Too much of anything is bad for you
Yesterday I used my new health insurance that I got courtesy of the Affordable Care Act (also derisively called “ObamaCare”) and went to the doctor for the first time in a year. Blood pressure and my osteoarthritic knees were on my agenda.
I’ve been exercising my knees but the problem with osteoarthritis is that it’s kind of a Catch-22 situation in that exercise will help strengthen the knee muscles but the exercise is painful. In discussing exercise, this doctor suggested that I find some uneven stairs or set up some uneven stairs so that the complete knee would get exercise. He also suggested that I do my walking on sand rather than concrete or asphalt. The sand gives, making it easier on my knees, and because it gives, it also works the complete ankle and knee muscles.
I knew just the place: Black’s Beach.
The stairs from the top of the 300-foot bluffs are, well, “uneven” doesn’t do them justice:
When I first came to San Diego in May 1992, the bluffs at Blacks Beach were one of the first “vista points” that I visited. In looking out over the beautiful bluffs and the Pacific Ocean, I told myself that some day I would retire to San Diego. Just eleven months later and I had done exactly that. From April 1993 to March 1994, I did nothing but climb up and down the bluffs at Blacks Beach, lay out on the sand, and read about the world’s great and not-so-great religions, trying to determine if there was a place in any of them for a soon-to-be openly gay man. There wasn’t.
After I reached that decision, I put myself back into the work force, mainly because the beach can actually get boring. Reminds me of what my wise old grandmother always told me: “Too much of anything is bad for you.” I had too much beach.
Once Jim and I got Domestic Partnered in July 2004, I quit going to Blacks Beach, mainly because he’s not a beach person. Today was the first time I’ve been since July 2004. Not only did I climb down and up those 300 feet of uneven stairs, but I also walked three miles north and back on the sand.
There was a nice low tide while I was there, so I walked out quite a distance and took ten pictures to create this panorama (click on the image for a larger picture):
That panorama covers about seven miles, from Torrey Pines State Beach at the far left to La Jolla Beach at the far right. Those trees at the top center of the bluffs are at Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course where Tiger Woods won his last major championship, the U.S. Open in 2008.
I should also say that Blacks Beach is one of the world’s great Naturist beaches, meaning that clothing is optional.
I’ll have more pictures of Blacks Beach in a future post.
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Posted on November 14, 2012, in Adobe, Digital photo editing, Mother & Father Nature, My wise old grandmother, Out & About, Photos and tagged blacks beach san diego. Bookmark the permalink. 37 Comments.
I walked Torrey Pines during a 60 mile walk for breast cancer. It seemed like it only went up and up and up. Where did you retire from? My dad retired there from Indianapolis. After a while he got tired of the “black air” in SD, and moved to SC. After three weeks, he moved back to SD, and never left. Any regrets?
If you were walking south, yep, up, up, and away!
I retired from College Station, Texas. No regrets at all, and in 18½ years I think I’ve only been back to Texas maybe ten times, and not at all since January 2003. I’m estranged from all the family there and in Louisiana, as well as the Mormon side of my family in Utah and Idaho.
Your family is pretty spread out geographically. Mine was all congregated in Indiana, until my mother took my brother and me to Portland. Everyone else is gone, but my brother who is still in Portland, and we have had our estranged times. I was back in Ind. for my grandmother’s funeral in 1986 – so I don’t go often. Sorry for the loss of your family ties, Russel Ray. Our friends do become our family.
My family all are Mormons (mom) and Catholics (dad). What would a gay boy expect?…………lol
The final estrangement came when my wise old grandmother who had adopted me when I was 10 and proceeded to raise me died in 2003. Her three surviving children (my dad was dead) disinvited me to the funeral. Stupid me didn’t know that funerals required invitations. In 2004 I dropped my last name and took my middle name as my last name, making the estrangement complete and permanent.
I don’t know if my comment to you came through, but your situation makes me so sad. Our family and people we love the most are the ones who are capable of doing the most damage to us emotionally. You have taken many positive steps in your life to move away from a sad situation, and are a talented person who makes many contributions to the blogging community, and to your own community as well, I’m sure.
I can’t change the world, but I can do my part now that I don’t hate myself so, and when I find people who hate me, I simply get them out of my life.
Easier said than done, I’m afraid. I’m a fan, though!
Great photo! I hope the knees were ok after all that exercise they had
They were. However, my back was sore. It’s always something…………lol
sounds like my sort of exercise certainly beats the treadmill
The doctor specifically said not to do treadmills, bikes, or stairmasters. They create problems by exercising only a part of the ankles and knees. Then, when the rest of the ankles and knees are needed, they are not up to the task.
Wow – if you do those stairs three times a week your heart, blood pressure and various other parts of your anatomy are going to be in great shape! What a work out.
Back in 2001 I could climb that 300 feet in five minutes flat. Yesterday it took me sixteen minutes and five stops to rest and catch my breath. I’m thinking lung capacity and efficiency will improve, too.
lmao – you better believe it! I’m very impressed.
Bad knees here too – you are very lucky my friend to have such a beautiful landscape to exercise in. I was told the same as you but in addition to practice walking / balancing on the driftwood logs that cover our beaches here in British Columbia. It was ouch, ouch but also LOL – lots of fun in the summer sun and did help. Guess you can cast off clothing all year around down there…
Yep, which is why it constantly gets great reviews among the Naturist beaches. Not too many are 24/7/365.
Did you wear clothes?
I knew someone was going to ask that! Why would one go to a Naturist beach and wear clothes?………..lol
Okay I was just wondering hahaha!
We all need a wise old grandmother.
I agree
Haven’t been to Black’s Beach in many years. I was a lot younger and much toner, although it doesn’t appear to matter much there (lol). Great panorama shot Russel.
If one can get down those stairs to the beach, one can be a Naturist……….lol
From what I saw, you are right!
Beautiful pictures and a wise grandma.
Russel, your panorama picture is fantastic! Great Post, Thanks for sharing!
Never been to Blacks Beach, but I want to go now that I’ve seen pictures. You do a beautiful job promoting San Diego, You should work for the tourist association! Thanks for letting me see things I haven’t seen in years.
As for the workout, wow. I don’t believe I could go up those stairs more than once and after a long hike on the beach. You must already be in good shape. Alas Black’s Beach is behind me now, because don’t think I could do the stairs at all. But next summer I’d like to try. I’m planning a little trip to see San Diego next year.
When you get here, let me know. I often have some free or discount tickets to the San Diego Zoo and the Safari Park. They are good exercise, too, but not nearly as tough as the trails at Blacks Beach.
I’ll keep that in mind. My MS wears me out pretty bad, but I did the zoo a few years ago walked the entire time.
Thanks missed this one! Love the panorama!
If you can find a warm water pool, that’s the best place for people with arthritis to exercise. Your local chapter of the Arthritis Society (or whatever they are called?) might have info on their website about this. I write this from personal experienece. I am not giving any medical advice. Now my lawyer is happy
I exercise daily in my big hot tub, but it’s not nearly as scenic as Blacks Beach!…………….lol
So much more fun than going to the gym, I much prefer being outside. That’s cool how you stitched your photo’s together…it’s seamless. My husband & I went out to Tory Pines when we were last in San Diego. Ate on the patio overlooking the golf course. Our server was awesome, we were asking her about different golfers and who’s she met. She wasn’t to fond of Tiger. We weren’t surprised. fyi, if you’re a traditional guy, 9th anniversary is Pottery or China, alternately the modern gift for the 9th anniversary is leather. Congrats
Jim and I are not gift givers. Maybe one reason is because we celebrate the day we met (May 26, 1994), the day we moved in together (November 1, 1995), the day we got Domestic Partnered (July 31, 2004), and the day we got married (October 30, 2008). One of the reasons we do that is because when we moved in together, Domestic Partnerships and Civil Unions were not in existence and we sure thought that we would never have the opportunity to get married in our lifetimes.
That’s awesome!
Those stairs look dangerous. Please be careful!
I’m trying to get my partner who is in his 60s now to exercise with me more, as in going for walks. He’s very fit though, he does a lot of gardening on the weekends and our work (we work together) is very physical where sometimes we are involved with installation work at the construction site. But it’s just that his knees hurt pretty quickly.
What your doctor said about giving the knees and ankles a complete exercise and how walking on sand will help this is interesting. Thanks for sharing.
I’ll be using mine next week for a preventive care visit… Amen!