Weekend Walks

On Friday I dragged a reluctant Terry out for a walk the minute it stopped raining.
"It's cold and wet out there," he objected.
"Here's some hand warmers.  You can have one in each pocket."
We decided to walk on a fairly "tame" trail, protected from the majority of the ocean gusts, the trail veering inland.  Even so, it was too gusty for umbrellas, but it turned out we didn't need them. The path was even paved.  At the end was a small garden.   A Townsend's Warbler with beautiful yellow markings on its head perched on a feeder. A couple of ordinary people appeared to fill the feeder up with more seed.

On the way back we stood where run-off water trickled into the ocean on Linda Mar Beach, at our end of Pacifica.

"There's a black one,"  I pointed to a flock of gulls. 
"It's a Black Oyster Catcher." 
Two hours later, Terry admitted, "That wasn't too bad."

On Saturday we walked the Devil's Slide Trail.  Originally a part of Highway 1, the Coastal Highway, it was eventually closed off to vehicle traffic due to rock slides.  The highway is now diverted through two tunnels, two km long.

Unexpected sunshine made me long for my sunglasses which I'd completely gotten out of the habit of wearing. We were bundled up against the wind, but it wasn't really cold. The views, as usual, were spectacular.

This is after the shower.  We walked right under a rain cloud on the way back and got drenched. Lots of people walked;
the road was wide enough, with a bike lane on the side.














On Sunday the sun came out, and so did the people on Linda Mar Beach.

A few more people than usual surfed, but the waves were not nearly as high as they had been during our three storms in a row.  "Weather systems", as they are now called.  Of course surfers wear wet suits, supposedly to keep warm.  Terry doesn't believe such a thing is possible.

I can never resist taking shots of kelp, and...

a Sea Star tight rope walking!

No, it's not snow, but waves whipped into foam on the beach. Closer to the road , scrubby vegetation is carefully roped off as sensitive area.  Western Snowy Plovers nest amid the weeds, but since it's not nesting season yet, we didn't see any.

Although I've tried to be content in our circumstances, I was happy to hear that
the weather forecast says no rain for the next week.