I'm Walkin On Sunshine

I've walked about 25 miles this week...that's 5 miles every day so far or 10,000 steps a day. It's a lot of work and I'm normally out with my Dad about 2 hours each day walking all over the place. Whether I am in Australia or Santa Cruz, I live in two really beautiful places, but sometimes even that is not enough to motivate me to get out there and get moving. For those days my Dad and I chant this mantra: "I don't have to like it, I just have to do it." And sometimes I am motivated to get out the door but then hate every single one of those 10,000 steps I have to take and for those times Dad and I chant: "Every step I take is making my ass look better" (seriously and we probably say this chant at least 3 times per walk). When I think about it in those terms, it makes me feel a little better. I am noticing some changes in my body and I've lost about 7 pounds so far so that is helping to keep me motivated, as well.

Here are some pictures I took from our walk on Thursday:

Oystercatchers

Sandpipers

Hundreds of these crab shells have washed up on the beach over the past two weeks.

A whole sand dollar, one of the first I've seen this year.

You can't really tell the scale on this picture, but this clam shell is as big as the palm of my hand and super heavy.

Super low tide on the beach (the best time to walk it so it doesn't feel like you are walking 5 miles in wet cement!)

Bubbles!

One of the few crab carcasses that have washed up whole.

Dad likes to collect all the broken sand dollars and use them as frisbees to throw out over the water.

Super, super low tide

I tried to get down to eye level with all the shore birds, but in doing so I spooked them so here are the birds flying away from me instead.

Lupines in the campground.

I know this one is kindof blurry, but I thought it was cool because it shows the whole field behind it

Some kind of cool red grass.

Interesting driftwood...I have a thing for driftwood.

Crab shell and the tiniest sand dollar I have ever seen- it's about the size of a nickel.

California poppies

I don't know what these are, but they are neat.

Wildflowers in the campground

I would hate to fall on this guy...ouch!

More lupines

Ornamental cherry tree I think

My ring and the sand dollar next to each other for scale.

I think these are Rock Roses? I just like how they look like tissue paper when they start to fade.