BIG SUR- it can be one of the most spirit lifting natural places that exist on this planet. The awesome wind and water power show conducted each day on the tall, yellow bluffs of Sand Dollar Beach Park is quite remarkable. Although usually a fantastic and fun spectacle to observe and carefully participate in, this power show has a sour and sobering effect when its true potency is witnessed. On a fatal day, a Thanksgiving Day that one family will remember for very different reasons than our family of friends will remember it, the finality and raw power of nature became dreadfully obvious to one unlucky soul. But this story starts before me in the form of a tradition. This tradition pre-dates my presence by a year as I missed the inaugural pilgrimage to Plaskett Creek Campground in the heart of Big Sur, a yearly event that draws good friends together to celebrate and feast in a non-turkey way. So each year, as the leaves start to fall off the trees, and our work-crazed society decides to actually let people take a little time off to do something other than work, we get crew from all over the state to come to Sand Dollar to shake off the ordinary and relax in paradise. Some arrive on Turkey Day itself to stake a claim on the precious group campsite, tucked away on the hillside the furthest away from the other sites, especially important when considering the possibilities of late night howling and shouting and the waves of laughter bound to be rolling in and out of the campfire light like a celestial wind. The early arrivals spend a quiet first afternoon and evening, purposefully mellow behaviors and abnormally shrunken appetites for spirits and foods because of the inevitable weekend long feast that will ensue. Ah, yes, the memories from Sand Dollar Turkey Day camp outs usually contain: laughter, giggling, grubbing, playing in the surf and on the bluffs, hiking, fishing, beach combing, more hiking, horseshoes, tequila shot showdowns, and did I mention eating?




Food is a big part of the event. Everyone brings something crazy, whether it be excellent GORP, special coffee, wine from personal vineyards, kind herbs, abalone fresh and illegally caught up in Nor Cal . . . so many good memories and fun conversations - even when the people huddled by the fire became robots either due to hallucinogenic influence or just lots of science fiction movies when we were kids, and everyone began speaking like droids for several hours. So influential are these experiences that the following weekend I pull into the OB parking lot and see some friends who were there ready to paddle out and overhear one talking to himself: "Must secure vehicle locking mechanisms and prepare for oceanic reentry," in a very C3PO-like voice. He was still going a week later - pure comedy! Well with every great comedy there must be an element of tragedy, and this was no exception. Turkey Day is sometimes referred to as World Surf Day because of the seemingly automatic coincidence of giant northwest swell arrivals. This day would be no exception.

More to come . . .

ER Harris