There’s something special about starting the day by watching the sun rise over the ocean. The sound of waves crashing onto the shore, the cool morning air, and that first sip of coffee while the sky changes colors—it never gets old.
I’ve been coming to the beach with this group of friends for about fifteen years now. They’ve been making this trip for more than twenty, and I still feel lucky that I was invited to join them all those years ago. It’s one of my favorite traditions: a relaxed, casual week filled with beach walks, good food, drinks, books, and puzzles spread across the dining room table.
This year, I lucked out with an oceanfront room. While the dunes block part of the view from my second-floor balcony, I headed up to the third floor with a fresh cup of coffee for an even better sunrise view. Watching the sun slowly rise over the Atlantic felt like the perfect way to begin the day.
After a while, I decided to head down to the beach for an early morning walk and see what shells I could find. My kids may roll their eyes at my shell collection, but I’m always on the hunt for another treasure to add to it.
I walked for quite a while, finding some beautiful shells along the way. I’m always especially hopeful to find an intact conch shell, but those are rare treasures. Along the walk, I chatted with other shell seekers, petted a friendly Labrador retriever, and admired a couple of golden retrievers enjoying their own morning adventure.
Eventually, I turned around to head back, keeping an eye out for the steps that led down to the beach. I had taken a photo of them earlier—they were marked with the number 06—so I figured finding them again would be easy.
It was not.
I kept walking… and walking… and walking.
Soon I started to suspect I had gone farther than I realized before turning around. I pulled out my phone, entered the house address into GPS, and it said the house was still ahead of me. So I kept going.
Then I checked again.
Apparently, I needed to turn around and go back the other way… 2.5 miles.
For about an hour.
To say I wasn’t thrilled at that moment would be an understatement.
I considered walking back along the road, but every neighborhood seemed to be made up of winding cul-de-sacs that led nowhere helpful. So back to the beach I went, walking through the sand, listening to the ocean, and trying to stay positive.
The good news? I found more shells.
And eventually, I found the right set of steps back to our beach house.
When I finally got inside, I checked my watch and realized I had logged more than 13,000 steps before breakfast.
Not exactly the calm morning stroll I had planned.
Still, I was grateful to be back inside, pouring a second cup of coffee and joining my friends for breakfast. I’m hoping to get plenty of walking in this week as I prepare for my trip to Paris in May—but I definitely wasn’t expecting that many miles before breakfast on the first full day.
Something tells me I’ll sleep well tonight.
Kel's Creative Solutions 
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