have synchronized walks with other 43thingers and post pictures here

Not out in the country but lots of wildness to look at.

Not out in the country but lots of wildness to look at.

We walked down to the coffee place and had lunch and listened to a flute and guitar duet. I went through my 43 goals list to sort and revise them for my happiness group goal. My SO told me about how he has had the same 4 goals for years and so it isn’t necessary to think about it. hmmm

Then we walked back through the neighborhood an extra block away just so I could synchronize for this goal. This big white house is being spruced up. They’ve recently repainted it and there are other signs of work. We are always surprized by the small changes to our neighbors homes like different flowers or small details. Some people intentionally decorate for holidays or do small upkeeping projects.

Then there are others that don’t fix things in their yards. One house looks like they haven’t raked or watered in years and another has an awning that would drop to the ground if a large enough bird landed on it.

I said that I think its interesting how people never do anything about things because sometimes they think they can’t, or they overestimate the amount of work it will take. When they actually do something they realize how easy it was and that they had lived with it for years without needing to. My SO said maybe they really didn’t care about it anyway.

hmmm.

This is sort of cheating because I biked 10 miles instead of walked. Also, stopped by to see a movie and have a glass of wine along the way.

Would recommend “Moonrise Kingdom” to anyone that loves quirky movies. We haven’t figured out if its OK for kids yet. Its just that quirky.

Biked over to the theater along the Stevens Creek Trial then out to the baylands. Went by the Google headquarters where a new giant version statue has been put up. Saw a traffic jam of people headed to the Mayhem Festival Concert at Shoreline Amphitheater. Biked behind the dry grass hill along the Permenante trail and saw a loud, shouting and very tripped out guy at the top of the hill shouting about the “new world order”. Then we ended up at the park.

Looking back at the photos I realized that the trip is such a feast in habitat. Theres a small lake, a golf course, wetlands, dry wetlands, NASA disaster training, the south end of the Bay, and the path itself is shady and well traveled along the creek.

Mostly blue, green, and shades of brown with frequent highway overpasses, some wildlife and a few flowers.

Sometimes plans go astray. We started our afternoon by watching the beginning of “The Adjustment Bureau” and eventually ended up at Alice’s Restaurant(not kidding). The original intention was to go for the synchronized walk but wow, we we pushed off track. I did not see any guys in suits but I believe they were around.

It was sort of chilly outside today. I had on shorts because they were on the top of my laundry pile. Also a sleeveless top, so I took an extra shirt and my prized Stanford hoodie. I didn’t think I’d need it. Grabbed the camera, my bag, and a bottle of water.

So first we had a disagreement about where to go for the walk. My boyfriend wanted to go to the estuary near us. I sort of had my heart set on Crystal Springs, which is a beautiful reservior that lies atop the San Andreas faultline along Highway 280 which is the “World’s Most Beautiful Freeway”. I pouted and 2 wrong turns, Sunday Bike Days that resulted in 2 blocked roads and 2 closed trails later, we decided to go to Half Moon Bay and drink. We gave up on hiking. We decided to go to a brewery and eat.

Instead we turned onto not one, but two, yes TWO, unusable beaches. One was a private beach with no parking and the second had cliffs too steep to even consider. We went South instead of North. The drive down Highway 1 was beautiful though. Its the journey.

Finally we ended up at San Gregorio Beach. Flipping AMAZING. Its a place where a stream hits the Pacific Ocean so there are piles of driftwood everywhere. People have built and spend the day building these cool structures. There were kites, family picnics, children with buckets of sand and self made driftwood palaces. Magical. And of course there was this….

As we walk our 4th path of the day to the promised hike, a group of very drunk young people came tumbling down the path with us. Literally, two of the girls slipped on the sand and toppled over. I shall refer to them now as the girl with the flower sundress and the girl with the long skirt. We were pretty entertained by the sillyness of them.

We found a place on the beach. We built a driftwood fortress. Drank some champaigne and settled in. A family next to us lounged on the sand with their 7 year old in a deep sand pit with a driftwood tower, a 5 year old with a bucket and shovel and a 3 year old laying on the mom watching seagulls. An older couple held hands and sat on a blanket. A group of college aged engineering types did handsprings in the sand, built a gigantic driftwood lean to and posed for pictures balancing on top of it.

The partiers were playing in the surf. One went to far in the water and the guy with them had to get her out of the rip tide. Eventually the long dress and the sundress came off and they laughed and played in the waves in their underwear. Its all fun and games until someone is so drunk that they can’t walk anymore.

So people got concerned. We watched as the lifeguards, some helpful beachgoers and finally the rangers eventually came to get the girl with the long skirt back up off the beach to the car. She wasn’t making it.

Her friend with the (also missing) flower sundress ( I think it floated off with the long skirt and shirt) and the long skirt girl attempted to head home but alas, one of them could not stand anymore. The rangers came. The missing flower sundress girl stood in her underwear, now sober, and explained to the ranger that her friend was a lightweight and unable to handle her liquor. The ranger asked now in only her underwear and unable to sit up long skirt girl her name, how old she was, and yes, could she sit up. No, none of those things were available anymore from her. She just laid on her back watching the world spin.

I so wanted to tell her to just go ahead and throw up.

The family with the 3 kids packed up and left.

It was apparent that more law enforcement were on their way. We watched from our driftwood leanto and secretly drank some more.

Now, you have to understand. I had a Stanford hoodie on that I’d probably worn every day for the last 2 years on. I even slept in that thing when I went to Reno in the winter and had to battle snow. I wore it to my old University, which was NOT Stanford , to finish my last class. I wore it to meetings and was asked if I was Stanford Alumni, and then bore the burden of being snubbed because I dared to wear an inappropriate Hoodie. I got the hoodie at Goodwill for $5 brand new. It was a bargain because they retail for about $45 at the Stanford Bookstore. Since I don’t ever spend more that $7 on any article of clothing, it was perfect. PERFECT.

But I felt sorry for the girls. I knew they were cold. I kept imagining the police photo of them in their bras. We didn’t have towel or blanket since we didn’t ever intend to go there. My compassion got the best of me. I wondered if the ranger would look me over and figure out how much I had to drink or think I was with them but it somehow didn’t matter.

I took my hoodie to the girl without her flowered sundress on anymore. She started to cry and said, “Thanks, I’m really cold”.

I started to walk back. I realized that the girl with no long dress, laying flat on her back like a sea lion on the beach probably wasn’t feeling cold, but the mom in me just couldn’t leave her that way. Went back and gave her my long sleeved shirt.

Her friend tried to cover her up but she just threw it off.

I did my part. The Adjustment Bureau guys probably were looking down on us from the cliffs over the beach. We packed up and left. We drove back toward Silicon Valley via La Honda and stopped at Alice’s for Margaritas and a bowl of Chili. I was a little cold but it felt OK.

I would like to think that the girl with my Stanford hoodie will look at it tomorrow morning as she nurses her hangover and say, “I should really go back to school”. Thats what I hope. It worked for me.

Anyway I hope others had such great synchronized walks as mine today.

Bunch of various musical folks. I didn’t take pictures but I did take videos. Not sure how to put them on 43things.

That would be totally awesome. Let me know when the next one is. I’m lonely.