A New Normal: COVID-19 Spring Break Staycation

It looks like we have a string of gorgeous days coming our way, much appreciated after almost a full week of gray skies and rain.

I'm yearning to get outdoors and enjoy the sunshine we're being gifted with, so per current CDC guidelines for maintaining health, we are planning a week's worth of walks that we can undertake from the house, therefore aligning as well with our current California COVID-19 guidelines regarding exercise, plus a week's worth of take-out food lunches to go along with, also aligning with our current California COVID-19 guidelines regarding food purchases, whew!

So far we have felt very comfortable on our daily walks in that almost everyone we see and/or pass appears to be going out of there way to observe a minimum of six feet distancing. And our takeout experience to date has also been positive. We check our city's website of local open restaurants, order and pay online ahead, then simply walk in and pick up our tagged order without any human interaction, other than a sincere 'Thank you!' called out to the restaurant staff as we depart.

Currently most of our nearby parks and beaches are still open to locals, meaning those that can get to them by foot or by bicycle. It helps that parking lots and nearby streets have been closed to parking, keeping recreational usage here down to a minimum. There is actually slightly less traffic at the beach currently than there is in our immediate neighborhood. Not really sure why, other than that our area is really, really hilly, meaning that the majority of people walk downhill when heading toward the beach, but then need to walk uphill back home. So, the return uphill piece may be what is keeping people away. Fortunately, my husband and I are in good enough shape to manage the roundtrip walk, and then some. The round trip distance to the beach and back from our home is technically a just over four miles, but we generally add on enough additional distance to come in closer to seven or eight miles. Starting next week we'll probably up that to a couple of ten mile walks each week, dependent on weather.

I should add that just because our immediate parks and beaches are open now doesn't mean they'll remain that way, so we are motivated to enjoy the privilege for as long we can. Particularly in that almost every other beach in Orange County has been closed due to excessive traffic. Fingers crossed our beaches and parks here continue to remain crowd free.

What our beaches are looking like currently - nice and uncrowded.
If that lasts, we'll continue to be able to walk along them.
If it doesn't, they'll get closed as well, so fingers crossed non-locals continue to stay away.