For me, like for many of us, the prospect of graduating from high school and entering the “real world” stirred up its fair share of anxiety. Though it wasn’t necessarily college, a working life or flying the nest that really caused my anxiety—in my naivete I thought that once I graduated high school, it would be socially unacceptable for me to wear a backpack.
Thank God I was wrong.
As I’ve grown up, I’ve found more and more artifacts from my childhood being adapted to last into my adult life. For instance, Pixar movies contain elements that are good for their audience of kids and now their parents, too. A real-life Pixar movie, as it were, can be found out past Bodega Bay in the form of Candy & Kites. “A happy little store specializing in being nice to you since 1983!” boasts a pocket-sized pamphlet. Candy, flags, windsocks, literal buckets of saltwater taffy, garden décor, air toys and more line its walls and the space surrounding the unassuming little store.
It sounds sweet and innocent, and it is. But, two words: “stunt” and “kites.”
These aren’t the two-bit classics one might imagine, the adorable combo of two sticks, string and some printer paper. These are Mama and Papa’s kites. These are kites meant for cutting the sky, kites that audibly motor while they slice the wind, kites that need an action movie soundtrack. These kites are Top Gun, at the beach. They’re “Danger Zone”, by Kenny Loggins, on a string. Few have ever flown a kite so hardcore that they have to bear in mind the safety and well-being of nearby people and animals in case they crash it.
But now, you can!
So do yourself a favor, swing by Candy & Kites on that next trip out to the beach, and feel the power of nature’s fury course through those thin lines of cotton. But best of all, the next time your outdated uncle tells you to “go fly a kite,” just smile, knowing you’re packing the pro’s-choice retort to those poorly chosen words.—ED
Candy & Kites, 1415 Highway 1, Bodega Bay. Open Friday–Monday, 11am to 5pm. www.candyandkites.com
