It just got better (variation on Ocean View on the Go.)

May 4, Monterey, California.

Today was a "travel day" in the circus, from Solvang, north of Santa Barbara, to Monterey, south of San Francisco, a four-hour drive. Had we moved at night after the shows as usual we would have missed the gorgeous views the highway afforded onto the central California coast. What a beautiful part of the country. It was an easy trip too, nobody on the road past the beach town of Pismo Beach, and I just drank it up. There were also fields after fields sprinkled with migrant laborers picking produce, reminding me of the current immigration debate gripping the nation.
The wake-up call was at 6:30 AM so that there would be time to set up the tent upon arriving and then some. In our case it was 5:30 AM, baby oblige. The baby globe-trotter didn't utter a peep during the 250 mile drive but started stirring right on cue on highway 68 approaching Monterey. A real road pro.
As if the postcard-perfect drive was not enough we then were treated with an afternoon off, no show. This circus works seven days a week. Why the sudden outburst of generosity of the day off remains a mystery. Well, half a day, really, since a lot of people drive for the circus on top of other jobs.
Among other things we spent ours going to see the ocean one more time.
The time was just right, the light was just right, it had just gotten better. There was nobody there, the water was a transparent pale green-blue, just beautiful, the misty beach stretching for miles north.
I grew up on the French Riviera, by the Mediterranean sea, and had the privilege to open my window every day as a little girl and see the sea in the distance. My Dad had a passion for sailing and sailboats (unfortunately not shared by my Mom, who is also very seasick) and we had a succession of sailboats. I spent a week sailing the coast from Antibes to Saint-Tropez with my Dad once, as a teenager, and loved having him all by myself. I also remember being back on terra firma afterwards and feeling as if the earth were moving under my feet, as if I were on a boat instead of on land, my world reversed. Somehow I don't feel complete when I'm not by the water.
Fridman loved the ocean visit too. He told me stories about the circus setting up in small coastal villages in Peru when he was a teen and they all going down to the beach, spying on lovers nested in the nooks of the dunes.

The shore at Seaside, north of Monterey, with Pacific grove in the distance.