Point Sal brings back many happy memories. As a kid, we'd spend a week or two on the beach "trailer" camping. It was beautiful. My Dad especially liked it, as it was used as a practice invasion beach to for the troops landing at Iwo Jima. He was at Iwo and hated it, got his Purple Heart there and the like. Iwo Jima, without Japs firing at you, is a pretty little island. He liked the beauty of Point Sal and the knowledge that we were safe there because of the sacrifices made at Iwo and so many other beaches and places in WWII. For kids, it was fun sifting the sand to find 30 and 50 caliber bullets.
The best thing is that Point Sal was a summer camp for California's native indian population. So besides bullets, we found lots of arrow heads in the piles of abelone shell debree from their fires, where they's use the heat and patients to chip arrow heads out of obsitian glass. Too bad it is closed, and it has been for several years, as it was a great field trip mixed with a vacation with the family.
I was stationed at Vandenberg back in 1975 and 1976. I spent a lot of time on the beaches there and especially Point Sal. People would hang glide off the Point and it was quite spectacular to watch them! I also liked going to
Jalama Beach at the South end of Vandenberg.
Pismo Beach was also a cool place and back then, you could cruise the beach in your car.