Big Sur -- our living planet on full display! No place in California shows off such dramatic coastal landscapes. Morning can arrive with a cloak of white fog hanging over the coastal bluffs. Come evening time there can be jaw-dropping sunsets that provide picturesque lighting for perfect meditations. Sand Dollar Beach Park, in southern Big Sur, is a special place with many faces to behold, depending on the season you visit. It is just one gem in a treasure chest full of outdoor wonders easily accessible off Highway One.

The ocean is a mirror, but this aspect seems magnified in these waters. During a surf session at dusk I am laying flat on my board staring out at the horizon. The water is so translucent that the white sandy bottom is totally visible, with chunks of kelp occasionally drifting by eight feet below. An emerald glaze touches the coastal bays and beaches. With such a gentle swell in the water, this place seems idyllic for kayaking or just pretending to be an otter, floating on its back. The sky and the ocean merge into one consistent landscape of dusky grays and oranges. It becomes impossible to tell when a wave approaches, the face is so completely painted in mirror-like reflection of the sky. Just a slight ripple, like a very delicate earthquake, and the wave flows from the colorful horizon towards shore, picking up my energy with little effort on my part, and I am gliding along the face of the wave, milking its energy with my board and smiling inwardly.

It is a special place, and each time that I come to camp and surf this place, my soul recognizes the state of peace that rises in my heart. Meditation is automatic. Pelican squadrons glide low along the waves below a hole in the sky where the sun tears through in an orange blaze. Sunset gives way to moon rise in an accordance that renders time meaningless. Each day is to be experienced, and sitting in silence with nature as a backdrop really helps me to internalize moments like these, moments that I hope never fade from memory.

My internal meditations turn to memories of the many thanksgiving camp-outs of the past, in November when the Pacific is alive with power and puts it all on display. Summer is a much different experience. The halls of Poseidon are not opened up, and the beach becomes a perfect place to catch small wind swell waves without fear of thrashing. Many twenty something long-board couples drop in and out of the parking lot throughout the day. Each person who submerges the waters here will leave with a surf experience that is less about the quality of the waves, and more about the quality of the surroundings.

ER Harris