Thanks to Reddit poster dgmiller70 for permission to share this story:
This one happened tonight. It’s also my first post here.
My wife and I were walking our three dogs on a beach access, coming back from the beach around 7pm. I know, it’s mid-December, but it was still in the mid-60s here and our Huskies love the beach. We met a family from Ohio near the middle of the narrow beach access, which is about 300 feet from beach to street. The mother and daughter walked past us and continued to the beach, but the father and son stopped to pet the dogs and talked to us for maybe 5 minutes. They used to have a Husky and enjoyed loving on our boys while chatting about various things. The father was wearing a yellow team sweatshirt and the son was wearing a black cloth face mask.
The father received a phone call from his wife urging him to join her on the beach, so we went our separate ways. They continued toward the beach and we continued toward the street.
The entire south side of this beach access is faced by a tall construction fence that runs from the swash channel (filled with water) to the street. There is no way through. At the end of the swash channel is a coffer dam out into the ocean. They are building a new fishing pier, restaurant, and parking area here and it is completely blocked off. There is a restaurant along the north side of the beach access.
When we reached the street, we turned south in front of the construction fence, which runs along the sidewalk, and walked to the next building, about 50 feet south of the beach access. There, we waited.for two cars to pass (about 30 seconds) and crossed the street to walk down an alley next to a barbecue restaurant. We then stopped at the barbecue restaurant’s patio to ask the hostess if dogs were allowed on the patio.
While speaking with the hostess (who started feeding our dogs treats from her apron), we saw the family from the beach access come out of the restaurant with their food and sit at a table on the patio. Same yellow sweatshirt, same black face mask, same family of four.
There is no possible way for them to have made it from where we passed them on the beach access to the restaurant in the time they did, and without passing us. That access, and the sidewalk, is just a few feet wide. It just isn’t possible. And also in time for them to get food? No way.