I find Point St. George to be the most adventurous of our beaches. Washington Drive merges with Northwest Pebble Beach, colorful wildflowers bordering the road. As we enter the parking lot, an intriguing compound stands to our left. The large and small buildings, chapel and water tower used to be home to our local Coast Guard.

We leave the parking lot, and a path leads left to a coarse gravel road. Do wear thick-soled shoes. Thoughtful folks leave their sticks to help us traverse a few feet of rocks at the end of the path. To our left are the tide pools with rocks of all sizes forming the rugged point. Far away, you can barely see the tiny figure of Point St. George Lighthouse because the lantern is on land for refurbishing.

As we search the pools for shells of cockles, limpets, turbans and whelks, we tell the tales of the tragic shipwreck of the Brother Jonathon and of our country's most expensive lighthouse. On the other side of the path, we walk on sand. One October we helped find tiny olive shells for natives to string. They make whispery sounds during native dancing. Our biggest adventure was a ray, stranded belly up.

Mary Mills is an eight-year area resident, a volunteer and a great-grandmother. You can e-mail her at marymils@earthlink.net