Around 5:00 am, I sat on the edge of the bed and gazed out the second story window. It was still mostly dark, no cars or other traffic on the street below. Just the sounds of the gulls. One yellowish streetlight lit up the entrance to the motel parking lot, casting an ethereal light through the morning mist and onto the pavement below. One lone passerby strolled into the light as he made his way down Wave St toward Cannery Row in the distance. His hands stuffed into his jacket pockets, he walked with a purpose as if on his way to an early morning job. Or maybe his purpose was getting back home after a long night’s work somewhere in the other direction. He disappeared into the dark gray morning as quickly as he appeared. I decided to go for that walk.
Throwing on a pair of khaki shorts, tennis shoes, and a sweatshirt...I gathered up my camera and an extra lens and quietly existed the motel room, trying not to disturb my wife. I gently pulled the door closed and headed downstairs through the dimly lit stairwell. Making my way out through the lobby, I offered a nod toward the man at the front desk as I walked by. He appeared to be Indian or Pakistani. He nodded back with a sleepy gaze on his face.
It wasn’t foggy at all this morning, only remnants of an evening mist remained. The sky was still dark gray with a few clouds in the distance over the ocean. You could see just a hint of pink in the sky. I started walking south down Wave St and then on the bike path that parallels that thoroughfare. Cannery Row is just one street over. Crossing through an empty parking lot that was once the foundation of one of the many cannery related businesses here, I reached Cannery Row in couple minutes.
It was eerily quiet on this Monday morning. Most of the tourists from the weekend had probably headed home the previous afternoon or were still slumbering in their motel rooms, planning to get an early start back to their weekday lives. It was late September, the busy travel season had ended a few weeks before. I gazed up the Row toward the aquarium a half mile or so in the distance. The street lights were still on. I headed toward McAbee Beach a few hundred yards away. The gulls continued to circle overhead, looking for something to eat. Without their cackles and screeches you would not even know they were there.
I was going to take some photos of the sunrise near The Spindrift Inn, located right on the sand at McAbee Beach. Heading in that direction, I stopped to take a few shots of some old cannery foundations, long since abandoned, waiting for someone to build a hotel or restaurant on them. It seemed funny that this had not been done yet. Who owns these properties? They must be worth millions I thought.
As I continued to point and shoot my digital camera northward on Cannery Row, I restaurant worker was taking out the garbage to one of the many dumpsters now lining the street waiting for pickup. Another worker hosed down the sidewalk nearby.
It was a very peaceful morning. I was happy I got up and went for that walk. I had Cannery Row almost to myself. It was starting get light now.
As I gazed out to sea, a couple appeared from one of the side streets, a man and a woman. They made their way down to the sea wall overlooking McAbee, stopped, and leaned against the old structure on their elbows. It looked as though they were simply on a morning walk, enjoying the sunrise. Maybe it was Doc and Hazel I mused with a slight smile on my face.
I raised my camera to take a shot of the couple and I couldn't find them in the viewfinder. I lowered my camera to get a better look...and they were gone.
