Beaches and Turtles and More

I am so very tired right now! But looking back, I didn’t do too many extraneous things, so it may just be a of a lot of sun and heat overworking my system. I woke up bright and early this morning at 7:30. It was the perfect, still morning (no wind! Yay!) so I took off for an adventure. I walked toward the beach but took a right at one of the streets that runs along it. I walked for quite a while and then took a left to one of the ‘beach access’ alleys. It was just as far as I had walked along the beach the day before. So I backtracked back toward the main street, but headed down a small neighborhood street instead. It was so quiet and beautiful in the morning! Here is a picture I took along the way.



For most of the route, however, the view was filled with houses. And you should see the effort these people put into their gates! All were at least 10 feet tall, and they came in so many different and creative ways! Some were metal sculptures to look like plant life, while another was a ying/yang sign with two dolphins (yes, one right side up, the other upside down) swimming around it. Another was solid wood with three dancing monkeys holding drinks in their hands… Like I said, some more creative than others.

After walking 45 minutes in one direction, taking time to look at all the beach accesses, I came upon a park and surfing area. It was pretty cool to see all the surfers. A lot were standing on their boards and using a long paddle to get around.



I ended up deciding that my favorite part of the beach was actually the closest to Laura’s house. Pretty handy if you ask me. So I backtracked to that spot and spent an hour or two there. And I tried to make friends with the little cwabby-wabbies (they are too cute not to have silly names) but they are fairly aloof little fellas. Most were the size of the tip of my pinky finger, but there were other Big Daddies that scurried along every once in a while. I saw 4 of them yesterday when I plopped down on the beach digging sand out of their holes and keeping a watchful eye on me. The area I was in today, though, had a lot more. They are darn hard to see, too, because they blend in with the sand so much. There are two crabs poking their heads out. Can you find them?



Back at the house I spent a few hours doing this and that, and at 2 Laura took me along to Makena were she was having a class for her work. I spent the hour just exploring the rocky beach area. I expected to see lots of starfish and sea enenimies, like on the Oregon Coast, but that was not the case here. Just a few tiny hermit shells in a few of the pools. There were, however, fish stuck in some of the larger pools and that was something to see! All different sizes and types! It was beautiful there. I think the pictures speak for themselves. After her class, Laura had a little time to kill, so she drove me further down the beach past all the fancy, million-dollar houses to see the lava flow. SO BIZARRE! SO huge. Mind blowing. Imagine looking up at Mt. Bonaparte and seeing this poky lava stuff start to trickle down and then completely cover the land from about the sno-park down to the house. Then you turn your head and look as far as the bottom of Mt. Hull (yes, I realize you can’t actually see that far in real life, but just go with me) and all you see is lava. Laura says people get disoriented out there sometimes.

Well, I’ve written a lot, so I’ll cut it off here, but know that I’m thinking of you all! P.S. That picture of nothing but water? I SWEAR there is a turtle's back if you look hard enough! One was so big I thought it was a dead bloated cow at first (the cowgirl coming out in me) before I realized cows didn't often swim in the ocean, but turtles did. All in all, I saw 6 turtles, but not all together.