After a short drive, we pulled off into a dusty parking lot, paid the man at the gatehouse who was leaning over a sign that read, "No Refunds". I thought that was kind of funny, and fishy (no pun intended!), but we went ahead with our final plans, quite certain that we were providing our children and ourselves with a memorable experience. As we began our descent down the cliffs, I was beginning to get that suspicious, nauseating feeling that this was not at all what I had remembered from my last visit to L.A. I remembered paved paths, railings, crowds of people, a clear view of the tidepools below in all their splendor. Unlike those memories, here I was, babystepping down a dirty, dusty path, cacti on either side of my path daring me to slip and become a human pin cushion. There was no view of what lie below, only overgrown bushes, steep drops that chilled me to the bone, even in 90 degree temps. I was worried about falling myself, but also about my children. Where were those safety railings, the paved paths that we ran down as children??
As we neared the bottom, the ocean came into view. I was relieved at the sight of the water, the lone lifeguard hut below and the knowledge that we would soon be safely on solid ground. The anticipation of seeing starfish, sea anemones, snails and various other tidepool life made the harrowing descent a bit less wretched. My girls were also becoming much more excited. Aside from the lack of people, they were not at all suspecting of our location. They were quite sure that we were right where we were supposed to be.
All my suspicions were finally realized when we were nearly all the way down to the bottom. We reached a small road (one I wondered why we didn't use to get down in the first place!), where just above our heads we saw this sign:
I knew instantly that had I know I would meet that sign, I never would have chosen this as our very last destination in California. Distance and respect? I could only hope they would do the same for us!
WHAT were we thinking, bringing our children to this desolate location?? With rattlesnakes, no less!!! We continued to make our way to the shore, only to find that this was clearly not what I had remembered. There was no sand, only a very rocky shoreline that was difficult to navigate. The lifeguard pointed us to the "tidepools", but one had to wonder why he had to look around a bit when asked where they were! We worked our way over to the barnacle ladden rocks piled up on shore, complete with about 10 snails total. It was quite a disappointment, but for kids always an adventure. As I sat on those rocks, protecting our belongings from the 5 other people who had ventured down that cliff, I peeked behind me. All that way down, and now we had to climb all the way back up. With rattlesnakes!!
I don't know why this picture came to my mind today, but I was reminded that in life there are so many unknowns. There are so many things that God could reveal to us about our future, but if we knew, would we go there? If we knew about the rattlesnakes, the rocks and the disappointment, would we miss out on the things He really wants us to see?? I know I would, because I'm the biggest wimp of all. I'll choose to stay at home any day of the week than to come up against a den of snakes. That's just my nature.
While we didn't see what we expected to see, I'm quite certain I lost an inch on my hips that day. I'm not sure if it was the hike, the heat or the worry! We found out upon returning that our intended destination was a beach called Royal Palms in San Pedro. Even now, as I'm checking online, I recognize it as the place in my childhood memories, and only another 10 minutes or so along the Pacific Coast Highway and we would have been there. Unfortunately, we were out of time. We needed to get to the airport, so our last stop was just going to have to remain Abalone Cove. Our destination was nothing fabulous or out of this world, but it was an adventure, a learning experience and we know next time, we'll try something different, hopefully without rattlesnakes! (I wonder if they give you a refund if you get a rattlesnake bite?)
No comments:
Post a Comment