by the sea

I felt a need to walk by the ocean today.

I headed east to the visitor center at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. From the visitor center to the refuge (and the coast!) it's 2+ miles - but I knew that the parking lot remained open. While the refuge is still open, it's currently walk-in-only. And there is no parking available on Plum Island right now unless you have a resident parking permit. It's a good thing that my need for an ocean visit was on a morning that presented good weather for walking; I was happy to walk by the road in order to access the beach.

The beach inside the wildlife refuge is closed for the piping plover nesting season but the beach north of the refuge remains open.

It was a wonderful time for a walk by the sea.

Ordinarily I have a choice of beaches to walk but with closures for coronavirus many of the beaches are closed. The governor of Massachusetts has not closed public beaches but he has closed the beach parking lots because of the misbehavior of folks who didn't comply with social distancing orders. That's the same reason why I wasn't able to drive into Parker River National Wildlife Refuge for a walk on the inland side of the refuge.