I went for a walk up to the bluff beach. I’m sure it has a real name, but all I know is that it’s the bluff south of Muscle Rock. There’s hardly ever anyone there. Sometimes there’s one other person walking their dog or a guy with a remote control dune buggy. I like the solitude of it because then I can rock out to my iPod without thinking about someone watching me (even though every time I see someone rocking out to an iPod it makes me smile). The bluff is about 40 feet high, so you can’t reach the water from this location, but the view is pretty amazing.

This old Dodge was park and dusty. I bet it has had many adventures.

 Sometimes I forget how pretty it is where I live, a place where I can see views of the Pacific without even trying.

Today there was a display of farewell. I thought maybe his ashes got sent into sea from here, taken by the wind, floating along with the brown pelicans on the thermals, falling into the waves below. I think ashes to the sea is a graceful way to go.

Based on the pictures that were placed so carefully in the piles of flowers, it was a teenager. His friends left pictures of their good times together. It all at once made me sad and thankful for this little time we have on the planet.

Sadie is always happy to reach the sand. She sprints down the hill.

I’m always happy to see flowers. Those golden ones above made me smile, as did the purple and yellow lupine.

This is sand verbena, I think. I took an ecology in college and my favorite part of the course was the unit on coastal ecology: dune development and the roles that different plants play in establishing dunes. I love how this plant has long leaders that it uses to hopscotch its way down the hill, rooting itself in tumbling leaps.

See how the wind made ripples in the sand?

That’s the Pacifica Pier down there. The water and sky were all sorts of beautiful blues today.

There were a few big brown pelicans. I’ve almost come to expect them. I love how huge they are, how prehistoric, how they glide so effortlessly along the coast, solo, in pairs, in a flock of five. I rather love the ocean.

I took some video too and put it together with some of these pics and the song Lookin’ Good by Say Hi:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0Cyv6m0dNc