Morning Walk

  Thanks to my pal Leslie, I have become a pretty serious walker. A "for exercise" type of walker.  I guess it was 2003, or 4 that we started in with the routine of walking a few times a week. We would meet at the beach, and walk for at least an hour or more. So nice to walk and talk about stuff. So lucky to live on the coast, and have this luxury. I would often find times during the day to go out by myself, listening to Italian language CDs on my big old Walkman, or books on tape from the library. What a great way to get in some aerobic exercise, and have some "me" time, which I don't get much of. 

  A couple of years into it, I started having some pretty ugly pain, and had to give up walking on the beach. Only hard, even surfaces for me now. I try to sneak in sandy beach walks, but always have the fear that I will rupture a slightly torn Achilles tendon that is, well, my Achilles tendon.

 I know how much Leslie loves walking barefoot in the sand, and every once in a great while we still walk together, but I always have to keep us on the pavement of the bike trail that runs through the dunes in our area. Not as much fun for my beach loving pal.

  As my schedule has changed, I have found it best to go out way early in the morning. I did this for a few years by myself, earphones lodged in, books taking me to other worlds, while I gaze out at the wonder - world we are lucky to live in. Last year, I got Johnny out there with me. He doesn't try to keep up with me, and that works out just fine. We both plug into our digital books, and off we go.

Early, before the sun is up, at the start of the Morning Walk...

  In the fall, the walk starts before the sun is up. The sun is there, just getting ready for it's big entrance, setting any clouds in the sky on fire. First, a sweet pinkness, then flame on. I love this. It's so great watching the clouds, and then the upper dunes, lower dunes, and finally the beach getting hit with the morning light. 

Always, vapor trails from the nearby airport. Great design..

  The beach itself can be glassy, with dolphins slowly cruising through, or rough and full of white water and choppy waves. I really like it when there are surfers out there at the crack of dawn, taking it all in. The pelicans ride the waves so close, it seems they must be grazing them with their wing tips, but no.  I've seen, only once, a pelican mistake it and get totally tumbled by the wave break. Fortunate that it came out of it ok, because it looked brutal to watch. The normally graceful, giant, prehistoric looking fellow just being rolled over and over in the surf. Big old beak thing flipping over huge, flopping wings. Yikes. But all was well, in the end. Mostly, I just see seals and seagulls. An occasional otter or two.

Sunrise at the beach on a very mellow day.

  For the first part of the walk, the dunes are still in the dark, waiting for the sun to hit. The air smells so great, all herby and beachy. The dune plants have the most wonderful fragrance. Just after a rain, it all gets so much more amplified. I like to stop and take a big breath, smelling the air. It's like sage, and dry, sweet grass.  Before the sun comes up, the dunes are just big shapes, with dark areas and light areas...

Dunes before sunrise.

  Around the same time as I make it to the top of the rise, the sun starts to hit the dunes. The colors begin to pop on the foliage, and what seemed like plants that weren't anything too special, turn into beautiful mounds of amazing texture and color. Especially in the fall... the native buckwheat is all rusty and gorgeous. The artemisia is silver - grey and filagreed. I love the subtle, earthy colors against the sandy dunes. Especially when they are just getting hit by the sun.

Sunshine just coming onto the upper dunes. Beauty colors!

Mother Nature has a swift hand with texture and color.
Rust buckwheat flower heads, just going to seed, with lacy artemisia.

Another lovely combo, with sun just creeping in.

  There are some great moments early in the morning. A couple of old, dead oaks make for natural sculptures. When they are lit by the rising sun, it's so high drama. On many mornings, especially sunny mornings, we have the grandest pleasure of seeing the local hawks. They are our favorites. I like to wave a big hello to them, and will spend way too much time just staring at their magnificence. More than once, I've had the good fortune of seeing two hawks, leaning into each other on a branch, just soaking up the first warmth of the day.
  Since I never really walk with a camera in hand, I don't have any hawk photos to share. They are fleeting and beautiful, and I count myself so lucky to ever even see them. Stare in wonder? Who wouldn't?

This is where the blue jays hang out.

The loveliest trees, and a regular spot for seeing hawks hanging out.

  I guess the walk is about 4 miles, or so. I like to really chug along, sometimes even pushing it into a joggy thing. Mostly, I like to look around, and see how the seasons really do change, even here on the coast...

Love the play of light and color on these early morning walks.
So nice to see the ocean out there.

 Once, I was coming down the path from the top of the dunes, and (you won't believe me, but it's true)  I saw a whale come up and do one of those big, full on the side splashes. Big, horizontal splash, from so far away. It must have been huge! Usually, I feel really lucky to just see a whale come up a little bit to spray a little burst of  air, before going back down. This was a one time magic moment.

Sun almost all the way up, heading down the path. Nice, long shadows...

  Back down at the bottom of the hill, it's a treat to see and hear the waves doing their thing, over and over and over... forever. 

  Time to get back to reality, down some more coffee, get going to work..... and wait until tomorrow morning, when we get to go back out and walk again.