I've lived in the Bay Area my entire life and somehow have never been to Pacifica. Fixed that today by taking the kids on a hike along the coast.
Started the morning off by hitting up my sister in law's coffee shop, P Town Coffee and Tea right on HW 1. This is an awesome spot, right across the road from the ocean inside an old red train caboose.
SIL and her boyfriend took over the business just a couple weeks before the pandemic struck here so they didn't qualify for any bailout assistance, but they're still open every day until ~3pm and plugging along. Definitely stop by if you're ever passing through along Highway 1. Good coffee, good food, and great people
And try the Flamin Bacon on a cheddar jalapeno bagel!
After eating we drove a mile or so down the road to park and start our walk on the beach. The day started off overcast and a bit chilly.
First thing we saw was this guy carrying a huge kite contraption. Thought maybe it was for kite-boarding, or possibly just a gigantic regular kite you would fly on a string.
But then he carried it all the way down the beach, and up the hill to top of that cliff in the distance. Weird.
As we walked along the beach looking for crabs and sea shells, the sun finally came out. Turned out to be a beautiful day!
Looking south
And to the north
A couple hours later when we got to the top of the ridge we ran into kite man again
He had taken everything apart and was in the process of putting it back together.
And it turned out that it wasn't a "kite".
That thing was a home made hangglider - that he actual flew in!
It was hand built completely out of old trashed junk. Bicycle parts, lawn chairs, a mower, etc. And it had functional flaps and rudders. The craziest part was that the dude secured himself into the hoop on that contraption with the straps off a regular old backpack.
This is the view from where he launched. Daredevil doesn't even begin to describe this guy!
Ok so I lied earlier. The back strap-in wasn't the craziest thing.
The actual craziest part was that this was the
second glider he had built. The first one he crashed into the side of the cliff and it was unsalvageable. He was changing out the fabric on the wings because he "wanted to use the cheaper plastic on the maiden flight in case it crashed". Didn't want to waste the expensive second-hand plastic on a potential deadly wreck lol.
Anyway he still had a lot of work to do, and I didn't really want my kids to see anyone die today, so we continued our hike and didn't get to see him launch. Cool friendly dude, and pretty inventive. If I was by myself I def would've hung out to get some video. And to be ready to administer first aid if needed.
This is where we decided to take a break and end our hike.
If you zoom in you can read the name of the beach that someone built into the side of the hill.