16-146

Mile 408.  A coast to coast walk on this narrow body of land that Satellite Beach sits on.  With the advent of the Intracoastal Waterway, Lou supposes it is now technically an island.  What Tortoise did today was go to the beach one more time with the Ragozzines, then walk back to their house by his usual "let's find a magical mystery tour" route finding method.  Walking thought was by Mary Cook ...

Cheerio!

16-145

Mile 405.  Walked with the Ragozzine grandchildren to the beach as the prepare to say goodbye to Satellite Beach.  How fun has it been for them to be in walking distance to the ocean!  Sure was fun for Grandpa to share this afternoon with them there!  The thought of the day was by Ann Dibb ...

Cheerio!

16-144

Mile 403.  Making memories with Ledge!  Today's Tortoise walk was along the beach near St. Augustine..  Lou believes it was his first recorded walk utilizing flip-flops!  There's lots of pictures here of two days of memories, including the walk.  Plus the thought, by Thomas Monson ...

Cheerio!

16-92

Mile 243.  Tortoise finished work for the day about 6 pm, and headed to where Brookhurst meets Pacific Coast Highway and started walking the Huntington Beach Bike Trail.  Hands down, this is the busiest trail Lou has walked.  Maximum speed limit for bikes is 10 miles per hour, dropping to 5 when walkers are present, which appears to be always.  Beach bikes with large tires were the order of the day, as were skateboarders, runners ... and people just plain hanging out.  It's a fun place to be!

There's many pictures for your viewing pleasure.  Following them, and the numbers of the day, Thomas Monson provides a story and an accompanying thought ...

Cheerio!

15-149

Mile 418.  Tortoise previously walked The Strand in Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach, then discovered it was part of the Marvin Braude Trail that follows the coastline as far north as Santa Monica, so he started making his way that direction.   Today he was closer to Torrance, so it was a good day to find the beginning point of the trail adjacent to Miramar Park, pictured above with the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the background.  From there, Lou walked through the Redondo Beach Pier up to the starting point of The Strand before returning.

For more pictures, a map, and the day's walking thought by Dallin Oaks , please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

15-63

Mile 205.  Tortoise snuck in a walk along the beach this morning before getting on his plane home.  His path was the Marvin Braude Trail, miles 9.75 to 11.5 in both directions, which had ocean to the west and a hill on the east separating him from the Los Angeles International Airport.  For more pictures, a map, other details, and the day's walking thought by Elaine Jack, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-358

Mile 1,003.  Willyne, Benjamin, Becca, and I arrived in Florida this morning for Christmas with the Ragozzines.  We have a long family tradition of doing something fun together on Christmas Eve, generally including bowling.  Sarah broke her toe not long ago, so the conversation went to what would we like to do memorable that didn't include bowling, or anything else tough on that toe.  Turns out just a few minutes from their home is the yearly Surfing Santa event at Cocoa Beach.  In addition to countless surfers wearing red shirts and Santa hats, there were at least twenty Santa skydivers as well.

We arrived at the beach a little after 9.  The skydivers happen at 11, so Tortoise took the opportunity to walk a piece down the beach and back before playing in the water with his grandchildren and watching the Santa fun.  For more pictures and today's walking thought by Thomas Monson, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-346

Mile 979.  Started at Grand Ave at the north end of El Segundo beach and headed south on the Marvin Braude Bike Trail to the end of the Strand at the Manhattan Beach line.  Then turned around and walked to lifeguard station 57 (most of the way to Imperial Highway) before returning to my starting point.

There's a map of all this, a very generous portion of pictures including a 37 second video clip, a snippet of Tortoise history, and today's walking thought by Malcolm Jeppsen waiting for you when you click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-144

Business is done for this trip.  Headed back home to Utah today.  On the way to the airport, I continued my walk up the path where the Strand in Manhattan Beach and the Marvin Braude Bike Path that goes from Santa Monica to Torrance are side by side, respectively loaded with pedestrians and bicyclists.  I went from 34th Street in Hermosa Beach the short distance to Manhattan Beach, all the way through that community to where the Strand ends at the El Segundo city line.  I'd like to do the whole 23 miles in segments, but the next segment is marked for bicycles only, so I guess I'm going to have to figure out how to walk on the sand next to the path or some variation on that theme.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Today I walked 5.2 miles round trip with 104 feet climbed in 1:31:10 hours.  I babied the battery and it made it the whole walk this time!  Tortoise rating was 6.6, but for the third straight day the 5 mile distance gave us the 5th Benjamin category override to an even 5.0 Tortoise rating. (and third day in a row!) Calories burned:  808.  For a map and more, please click below to continue reading ...

14-116

Got up early today to walk before my 9 am appointment.  A cool, breezy, delightful morning for a walk!  I've got lots of pictures this time that I hope you enjoy.  The stats:  5.44 miles walked with 59 feet climbed in 1:29:55 hours.  That includes 3 or 4 minutes of enjoying the beach before turning around and heading back, and all the picture stops.  Tortoise rating:  6.8, but this was a long enough walk that we get another Benjamin category overide to an even 5!  Calories burned:  881.

So what are you waiting for?  Click that button below to check out the map and pictures ...

Cheerio!

14-60

Drove to Rancho Cucamonga last night in windy, rainy conditions after work and dealing with two insurance companies on personal matters (one was to try to persuade a change in arranging short-term skilled nursing care for my mother following shoulder and elbow surgeries made necessary be a fall last week, the other was caused by someone backing in to my parked car yesterday).

Had a full day of client appointments today beginning at 8 am.  A few times today it started raining pretty hard again, but towards the end of the afternoon it calmed down, so I ventured out on this walk to complete the Long Beach beachfront path (I did the rest on September 29, 2012, you can read about it by visiting  http://terreeeblay.blogspot.com/2012/09/3-151.html)

Walking after rain is a real treat, it cleans everything up so nicely ... and of course the beach air and sound of the waves is always soothing too.  I thoroughly enjoyed it for the first 3 miles, then it started raining again.  Fortunately, I was bundled up enough that I didn't mind the liquid sunshine at all ... in fact, I have been saying thank you prayers for the moisture here and at home!

Totals today:  4.26 miles, totally flat at sea level for the basic 7.0 tortoise rating.  Time: 1:09:40 hours.  Calories burned:  696.  For a map and more, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

13-355

Had a little time this afternoon, so I called a friend, Mike Arlen (pictured to below with his wife Phebe), and he was kind enough to head to the nearest beach (Venice) with me for a 2.46 mile walk with 52 feet climbed in 53:41 minutes.  Then I continued to the LAX airport to enjoy the long holiday security line and head home.  (Tortoise rating:  6.8)

Mike humorously captured pictures of me attempting to join a pickup basketball game at the beach, complete with my festive reindeer tie.  If you'd like to see more of his pictures, a map, etc., please click below.

Cheerio!

13-241

Busily building sand castles.  Mine was a tortoise, of course.  Between Abigail,
Nathan, and the waves, it was soon just a fun memory ...

I got in about a 1 mile walk today, which gave me a walk touching water in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in a 36 hour period.  Pretty fun.  Total walked since 6/28:  106.88 miles.

What was really fun was all the exercise I got giving potato sack and moose rides at the beach and the pool, putting Abigail on my shoulders at Irish Dance so she could see Chloe practicing, lifting Nathan to try to shoot the basketball in the gym next to the Irish Dance studio, reading stories, telling stories, and generally being goofy grandpa.  Not sure we could have done much more in one day.

I also got to ordain Darin a high priest and stand in the circle while he was set apart as a counselor in his bishopric.  There was a sweet spirit and a lot of love there, capping off a terrific day.

You'd like more pictures?  Well, click here, and we'll see what we can do!

Cheerio ...

13-239

This is the first half of a walk on both coasts in the same week.  I'm trying to write this on my iPad on   the airplane headed home, and I do better on blogger on my Windows laptop.  Someone wants to train me, sounds brilliant to me!  In the meantime, please click here to look at some great pictures and if you scroll far enough, you'll see some more descriptions.

Cheerio!

13-53

This intersection on my way back from Subway is dedicated to my niece in Texas
 who is way more diligent in walking and running than the tortoise  :-)

Walked 1.39 miles at lunchtime with Terreeeblay - went 40:33 minutes at 15% incline, climbing 1091 feet. Heart peaked at 160 and averaged 135. 

Cool down walk was 5 blocks round trip (call it a half mile), fairly flat, to Subway and back for lunch. . Tortoise rating:  6.6.

Beach volleyball anyone?  I paused a moment to enjoy the view after finishing a  tax appointment nearby.

3-151

Pushed myself a little extra today by doing a 7.47 mile walk with 164 feet climbed in 2:00:04 hours along the shoreline on a beautiful fall morning in Long Beach, California.  Tortoise rating:  6.8. 

Update:  This not only qualified as a Benjamin Category Upgrade walk, it was a full 10 kilometers and then some.  :-)

Please click below for a map, pictures, and more ...

Cheerio!

3-116

Nice view of the coast near sunset at about 1.5 miles up Moro Ridge in Crystal Cove State Park