I was flying out of town for a meeting on Sunday so we decided to do our walk Saturday instead. Tides were more favorable for the AM and so we found ourselves once again at Old town (again logistics). This would be our last journey involving the Coaster as its route south of Solana beach turns a bit inland and the Sorrento Valley station is not so well served by other public trans on the weekends.
Looming large in our minds is the impending government shutdown. Some Tea Party jackass was seated across from us. Anita was about ready to sock him one by the time we got to Encinitas.
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| She has very lovely eyes in this one. |
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| Welcome to Encinitas! |
At Moonlight beach once again, I encountered one of those snack shops that was just too hard to say "no" to. All they had for was was some Iced Coffee, but with enough cream and sugar I was happy.
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| My beer belly is obvious in this picture. I used to look like I was in better shape. |
Encinitas is the town along the coast where free love still reigns and brings in yuppie cash. It's a contest between it and Solana Beach for my favorite beach town. I have more friends here, but I like the bars of Solana beach just a bit more. Moonlight beach is idyllic today in the mild Santa Ana condition. We can see clear up and down the coast from way past oceanside to the imposing headlands of La Jolla and Soledad, growing ever larger as we make our way south.
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| The great lifeguard station of Moonlight beach |
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| More staircases |
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| A cliff crumbling |
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| Watch that first step |
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| Looking north into Orange County |
Shortly into we encountered the first headland in awhile, a Spring was dripping from it, showering us with runoff from Encinitas irrigation, still it had a magical air to it .
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| Add caption |
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| Red tree |
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| Sunlight filters through |
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| Two sets of beachwalkers in this photo |
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| This rock outcrop is just before Swami's |
Swami's is the other cultural heart of Encinitas, named for the meditation center next door, I know many who spend every Sunday there Blissing and breaking bread. It's also one the first public restroom we encountered. The next few photos are from this staircase.
South of Swami's is San Elijo beach. One of the things that amazes me is how people choose to distribute themselves along the beach with a few areas being packed to the gills interspersed with large tracts of emptiness. You often don't have to walk too far to find your solitude.
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| I'll ride the wave where it takes me. |
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| A long Ramp |
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| Tower 19 |
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| helicopter |
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| A long staircase |
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| Tower 17 |
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| Tower ? |
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| Tower 16 i think. |
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| The sparkle of the sand. |
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| Another tower |
Another advantage of low tide is that one can walk across many of the outflows (though we'll see what happens when we reach the Tijuana river). The most noticible thing about these locations is the water temperature variation (sometimes also the current). On this occasion I carried my lover across the water. Beautiful.
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| Making my way across San Elijo Lagoon. |
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| Tower 15 |
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| And I DID make it into the water. |
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| This picture captures the free spirited nature of Solana Beach. |
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| Anita was drawn to this rock. |
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| Loved the crossbedding and the unconformity here. |
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| Anita reflected in the water. |
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| And here we are, the ramp back to civilization |
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| Looking back |
One of my favorite things about north county is the Beer at Pizza Port. The Solana Beach location is 2 minutes walk from the train station and we arrived with 35 minutes to spare, so I decided to grab a drink and hold a toast to our walking success!
This was to be the last time the Coaster figured into our plans. It was fun riding the train, and those journeys will be missed, but such is the nature of our journey
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| Bye bYe coaster, you've been good to us and we will miss you |
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