Monday, April 14, 2008

First The Good News

Yesterday was Sunday and my honey surprisingly got me up earlier than I expected as we had made plans to attend the evening service at Solana Beach Presbyterian Church. Our son was away and my body (and mind) expected to sleep in until around 8 or so. We hadn't been to the beach lately and all of a sudden San Diego County is experiencing a heat wave. She wisely suggested that earlier would be milder than later at the beach and so off we went.

We drove down to Del Mar and parked on the street around 19th. Easily finding a parking space near 19th street is another advantage of getting up early. We even had time to share breakfast at Pipes in Cardiff before we reached our final destination.

While the beach wasn't deserted, there still weren't that many people there when we arrived. We walked about a half mile until we were clear of the surfer's only (in the water) zone and set our stuff down. I realized that maybe I should have waited in line at Pipes because I really needed to find the facilities. After walking about another half mile I was relieved (in more ways than one) to find a just-cleaned (read: hosed down) men's room. After taking care of business Marianne and I walked south to the tide pools. I don't remember the last time I saw sea slugs. (One was curious about my toes.) I kept imagining those cute creatures in Galaxy Quest that turn out to be ravenous beasts, but gently touching this fist-sized creature didn't turn him (her?) into anything but a shy guy. Further out in the ocean we saw dolphins surfacing over and over as they made their way north. I didn't go into the water very far as it was really cold. It's been a long time since I was in water so cold that it literally hurt to stay in it. What a contrast with the sun that seemed more blazing every few minutes.

We did get in about three miles walking. We'll be back on the beach again soon.

I am walking. You can walk. Please walk today. No matter what.