Lost on a Country Road (Who knew SoCal still had remote country roads!)

After work on Friday, the traffic was at worse than a crawl on the freeway, so I decided to try a back way home. There's a windy, hilly road that goes through the foothills and drops down into Murrieta bypassing rushhour traffic, but the drive is a bit longer. With traffic not moving, I decided I had nothing to lose.

I have a history of getting motion sickness, sometimes even when I'm driving, but if the drive isn't too long, I can deal with it, and this drive should have been about an hour. Definitely a better option than sitting in stop and go (more stop than go) traffic on the freeway for over an hour. According to the map, the route looked pretty easy, but of course, I missed a turn somewhere and ended up driving way out of my way on tight curves and roller coaster hills. When I finally stopped to check my iPhone map, I was car sick and not at all on the right road. But the drive was beautiful! I was so wrapped up in the scenery, that I didn't even mind being lost.

Most of my drive to and from work is through populated areas or on busy roads, so it was a nice surprise to find a country road bordered by farms, long white fences, and a canopy of trees. The drive took me over two hours (instead of one), in part from being lost, another part from driving slow because of being carsick, and finally because I was spending so much time taking in the view. Gravel driveways would wind away from the road and up into the hills, and at each one I would slow down and crane my neck trying to see up them. Unfortunately, this constant looking at the scenery exacerbated the motion sickness (anyone who gets carsick knows the best thing to do is to stare straight ahead or at the horizon because the land rushing by on the sides of the vehicle just adds to the agony - but I couldn't help myself!)

 It was a long drive home, but it felt like I discovered hidden treasure to find this remote countryside tucked away between the huge cities I work and live in. It renewed my hope that SoCal is not completely being taken over by people - which I do sometimes feel when there are houses, cars, and people for as far as I can see in every direction. Next time it seems that the world I live in has  too many people in it, I'm going to get lost on country roads on my way home again...

'Tis the Season???

This year I am really homesick for snow for the holidays. Last year, November and December in Southern California were really rainy and cool, which I liked, but this year, the weather's been warm and dry until a few days ago. All the sun and short-sleeve weather was making it hard to get in the Christmas spirit! Snow isn't likely in this part of the country, so I've had to find other ways to make it feel like Christmas.

The Christmas light displays on the houses do bring on that festive feeling if I ignore the fact that that it's still too warm for a sweatshirt some nights, and that the grass is still green. There is something to be said for being able to go for a leisurely run through the neighborhood to take in the light shows. One block in the neighborhood even has all their lights coordinated to music!

In Minnesota, living in the country, we always put Christmas lights on our house, but no one could just drive by to see them - they really were just for us. And the lights really just served as a compliment to all the beautiful white snow. Now, with no snow to set the mood, the pressure is on to do something more spectacular than just line the roof with twinkling colors.

I do get excited about the Christmas lights in Southern California, and I can't wait to get back to Minnesota to have snow for holidays, but baking Christmas cookies with the neighbor girls while listening to Christmas music helped to bring on the season as well....

Where Did MY Beach Go?!?!

I never thought about the tides, or how they might affect my running, until the tide pushed me off my running course. I know about tides. I know about the moon's affect on the tide. And I know the tides cause the water to come up higher on the beach at different times. But for some egocentric reason, when I found my new favorite running place, it never occurred to me that it wouldn't be just the way I found it (and wanted to to stay) day after day after day. 

"Charlie" and "Charlie"

I love running on MY beach. The thought of it is one of the few things that gets my butt out of bed early enough in the morning to go for a run before work. I love the wide, flat stretch of beach that is perfect for barefoot running. I love the surfers bobbing on the water as the sun comes up. And I love finishing the run on the pier lined with pelicans (they are ALL named "Charlie" according to the fishermen). 

This was exposed beach
two weeks ago...

Imagine my shock and dismay when I went to my favorite running place this past week, when the moon was little more than a sliver, only to find the wide, flat portion of the beach under water. I tried to run on the upper part of the beach, but it means running at an angle and my aging ankles don't care for that. So this week I had to resort to running on the sidewalk above the beach, catching brief glimpses of my beach when the tide rolls out, just before it rolls back in to cover the sand and splash against the rocks. 

I'm coming to terms with the fact that my beach is subject to the forces of nature, and not to take for granted the perfect mornings when the tide is low and the beach is prime for running. Running on the sidewalk is still a good run, considering it's right next to the beach (or right next to the water when the tide is really high). Even from a bit of a distance, I still love the sound of the waves, the colors as the sun rises, and the surfers bobbing in the waves. 

There's something about the ocean that draws a person to it (Jimmy Buffet knows that and has tried to describe it in a thousand ways), so even a lousy day is good at the beach. And even when I have to run on the sidewalk instead of the sand, the view is hard to beat...

Morning storm rolling in...