I wasn’t sure a swim was in the cards for this Thanksgiving day. My wife was in Laguna for the morning helping at a church community breakfast event. This is the 3rd Thanksgiving in a row I have celebrated with a swim. I remember when I used to run the Dana Point Turkey Trot 10K. Running with 20,000 other people has lost its appeal and a solo swim in the ocean is so muc hmore enjoyable.

I did run an 8 mile route to North Beach and back via the San Clemente Shops this morning before my wife left. When she got back, my son had just gone down for a nap and I still had a few hours before leaving for Thanksgiving celebration at my parents so I took the opportunity to take a swim.

I left at about 11:30 and it was a beautiful warm day out.

As I pass Doheny, I see a pretty good crowd out surfing. The surf has been good the last couple days.

I get to the parking lot and there are a fair number of cars here.

I’m heading down the stairs and overhear a surfer saying he is in the software business and works for Splunk. Well it’s a small world. Splunk is a very popular data aggregation tool in my field. I wanted to chime in but I refrained.

When I get to the beach I take in the small crowd and it makes me think of how much smaller this crowd is from Memorial day. They also have more clothes on.

I get in the water and it is for sure cold but not uncomfortable. This is an enjoyable swim.

The temperature is right on the border of “this is pretty nice” and “this is freaking cold.” It’s close enough to the nice side that I don’t complain. Have to say I’m a pretty good complainer.

There is some texture on the water and the small breeze that is blowing is offshore. The water is super cloudy. Can’t see a thing.

It’s a great way to spend Thanksgiving afternoon.