Wampum

Tomorrow, we leave lovely Santa Cruz and head north, up the coast, over the Golden Gate, for a few weeks playing on the post-tourista beaches and among the giant redwoods. Our first stop, Bodega Bay, where Hitchcock's famous avian thriller was filmed forty-three years ago (while I was in utero, or perhaps a glimmer...)

While we enjoyed our stay along Monterey Bay, we learned quite a lot about the California State Park system, not all of it very positive. Yes, the locations are gorgeous and the facilities excellent, but, particularly since The Terminator took over two years ago, they are no longer retreats for the masses. Camping prices have skyrocketed, from $12-$16 per night in 2003, to $25-$35 per night in 2006. In addition, reservations can only be made through a third party vendor, ReserveAmerica, who tack on an additional $7 per reservation. Of course, you really need internet access to check site availibilty, location and amenities. If you're lucky, you can walk in and find a site, but you cannot expect to have it more than that very day, and you can't reserve it there at the park. You have to go find yourself an internet connection or call ReserveAmerica. Of course, it will cost you $7.

This has changed the nature of the parks; they are now the domain of the tourists, not the escape for the urban working and middle class.

Anyway, we're going off the grid, though as long as we have line-of-site and the batteries hold up, we'll be online from time to time. But I plan on pulling out the clam rake we've carried for 5,000 miles and but have not used since Maine and digging up our dinner (with help from Eric and the kids and their fishing poles,) building sand castles and hiking the Coastal Ranges. Oh, and avoiding large flocks of psychotic birds. Blogging will fit somewhere in there.