Wanderlust in the Time of Coronavirus (A GeoEx eBook)

Wanderlust in the Time of Coronavirus

May 28, 2020

STARTING OVER: A PILGRIMAGE TO STINSON BEACH

F or three decades now, every March, I have made a pilgrimage to Stinson Beach, a beguiling Marin County beach hamlet that’s an hour’s drive from my house. There’s a special spot at the southern tip of the beach where I go to ground and gather myself, take stock of the year past, and contemplate the year to come. This year, I wasn’t able to make that pilgrimage. For a variety of reasons, I couldn’t get to Stinson Beach in the first half of March. And on March 17, when six San Francisco Bay Area counties enacted a shelter in place order, Stinson Beach was suddenly unattainable. But this week, two and a half long months later, the world started to open up a bit, and something inside me seemed to open up as well. On Tuesday afternoon, the idea spontaneously blossomed inside me that I should make my pilgrimage to Stinson Beach. It felt like a new year of sorts was beginning, and even though the path ahead is uncertain and there are no assurances that this progress will continue without setbacks or second waves, a journey to my sacred spot by the sea seemed a fitting symbolic celebration to me. So I awoke early Wednesday morning, rummaged in the

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