Crissey Field State Park

You'd never know it's almost December.  Warm sunshine and clear blue skies (despite the photo above!). I'm not sure why the camera faded this out -- we are still adjusting to one another and there was a bit of glare for it to deal with.  I've been to Crissey Field often and generally it's a quiet beach for solitary strolling.  Not today!  I've never seen so many visitors -- with and without dogs.  All drawn to the same sunshine that pulled me from the house, no doubt. As you can see, the waves were big and coming in one on top of another.  Mesmerizing to watch.

When I first arrived, a couple of surf fishermen were trying their luck but, unfortunately, weren't having any.  At this point the wind had a real bite to it and I pulled out my rain jacket to use as a windbreaker. So glad I had it with me -- I was chilly in my cotton sweats.  I walked all the way to the first point in the distance and would have gone further, but the tide was too high and I didn't want to scramble over rocks.  It's a good distance, as it is.  A fine walk for a Saturday morning!

This is what greeted me as I emerged from the path that led from the visitor's center (oddly this center is closed on weekends -- surprising because it's not only a state park, it's also a "welcome to Oregon" visitors center).  It sits barely over the stateline from California. 

Clearly, I was fascinated by the waves breaking in tiers all along the beach.  Capturing this with a camera is not all that easy -- you really can't sense the size of these boys but it's fun trying.  The sand along this beach is quite different from those nearer Brookings and further up the coast.  It's blacker and grittier and more filled with driftwood and rocks near the water.