you mine (maybe).

[Blue_In_AK]

15. Okay, Cons ... I told mine

Let's hear yours.

[ConsAreLiars]

21. Well, the "beach" context reminded me

of a certain young couple doing a bit of serious frolicking on the beach at Big Sur, and being interrupted by a jeepful of armed enforcers of the private property rights of those who controlled the access road (and were thus allowed to forcibly evict everyone before nightfall).

And the riskiness aspect reminded me of a guy who had hitched around Europe and picked up an Amsterdam souvenir, but had the poor judgment and bad fortune to continue in his merry ways across Romania (that part was wonderful), and got stopped by border guards for a few hours while they idly poked through the backpack and tried to figure out why his passport indicated that he came in by car wand was leaving by foot.

Or the guy who had Che's Diary in his pack in Ceylon was when it was placed under martial law curfew in Ceylon and bodies of slaughtered "Gueveristas" were being floated down the rivers, through the coastal cities, and into the sea.

But it would take a dozen more such tales to match yours. It reminds me that, once upon a time, freedom was a choice that could be easily made. It was in the air. Seeing that there was a choice was the only really hard part. Still true, but the world has become much darker, and choices harder to see and the paths the offer harder to examine.

[Blue_In_AK]

23. Oh, my, Cons...

My story PALES in comparison to yours. Wow.

[Blue_In_AK]

13. Okay, you all talked me into it.

I'll be contacting you if I need bail money.

Once upon a time, there was a hippie girl living in Bolinas, a small coastal village in Marin County. She was between homes and had been recently crashing with a friend in a dank, rat-infested cellar under a house, where the entertainment consisted mainly of stuffing psychedelics into pieces of cheese and leaving them out on the rafters for the rodents' enjoyment. One day a charismatic SoCal boy (who later ended up doing the hippie girl very, very wrong - but that's another story) rolled into town in a VW bus with a small entourage of friends and charmed the homeless hippie girl into joining him and his band in their merry adventures on the road. Ultimately a decision was made to travel to Takilma, Oregon, where a loosely organized commune had formed. But before making the trip, SoCal boy and the hippie girl traveled to Laguna Beach where SoCal boy purchased for $250 a big bag containing 1,000 hits of orange sunshine (very potent LSD, for the uninitiated). SoCal boy and the hippie girl, with the others, then traveled to southern Oregon, set up camp in an abandoned three-sided ranger station, and stashed the big bag under a rock, where its contents were used over the next three months not only as psychic enlightenment for the merry band, but also as barter for food stamps, veggies from the community garden, or whatever other commodities people could come up with.

The story goes on, but this is the Laguna Beach connection.

The hippie girl is now a quiet, unassuming grandma and sometimes finds it hard to believe that some of these events occurred, but she swears to me that it's all true.

[F.Gordon]

16. $250 for 1000 hits?

I know this guy who did orange sunshine. Boulder Blotter. A few others. Can't remember his name.

My turn. I know this guy who was dead broke, living with a few others on the 2nd floor of this very old house. Decided to go in with a few others to sell a pound of home grown weed to this guy in Wisconsin (this guy lived in Iowa at the time). Drove up to do "the deal". It was a sting.

Cops bursted out with guns drawn. The FBI was there. This guy had to do a little jail time. Spent christmas in jail because no one could afford his $50,000 bail. As I understand it this guy now spends his free time takin' snapshots, screwing up photo challenges, and annoying the fruck out of a few people from time to time.

Can't remember his name.

Sooo... this hippie girl was a drug dealer???? Shame. Shame.
:)

[Blue_In_AK]

17. Not drug "dealer" -- drug TRADER...

Big difference. :evilgrin:

[ET Awful]

12. WoooHooo, it's a beachbeagle

:P

[alkaline9]

14. lovely shots! I miss laguna beach....

...my girlfriend and I took a trip to AZ, CA, and NV last February for valentines day... and Laguna was one of our stops on the way. She loves the MTV show lol... but we were both taken back by the beauty of the coast and the hills. Being from NJ we just don't have coastline like that here. We are going back as soon as we save up enough money to go again.

Thanks for the photos to remind me why I'm saving up my money :D

[Carla in Ca]

18. You're welcome

I'll post more soon to inspire you to keep saving your money. Let me know when you come again. I'll buy you lunch.B-)

[Blue_In_AK]

19. Carla, I told my story...

I hope you don't think I'm a terrible person (or F. Gordon -- er, "this guy" -- either).

[Carla in Ca]

20. I liked your story, Blue

And, no, you are not a terrible person...not even close! Have no regrets, friend. Remember, if you are happy at your destination, it is because of the journeys of life that got you there.

Thanks for sharing.:hi:

[Blue_In_AK]

22. Truer words were never spoken.