California Coastal Cleanup 2008

For whatever reason, I loved participated in cleanups. It wasn’t just cleaning up…but I always knew that my (generous) volunteering was often rewarded with foods and gifts. I remember as a kid I would clean up Berkeley Aquatic Park annually. I always hoped to find needles, but instead I always found stinky empty plastic bags.

So of course in my altruistic spirit, I persuaded my partner in crime to participate in the California Coastal Cleanup Day. Bright and early, we headed down to a nearby reservoir where a large group was dispersed over the park.

Let’s go to the most remote area, I said!

I had a few objectives:

  • find a dead body
  • pick up as much trash as possible (and beating that family of giddy preteens)
  • hunt in an undeveloped area
  • eat as much as possible from the thank you lunch
  • And I accomplished all four goals plus: leaving with 100+ mini-burrs on my pants (which I picked out individually for an hour), a sore leg from falling and sliding two feet on a dirt hill, finding not one but two dead bodies (*cough* bodies with feathers), finding a car bumper, accumulating bottles/cans all the way from the 70s until the present, 10 rusted metal rings, stinky empty plastic bags, a tire that we could not pull out of the ground, Whole Foods paraphernalia, a $25 gift certificate to a local restaurant and full stomachs.

    Ok and a selfless moment.

    It's a front bumper!

    The final results

    2 thoughts on “California Coastal Cleanup 2008

    1. Maybe cause I’m sick but I first read that you loved dangerous cleanups, so I kept reading I glanced at your desire to find bodies and your success in this venture. I paused and thought, “oh my. she needs help.” But I realized I probably just could use some Nyquil because you never said dangerous and you seemed to find birds.

      I shouldn’t read blogs while having the flu.

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