Between the farm and the sea

Sunset State Beach is on a narrow strip of coast near Watsonville, California, surrounded by fields and greenhouses. And a few homes.

The campsites are separated from an ocean view by a ridge. But that ridge blocks sea winds, so that's a good thing.

When I made my reservation, I looked at the map and at a satellite view. Hmmm, there's a site near the bathroom and solar-heated showers, with some decent space between neighboring sites. It was in the first campground loop.

It was good choice. I drove through the other loops for comparison. They were more crowded, and the people there seemed to be the type that needed to spread their stuff (and they had a lot of it) all over the place. I felt encroached upon just driving through.

When I was a freelancer in San Francisco, I'd take off for the beaches whenever the weather was warm and work was slow. I tried most of them between Bolinas to the north and Monterey on the south. So right now I feel a little like I'm playing hooky from work. Bad boy.