Finding My Rhythm Again
June arrived with better focus after my off‑track month of May. I didn’t transform into a walking superhero, but I did tighten things up. In May, I missed my 10,000‑step target fourteen times! In June, I missed it only six times. It’s progress worth celebrating, even with a few days slipping through the cracks.
Planning for a two‑week vacation and then returning home to have all four wisdom teeth removed created some chaos. On most of those imperfect days, I could have hit the goal if I had stuck with my morning plan. Early steps always save the day. There was one exception, though. During our West Coast drive down the Pacific Coast Highway, the long hours in the car and limited pull‑off spots made a perfect day near impossible.
Instead of dwelling on the missed days, I looked at what June actually gave me. The month reminded me that steps earned through daily adventures are far more enjoyable than steps earned through ninety minutes of pacing around the neighborhood. Walking with intention always wins.
A Day in Seattle That Earned Its Own Chapter
June 14 deserves its own spotlight. We took the train into Seattle and explored the city by foot. The plan included Pike Place Market, the gum wall, and the Space Needle. The train ride itself was a show. Mount Rainier appeared in the distance, followed by T‑Mobile Park, which is still on my list for my quest to visit thirty MLB stadiums. Lumen Field came next, home of the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. The city wasted no time showing off.
Once we reached Pike Place Market, we caught the tail end of the famous fish‑throwing routine. We missed the main event because I stopped to take a picture of the market sign for Instagram and became distracted by a rock pigeon that was completely white. Priorities!
We wandered the pier, explored the market, and found the first Christmas ornament of the trip. Our family tradition is to pick out ornaments for each trip we take or in this case major cities we visited. It is a fun way to memorialize each adventure without buying something that needs dusting.
Lunch came next, followed by a walk to the gum wall. We did not contribute to the sticky masterpiece, but we did join the crowd taking pictures. Seattle offered plenty of public art, from murals to the Olympic Sculpture Park. The walk between destinations stayed interesting, which helped the step count.
Seattle is also a host city for the FIFA World Cup. I am not sure if that explains the random man at the Sculpture Park who yelled at my fiancée to go back to where she came from. She is a redhead with pale skin, so maybe he thought she was from Ireland?! The moment was strange, but it added to the day’s storytelling material.
We expected San Francisco to have steep hills, but Seattle surprised us. The walk to the Space Needle happened during a heat advisory and included streets that tested my commitment to this 10K habit. By the end of the day, we logged 23,652 steps! That is a personal record for the year and probably my life in general.
The Month in Numbers
June brought 24 successful 10,000‑step days and a total of 331,654 steps. I spent 54 hours and 35 minutes walking. Those steps included beaches, lighthouses, and coastal towns in Oregon and California, plus big city stops in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Two other days on the coast I reached 19,000 steps. If I had paid closer attention, I would have pushed for 20,000 on both days.
June didn’t deliver a perfect month, but it did reinforce my desire to walk with intention. The West Coast made the journey enjoyable, memorable, and easy to repeat. This trip will stay with me for a long time, and I hope more months look like this one.
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