A Walk To the Beach

Yesterday, I woke up lazily many times between 7 and 10am, but finally got myself off the futon by about 10:30. I putzed and ate breakfast, checked my email, and began again the process of festering about my future which has been plaguing me for the last 2 months. I wasn't getting very far, so I decided I needed to get out of the house and see a bit of Santa Cruz on my own. I couldn't decide if I wanted to go for a walk with the camera, or go for a short run, or try and fit in both with a shower (I'm an indecisive girl, my poor gall bladder) .. so I decided to go for a long walk after a shower since it was getting late.


So I grabbed the camera and after starting out and getting all excited by one of Jesse's neighbor's plum trees, I found that I'd forgotten the memory card in Jesse's computer and had to run back for it.
I was so amazed by peoples gardens here! They have so many fun plants! The other day I was walking to the Food Bin (while talking to Anne) and managed to stop and smell almost all the flowers. There are so many roses in this town it's ridiculous. And they all smell amazing. Anyway, back to my walk. It was also, excitingly for me, succulent garden paradise - so many cute little cacti to pinch!!

I LOVE hens and chickens (that's the name of the plant pictured above). It's a great one to pinch - although you have to be gentle! There were many more, but my pics weren't always on..

Then I found a magnolia tree. They are so amazing. The flowers are HUGE! I took a couple of scale pics, but they're not pretty.. this one is though!!


I made it to West Cliff Drive and walked along the ocean, enjoying the wind and the cool air. I watched some surfers for a while and was amazed how different surfing in Cali is compared to Hawaii. I don't know if yesterday was just an off day, but the waves move so SLOW!
I passed the statue of the surfer and stopped to watch a couple of otters play for a while. I snapped a lot of pics, but the Z1 sucks at focusing while zoomed in far, so only 2 of the 10 or so pics I took turned out. They looked like they were having fun.

Once I got down to the main area of the boardwalk, I got myself a small icecream (oh yeah) and found the best eye-candy appreciation area I've ever found. Unfortunately for me, I'm a chicken shit and was too shy to blatently take pics.. maybe I'll go back today....... hmm.... anyway! I stopped there and wrote some thoughts about my to move or not to move situation for a while before heading back to Jesse's to make some butternut squash soup. All in all it was a great day.