San Diego trip log part 4
Saturday, July 31st, 2010Picking up the end of the San Diego thread, our last day started with frenzied packing, as we suddenly realized that a 4:30pm flight implied getting in line to check in at 2:30pm, which implied returning the car at 2pm, which implied leaving our lunch spot at 1:45pm, which implied lunch at 12:15pm, which implied checking out at noon, which finally implied that we had to pack, have our beach visit, shower and dress, brush teeth, have breakfast and snack in the span of 4 hours. Now, if you don’t have kids or your kids are good, this is not a problem. If you’re us, it becomes an issue. So, we packed like the wind, got our suits and ample sunscreen on (didn’t want to repeat the sunburn of two days before), and jumped into the car.
Surprise! It was gray and cool out. Enh, no biggie, it’ll warm up. Well, in the few minutes it took to drive to Mission Beach, no, it did not warm up. We mostly stuck to the sand, where Coral played with her one little pail and shovel, digging sand with all her heart. I invited her to dip her feet in the water, even though it was chilly, to fetch a pail of water, you know, for the experience. Or something. She took my hand and we slowly progressed toward the water. Coco was quite tentative as the sand beneath her feet got cooler and wetter. When we got close enough for a wave to wash over our feet, I braced her just in case it was enough to startle her and throw her off balance. She stood her ground alright, but I could tell she wasn’t a fan. A second wave came in, and — this is on video, and it’s quite amusing — she just fell over like a human domino. Maybe she was trying to get away, I don’t know. We walked back with our tiny pail of water and dumped it in the sand castle moat I made for her. The water immediately got sucked into the sand. It was the saddest, most ridiculous thing. At this point, Coral was shivering, so we checked “visit beach” off the list, packed it in, and returned to the hotel.
We washed up and loaded up the car, right on schedule, checked out, and met my old neighborhood friend, Tori, for lunch at a restaurant called World Famous. We hadn’t seen each other in over 20 years except recently through Facebook, but she was still cute Tori who sang and did backyard gymnastics with me when we were kids. It was a bit distracting with the Cocoa Bean hollering, but Michael was wonderful and attended to her so that Tori and I could catch up. I got to hear the 10,000′ overview about how she got into her chosen profession, where she had lived, family updates, and what’s going on now, which was all really cool. I had a yummy turkey sandwich, which was one of the few things Coral ended up eating for that meal, and a smoothie, which was also a big hit with Little Miss.
After that, we returned the car, and thankfully, Coral caught a few z’s on the way, because she didn’t nap at all after that until we were back in SF!
In the airport, I was awarded lame mom of the year award as I didn’t change Coral soon enough and her diaper leaked. Then I found that after rearranging things, I forgot to pack extra pants in the diaper bag. So, my child wandered the San Diego airport in a shirt and dress bottoms (those matching panty-shaped covers that go over the diaper when your girl is wearing a dress). It was the only clean thing in the diaper bag. Oh yes. I rule. And Coco didn’t hang out inconspicuously in the airport. Oh no. We ran all around the gate area. Her favorite thing was going round and round and round an empty gate desk, where you go if you’re checking in at the gate. Round and round. And around. With a few attempts to push the buttons behind the desk.
The flight was uneventful, and Coral was okay on the plane again, but she didn’t nap. It wasn’t till we got to our car at SFO that she napped almost immediately. We only live 10 minutes from the airport, so I sat in the car with her while she slept for an hour. After that, it was dinnertime, a little TV, and off to bed, to close out our mini-vacation. I was so pooped, I put off all the unpacking till the next day and drifted off myself.
Now for my top 5 highlights of the San Diego trip
- hearing Coco say so many funny things
- meeting up with Tori
- Balboa Park
- Devine Pastabilities
- Sheerwater restaurant
I’d like to go there again, maybe when there are more warm days and we have more time to just relax. Not sure when that will be!
