Water baby. Water dog. I may as well have been born in the sea. My mother was bodysurfing at Rio Del Mar Beach sometime up until the day I was born. My father had surfed since the 1960s, and began windsurfing when I was three. He taught me to sail when I was old enough to swim. He passed to me a sense of adventure. My mother, an incredible artist since youth, inspired me for life with her artistic talents, creativity and special eye for true beauty.

Together, my parents love sun and water. They met on the beach in Santa Cruz. Hippie sunshine surfy days. Then my sister came along. Then me. They still loved/love the beachy lifestyle. So for me: Of course. A rare moment is to find me out of my swimsuit or far from a river, lake or ocean. I was born and raised near that chilly Northen California ocean, in historic Soquel in Santa Cruz County sometime after Jack O'Neill invented the wetsuit. Thank Goodness!

Why we ended up in Soquel is due to the work of my ancestors. They planned for us to be here, because after decades of my parents living here, my father discovered how much of his family from the 1800s founded our stomping grounds. Our family hadn't lived here since then, but somehow, in the spirit of things, we returned. In fact, some of them are still here: buried long ago in the Soquel Cemetery, a few miles from our house.

We were meant to be sea-loving people too. We have the blessing and luxury of living so close to the ocean, yet so close to the grandeur of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. My folks' love for water and sun explains it all: why you could find me at my sister's graduation with a bathing suit on under my party dress. Why I had more one-pieces than underwear. Why my hair was shaggy beach blonde until I reached college and hit up the books more than waves. And although my sister and I are years apart, they raised us both to love nature, camping, water and sun.

When together, you can find my sister and I bodysurfing in Kaua'i, floating down rivers on air mattresses with beers, surfing, camping, or going wakeboarding on her boat in an alpine lake. And although I haven't been windsurfing as much lately, I still love it and it's a big part of my childhood. I spent many weekends with my "lake family," camping, windsurfing, and swimming with my little buddies.

My online journal, "Have Bikini, Will Travel," invites you to read through the "lense" of more than a water lover, but also through one living passionately for travel, food, cooking, poetry, nature, and other spontaneous muses. Life is crammed with inspiration and beauty. Writing and documenting adventures anyplace than my own hand-written journal challenges me. Yet somehow, my free spirit aches for a writing discipline, and I feel passionate about it enough to share it with you.


Learning to Surf, Sand Dollar State Beach, circa 1988 Big Sur, California