Week 1: Oceanside to Carlsbad Village

Introduction: So awhile back my beloved Anita and I found out that we shared the bucket list dream  of walking the coastline of San Diego County.  While many bucket list goals are wrought with logistical complications, and / or expensive this one seemed feasible.  The stretch of coast from  Oceanside in the North to the Border fence in the south, is generally accessible (with the possible exception of one or two military reservations) and much of it is well served by public transit.   From Oceanside to Solana beach there's the Coaster train, the southern terminus of which is near our house.  The stops are separated by ~ 5 miles and on weekends they run every few hours, allowing us to maintain a leisurely pace of ~1.5 miles per hour.  We didn't have this thought out all the way when we started, but at 5 miles / week we really didn't need to.  I also got the idea of doing a blog about it only 1/2 way through or so and am tryign to figure out the nuances of Blogger as I write this presently

The official start point of our journey: the south entrance of Oceanside Harbor.

View to the Southwest

Looking Northwest on a lovely September day

The path ahead.

Meet Anita, she's beautiful!

The perfect way to start the Journey: A selfie and a kiss.

Surfing Contest at the mouth of the San Luis Rey River

Soon we cross the San Luis rey river, not the more famous one in Peru about which a novel bearing its name was written, but still one of the larger rivers in the county. We don't get much rain here along the coast, thought some of the mountains within its basin get quite a bit during the winter. Much of that is impounded in lake Henshaw and so in late summer all we get for outflow is what makes it through the sand

Shortly thereafter we are under the Oceanside Pier.  Anita is a big fan of Piers the world over, and this is one of her favorites.  This is the first inkling of our sense of progress for the journey.

Anita is sore today. I am not sure our time. The beach is crowded here, but as we make our way south the crowds thin out somewhat as access becomes more restricted and parking more sparse.

Taking a break under Oceanside Pier

The pier fades into the distance now.

The crowds begin to thin out down the shore.

I get this notion that I should try and photograph every major outflow and every lifeguard tower as we make our way down, to record the subtle changes in character along the coast during our journey. I also find myself drawn to all the sand castles, perhaps it was the video for of Monsters and Men's "King and lionheart" http://vimeo.com/58276670, but I start to see how each of these little sand cities could have been the setting for a story. All sand castles are exercise in impermanence and beautiful for it. We see many today: At some point Anita finds her back hurting and we rest for a bit. I get curious as to what lies beyond the stairs we have chosen and see a neighborhood I had viewed previously from the train. We have reached the old German enclave of Carlsbad and must be getting somewhat close. Indeed we are beginning to wonder when we'll recognize the street that will take us to Carlsbad village. By this point my sandals are collecting sand and salt and I have managed to acquire quite the blister. Anita is tired and her shoes are falling apart. Finally I recognize a beach access way that I know to be near the station, when in fact we have overshot the shortest route by several blocks and it's getting close to the 5:21 departure time. We do however make it to the station with enough time to buy a powerade and use the restroom before the train arrives. We are exhausted but eagerly planning the next leg of our voyage.