Posted by on Aug 9, 2012 in delight, FUN | 2 comments

I am a creature of habit and routine and schedules. It keeps me focused, accomplished. It’s how I get my work done. But part of this new lifestyle is about challenging that need for control and structure.

So today we took a different morning beach walk.

(The yellow area of the beach is cordoned off for the nesting snowy plovers. Dogs are allowed on leashes everywhere else.)

For the past three days we have been accessing the beach at the end of Atascadero Road and trudging across the soft sand to get to the water. Today we continued along Embarcadero Rd, the street that parallels the ocean. The road is flat and wide and there are several places where the sand dunes open up so you can see the water and the waves rolling in.

After a half a mile, the road dead ends at a dry wash where there is a large dirt parking lot with several paths down to the sand.

I watched an older couple walk from the water to the lot, noticing that the sand looked firm, their walking easy. When they got close enough I asked and yes, much more of the beach is hard packed and there is only a short distance of soft sand before reaching the water. “It’s not at all like the walk further up,” the woman said, pointing to the trail that Laddy and I have been taking.

So tomorrow we will double our distance without doubling the effort. We’ll walk along the street to the parking lot and then head to the water, this time walking away from Morro Rock and then back before heading to home base via the road again.