cracker beach

Check out Woodencracker's Shell Beach pics... get an idea of what the Central Coast Beaches look like -- darker sand and lots of seaweed. But you also get pelicans.

» Shell Beach via the Dub-C

the good morning

Time was when getting up at 6:00 was the norm, now I wonder how that ever happened. But I've been getting up earlier to work out with KB. The first part of the week was a long walking loop, but we decided we should go and check out our gym's newest facility since we spend so much money to belong there. The new place opened up only days ago and you can't even compare it to the previous downtown location (which is old and ratty with very questionable equipment.). The new place is plush. Clean. Huge. Luxe. Mega. Awesome. We took spinning with Dave and did hard hills to AC/DC. Afterwards we hit Linnaea's for breakfast burritos and lip-licking Lattes. That, my friends, is a good way to start the day.

Afterwards I went to visit my sister who is recovering from yesterday's surgery. My sister... if I tell you she is sweet as pie just take it as a fact and don't roll your eyes like I'm being corny. She's sweet. And today she's battling post-op nausea and uncomfortableness. Please send her all your healthy thoughts.

I really have no idea how I ever got to work at 8 or 8:30 in the past. These days I'm lucky to get in before Noon. Right. Like that happens. But I LOVE working in LO. Love it. It is so pretty here.

I wonder if it is a pretty not available at first glance? But this is my home town so I know its glances, its movements, its nuances. I know where to look to see the beauty. God -- everywhere. But if you are the sort that equates nice towns with similar homes (aka tracts) and sidewalks and stoplights and groomed anything, this is not the town for you.

LO is sandy. And a little weatherbeaten. Its trees are scraggly and you won't be hard pressed to find a car on blocks in someone's yard. But there is the bay sitting at your feet and the sand spit stretching out and the pacific holding it all together. There is the smell of ocean mist and and a slight breeze. The sky is robin's egg and the cypress trees reach up to meet it while the pigmy oaks stay low like little gnomes gathering together. The people are Down To Earth (exclamation point) and quite an honest, sincere bunch. There's hiking and mountain biking and surfing and sand boarding. People go for walks every single evening -- post-dinner walks are a given here. There are two bars (Sweet Springs, aka Meat Swings and The Merry Maker, aka The Marraige Breaker). Excellent thai. And a kickass locals cafe where you will run into damn near anyone you care about and/or see their kids (and when did the kids grow up?).