So Saturday evening kidlet suddenly decided we should have an adventure. At the very end of a long 4-day holiday weekend, of course. I love spontaneous, partner is not so good with it. But she took a deep breath and agreed. Originally boyfriend was to join us, but his visit with his mom went into overtime and he didn’t want us to have to wait. So just the four of us (3 human, one canine) piled into the car and we headed north.
We drove through several towns looking for a good place to stop. Conflicting requirements made this difficult, as kidlet wanted an isolated beach with no one around, partner wanted a safe place that allows dogs, and I wanted a comfy place to sit and gaze at the view. Not that there would be much of a view, it was just past new moon and everything was pitch black. But never mind. Dark beaches are fun with the sounds of pounding surf.
We got as far as Achziv but the nice beaches there were locked and dark. Kidlet was clamouring to keep going north to Rosh Hanikra on the border, partner was clamouring to turn around already and head back. I wasn’t interested in getting off the main road to explore the dirt roads with no street lights, so we turned around.
Then by turning down random roads we found a nice almost-deserted beach just north of Nahariya. No place to sit except on the sand, which we did for a while as kidlet wandered along the rocks by the shore. Kidlet and I amused ourselves by snapping pictures in the dark, or under the light of the single path lamp, while partner fussed about the bad conditions for picture-taking and that we were being silly.
Well, yeah. Adventure + silly definitely go together, don’t they?
There were tons of night-blooming flowers scattered around the sand a bit back from the beach. So we turned our cameras on them as well.
And a once-removed photo by kidlet – taking a picture of me taking a picture of the flowers…
When we returned to the car we decided we were hungry. A drive down the main street in Nahariya (with the worst traffic-lights in the country, a 3-5 minute wait every few meters…pfui) and along the beach didn’t show anything we wanted, so we next drove to Akko. After driving back and forth along the beach we settled on a nice café, with indoor seating, a huge deck, and a bunch of tables on the beach itself.
There were no tables free on the beach, so we opted for the deck.
Good food, too. We all polished off our meals down to the last bite…
By this time it was well after midnight. Vowing to remember this café, we took a final stroll along the boardwalk – well, kidlet, partner and dogbeast strolled, I sat on a convenient bench – and then headed home.
So do you prefer spontaneous or planned outings? With something planned, you have a good idea of where you’re going, what’s available and when, and there’s no wasting time and energy. With spontaneity, there may be more wandering, and more disappointment and/or arguments, but also more surprises and no pressure from a schedule. Most people seem to fall into one camp or the other, but compromise is possible with a little effort, as proven by our adventure!
