Matchbook Musings

A recent FITK series of posts planted a seed of longing for a winter vacation on the California coast. I have often thought about spending some time next to the ocean, where the sound of the surf and the mysteries of the tide pools would beckon, where I could hike for miles and forget the below zero weather in Minnesota for a while. One of the matchbooks featured a prohibition-era hotel in an iconic image that epitomized my unfulfilled desire:

I began to explore my options on Airbnb and VRBO in Moss Beach and found numerous offerings in a wide variety of prices, from $1400 a week to $1400 a day.

The more humble of these were basically studio apartments with no view of the ocean while the top end offerings included hot-tubs, direct beach access, and one even sported a 4 hole mini-golf course!

Two years ago this trip would have been a no-brainer but now, with the resurgence of Covid and the specter of California wildfires, it is not so simple a choice.

And the Moss Beach Hotel? I can’t stay there—it is now a restaurant—but I can rent the house next door:

As I am typing this post a smoky haze is engulfing Flippist World Headquarters. This has been going on for weeks now and the forecast has it lingering for several more days, intensifying a sense of dread and my yearnings for escape—but California has fire problems of its own.