Sea Glass Heaven

Really, this place does exist!  I have been hearing about Glass Beach in Fort Bragg for years, and have always wanted to go explore, but never had it on our travel agenda. We almost made it last fall on our trip up to Point Arena, but did not realize how close Fort Bragg was and we didn't make the drive farther north up the coast.

This year, I turned the dreaded 50,  and was not too excited or thrilled about the whole ordeal. Tom to the rescue - he planned a fantastic birthday surprise weekend to celebrate!  Actually, I had no idea where we were even headed until he handed me the agenda when we hopped in the Mini-Cooper and headed North. (He was pretty cute - had the whole thing planned and the agenda all printed out!)

Decided that we might as well take advantage of our fabulous hotel room at the North Cliff Inn,

perched on the cliff overlooking the harbor entrance and the jetty in Fort Bragg.  Sunset on our deck with a glass of wine... heaven.  P.S. This was a great place to stay for us, jetted tub and gas fireplace in our room, plus a spectacular view!

On Sunday morning, we grabbed cameras, my beach boots, and a few bags to take home treasures, in case we found anything.  OH MI - do you think we found anything?  Honestly, I had no idea of what we would find when we got down to Glass Beach.... It's difficult to even accurately describe what it really looked like.  I hope you can all see from the pics!

Instead of sand or pebbles, the tumbled sea glass covers every inch of the beach.  

In some places, it is 6-7 inches deep! 

Absolutely crazy!

 Needless to say, I was a very very happy birthday girl! 

Here's a peek at my stash! 

How to get to Glass Beach? Luckily my good friend Bev Jacquement, author of "The Sea Glass Rush" was incredibly generous with directions and tips about which section of the beach to go to, and how to climb down from the rocks to the beach.

"Go over Golden Gate Bridge & turn left on Hwy 20 at Willits. The Jack-In-The-Box is on the left corner. Stop for bathroom break, get food to go & head towards the sea! The road is twisty. Lots of pull outs, use them as the locals drive it fast. When you get to Hwy 1, turn right. Go through town, turn left on Elm, at the Denny's. You will end at Glass Beach Drive. Park. Take the path & when you can turn to the left, do that. Do not go to the right & do not go straight. If you walk all the way to the end, that is not the best way down to the beach. Back up a little & there is a better way."



Tips for Success:
1. Good Shoes or Hiking Boots (or rubber boots)
2. Backpack with water and snacks
3. Maybe a tiny potting rake or shovel to sift through all of the pretty tumbled pieces
3. Wear pants as you will be scrambling up and down rocks
3. Camera - I personally am a fan of my new "Tough" Olympus camera as I have now trashed 2 cameras in the sand
4. Baggies to take home treasure!

Sea Glass Hunter's Handbook - A Giveaway!

Oh! A new sea glass hunter's guide to finding elusive sea glass.... Imagine my surprise when my friend Suzanne, at Liberty Bay Books,  gave me a copy of the new  "Sea Glass Hunters's Handbook"  last week when we were in the Pacific Northwest.  It's now been added to my "Beach Reads" on the Liberty Bay Books website!

I like this book so much, that I thought more sea glass fans should know about it too!  I also thought it would be fun to have a give-a-way contest to share a copy with our blog readers.

As you all probably know, I am a sea glass fiend.  I hate to admit that I don't have a clue about its' origins or any of its' history.

This new Sea Glass Hunter's Handbook is a fun guide, perfect for those of us collectors wanting to know just a little bit more!   Some of my favorite pages in the book are quotes and stories from other sea glass collectors about their favorite finds. Many of whom I have met on Facebook and on Twitter. (Sharon Sand, Tami Ewing, and Melinda Vahradian)

There is a section on beaches around the world to find sea glass - by no means complete, but there are some great locations, and hopefully a beach near you.  (I know that there are a few near me!)

The handy "lexicon" for us sea glass obsessed beach combers, is also a fun chapter.  I had no idea that there were so many words to describe sea glass hunting and beach combing!  Did you?
Some of my favorites;

*"Clinkers, Clunkers: fragments that need to be thrown back into the ocean"
*"Flotsam: odds and ends, usually from wreckage or cargo spill, that float on water; not to be confused with jetsam"

The online recommendations guide compiled by the author, C.S. Lambert,  is also a great resource.  She has included some of my favorite networking sites to connect with other sea glass lovers.  Here are a few of the examples that are included:
*www.northeastseaglassociety.ning.com
*www.seaglassassociation.org

I would love to share a copy with one lucky give-a-way winner!  

The rules - 3 ways to enter:

1.  Leave me a comment about your favorite sea glass find  - 

Don't worry,  you will NOT have to reveal your secret sea glass beach!

2. Join our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/caronsbeachhouse;
and post a pic of your favorite sea glass find on our wall

3. If you are not a follower of Everything Coastal, join our page, +

let  me know that you are a new follower.

*PLEASE make sure that we have your correct e-mail
*contest ends September 10, 2011  at midnight, and the winner will be chosen by random.org

Good-Luck. And wishing you especially good-luck with your sea glass hunting!

Hope you enjoy some of my sea glass adventures....

 I might even tell you where I found the pieces if you ask nice!

In Search of a Secret Sea Glass Beach....

We have been searching for nearly a year for this secret sea glass beach. Narrowing it down to a rumor about a  specialty art glass factory near Davenport , we finally stopped on Sunday and we simply asked at the Davenport Gallery -  someone actually showed us where the trail down to the beach was!  (btw, great gallery)   Grabbed our picnic lunch, and headed down the steep trail, across the train tracks and then down to the sandy beach. Tom and I were so excited, we might actually find some awesome chunks of  colorful sea glass!  Well, it was not exactly that easy.  Got down to the beach and there were serious, very serious sea glass hunters on the beach. With shovels and wet suits!  The beach is totally sandy, no shells, no rocks and no sea glass - unless you have a shovel and are willing to dig down a foot or so.. Oh mi - was not prepared to dig for gold! Not a great day for beachcoming, so decided to simply walk on the beach, play in the tidepools, enjoy the sun,  sit in the sand and eat our ham and cheese sandwiches, gooey brownies, and share a diet coke. Not such a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon in May...(Especially with my cute boyfriend!) P.S. We have lots of fully-outfitted picnic baskets for your coastal adventures! Check them out in the "Outdoor Fun at the Beach" category - these also make wonderful wedding gifts!

The Search for Beach Glass at Monterey Bay

Last Sunday (April 11) Tom and I packed our lunch - lovely leftover bbq'd chicken pizza - jumped in the car and headed down the coast for another adventure in beach glass collecting! Read a great blog the week before, giving me the idea for our latest Sunday drive. I highly recommend checking out this blog out if you are headed in the Monterey Bay, Carmel, Pacific Grove direction...wonderful advice about where to go and what do to.

BlogMonterey.com: http://www.blogmonterey.com/

I met the author of the Monterey Blog on Twitter (for Twitter fans - http://twitter.com/SeeMonterey) and she gave me some great advice about where to find sea glass in Monterey, especially helpful since we had no clue where to start.  Followed her directions and ended up at just where we needed to be. At the park across the street from McDonald's on Del Monte, south of Fisherman's Wharf!


Beautiful day, and the beach was littered with tons of sea glass, just waiting for us to scoop it up! It's a little hard to tell in the photo, but I was trying to show you how much glass was there, and how easy it was to find. Even if we had not found any glass, it was simply a great place to walk and enjoy the calm, mesmerizing sound of the gentle deep turquoise surf, sea birds, all while meeting other beachcombers out for a Sunday walk on the shore.

Here's just a few of my favorite pieces to show off!

Collection of all kinds of green pieces. I like the really pitted worn ones the best, and the light green pieces.

Amber and brown tones - love it when you can still feel and see the ridges from old bottles...

Wish I made jewelry!  Love love love my aqua and turquoise pieces of sea-tumbled glass

This cool rounded, cupped piece was Tom's big find for the day! Kind of an avocado-lime green, with little bubbles in the glass, about an inch in diameter, can't imagine what it might have come from..

This unique piece of sea glass was my favorite find! Looks like chicken wire

 embedded into an aqua chunk of glass; 

almost 2 inches long  x 1 inch at the widest section. 

I find it so interesting that every beach that I go to, I find different shapes, colors, textures....  

Would love to hear from you, what are some of your favorite haunts for sea glass? 

Foggy Morning Beachwalk in September

Went for a leisurely beach walk this morning in hopes that the fog would lift and reveal sun streaking across the water at Harper Dock, with a line of sailboats bobbing in the bay. No such luck with the fog lifting, but still a wonderul zen-like experience. Perfectly quiet in the fog, no car traffic, ferries blowing their foghorns, squawking of bald eagles (they sound a little like a squeaky wagon wheel!), a flock of Canadian Geese honking their protest at me, while I stroll among the rocks and sand of low tide.

This little stretch of beach is the one of my favorite beaches to find interesting beach glass. Years ago there used to be a brick factory right on the corner, and is also where one of the docks for the first ferries was built.

I have found aqua, cobalt blue, purple and some red pieces here. Today, I was determined to pay attention to where I was walking and tried not to pick up too many things! Still, could not resist the colors of the agate and sand-washed clear pieces of sea glass that somehow found their way into my pockets...

What an opportunity to notice colors and shapes this morning, without the bright sunshine! Like the fine

dewey lines on this spider web outlined by heavy galvanized chain. Might have missed the beautiful natural artwork if the sun had been shining.