Weekly Photo Challenge: Solitude, 2

I’m submitting a second entry into this week’s photo challenge on the topic of solitude, this time a more personal one. This photo was taken along the coast north of central California’s Santa Cruz. Kat and I had vacationed there a few years back, off season. We explored the forests, beaches, towns… such a spectacularly gorgeous area. This particular spot stands out in my mind from all the others, though, for its feeling of solitude. It was on a very lonely stretch of road, a small parking spot might have fit three or four cars, it wasn’t well marked, and the walk from there to the beach was nearly half mile. This single tree stood guard over the entire stretch of coast, while ragged driftwood adorned the sand, scattered about recklessly. I proclaimed this to be Serengeti beach, naming it so because the tree reminded me to pictures of same in Africa.

Kat and I explored the area for an hour or two, posed for each other’s pictures, ran about, letting the stiff breeze blow our hair this way and that. We had a sense of freedom and serenity not often felt in today’s world. There wasn’t a sound, not a single sound… no cars could be heard from the road so far away, no birds chirping, the waves were down an embankment and breaking far out, silenced to our ears. We were alone, not another person in sight, it was exclusively our Serengeti.

At one point when we were on the sand, wandering along, well away from the main pathway, my motherly instincts jumped in with a force that shocked me. I realized Kat and I were entirely alone, no cell phone service, no one knew we were there, and I felt perhaps it was silly for two women to be way out there, alone. Yes, fears present in the real world jumped into the peaceful solitude of our Serengeti. We pulled ourselves back to reality, climbed the embankment, slowly retraced our steps to my little truck, and continued driving on up the coast. ~SueBee