Hit The Beach
Mileage Update: Hike 147 Bike 378 Run 240 Drive 31300
HIT THE BEACH
After 4 months on the road touching every corner of the country, we reached San Diego just before Thanksgiving, to spend the holidays with family. In San Diego, there is one center of activity: the beach. After a month in the Southern California winter sun, we have had plenty of sand and surf.
Laying on the beach irradiating our epidermis is not our style, however. Fortunately, the shore of the Pacific Ocean is great for other types of activity. We rode our bicycles 24 miles along the Silver Strand, a narrow strip of sand that separates the Great Blue Ocean from the San Diego Bay and extends from Coronado Island south to where you can see Tijuana. For variety, we would bike Highway 101 up the beach a dozen miles from Solano Beach to Leucadia, or from the beach at Carlsbad south to Encinitas. It is a dangerous bike ride, however; you could easily run into a Volkswagon while looking out at the dozens of surfers riding the sparkling waves.
For variety, a run along the beach is a great way to get breathless. The path along Mission Bay is a favorite, but the Pacific Beach boardwalk or the tide channel of the San Diego River also offer exercise with a view. For variety, the run can start at Spanish Landing on San Diego Bay and run the waterfront past the four-masted schooner Star of India, and on to picturesque Seaport Village on the Bay.
Perhaps a morning walk for relaxation. Sunset Cliffs affords a tidepool walk looking down on the crashing surf, but don't step too close to the edge of the sandy cliffs; missing sections of the old concrete walkway attest to the sea's power to reclaim the land. After a cup of coffee, you can walk out the Ocean Beach pier, where the winter waves splash up over the walkway, 15 feet above the water. Strolling up the beach from the pier you might want to stop and admire the beach's Christmas tree, a 40 foot tall cut evergreen thrust into the sand at a rakish angle. Beach balls festoon the holiday tree like giant Christmas ornaments. In order to fit in with the beach locals in "OB", you should be wearing your Uggs, the fuzzy-lined suede boots favored by surfers and beach bums.
Next comes Sunday, and at Shannon's house that can only mean one thing: time to go down to the Convention Center on the waterfront and join her group that runs the stairs of the Center for an hour, taking a break every 10 sets of stairs to run sprints out along the beach of the Embarcadero. At least the view across the bay makes up for the pain.
The beach life has been fun, but now our time has come to an end. We vacuumed the Cape Cod sand out of the floor of the van, brushed away a few stray red and yellow leaves that had hitched a ride from Vermont, and picked the Georgia pine needles out of the carpet. With the van cleaned and repacked, we are driving up Highway 101, watching the beach recede in the rear view mirror.