Posts tagged California

Facing west from California’s shores,
Inquiring, tireless, seeking what is yet unfound,
I, a child, very old, over waves, towards the house of maternity, the land of migrations, look afar,
Look off the shores of my Western sea, the circle almost circled,
For starting westward from Hindustan, from the vales of Kashmere,
From Asia, from the north, from the God, the sage, and the hero,
From the south, from the flowery peninsulas and the spice islands,
Long having wander’d since, round the earth having wander’d,
Now I face home again, very pleas’d and joyous,
(But where is what I started for so long ago? And why is it yet unfound?)

—“Facing West from California’s Shores,” Walt Whitman

In California novels, characters always seek or flee something. In California, they never find what they’re seeking or they do and they realize that it wasn’t what they wanted. What they flee always catches up with them. The thing is, once you hit California, once you flee whatever it is you’ve run away from, you eventually hit the ocean, and you have to turn around and deal with your problems and issues. California is represented as a land of great promise and great disappointment. California is the end of the frontier, the end of the road, something that I had never really thought about as a Californian.

Anyway, Bodega Bay was fabulous. We rented a house right on the beach and ate yummy saltwater taffy. We walked the dogs on the beach, played scrabble, and enjoyed the lovely cool weather. I watched the fog roll in from the sea in the morning and heard Keane’s “Sea Fog” in my head. We went thrifting in Petaluma, and I scored a wonderful vintage dress. We also ate at The Tides and watched The Birds. Unlike Whitman, I found everything I was looking for at the coast.

t-shirt—Stylemint

sweater—T.J. Maxx

shorts—Eddie Bauer

flip flops, sunglasses—Target