10 Favorite Things About Our Trip to California
The main purpose of the trip was an anesthesia meeting, but since we were going all the way to the west coast, we decided to make a trip of it. We spent the first couple of days on Coronado Island at the Hotel Del Coronado. Then we drove up to LA and spent 3 days at Disneyland. Last, and certainly least exciting, was my meeting back in San Diego. Though the fun continued for Rick and Will, who visited Sea World and the San Diego Zoo.
1. The smell of the air
Words cannot describe how fresh and lovely the air smelled in Coronado. When we walked around, I noticed several varieties of flowers that I had tried to grow in my flowerbeds back in Ohio, but they all had inevitably scorched in the summer or died with the first frost. The grounds of the Hotel Del looked like Paradise.
2. Sitting on the balcony in the morning
Our room that the Hotel Del had a balcony overlooking the beach. On the first morning, Rick took Will for a walk on the beach. Watching Will chase birds down on the beach under Rick's protective eye was some kind of wonderful.
3. When Will told me I was the princess of the sand castle we had just built
4. Explaining to Will that the men and women jogging along the beach were exercising because they are in the military and staying in shape so they could keep up safe is part of their job
Rick was thrilled to be back on his old stomping grounds. He was stationed in San Diego for many years, including the time he spent as a Supply Officer for Special Warfare Group 1 (they oversee the Navy SEAL Teams). We saw a lot of military activity from the beach- ships, helicopters, and submarines. Rick was always pointing out that ships were doing anchor drills or that it looked like some group was getting underway. One morning we saw some people swimming back and forth between buoys. Rick said he was pretty sure it was a SEAL class training for their 2 1/2 mile ocean swim. He said it must be a pretty new class, because there were still a lot of them. Yikes- I saw the movie 'GI Jane'.
5. The surrey ride
I had just asked Rick not to wear his Ohio State sweatshirt to go golfing because I was worried he would look like a tourist. Then Will got his heart set on renting one of these. Truthfully, it was fun.... and, boy, did we look cool.
6. The fruit
Getting back to the Paradise thing... You know that song from Camelot-
"The rain may never fall till after sundown
By eight the morning fog must disappear"?
I'm sure that somehow the same laws apply to Southern California. And the beautiful weather grows beautiful fruit. At every meal we ate huge strawberries and plump grapes, juicy melon and sweet pineapple. For some meals, Will ate nothing but fruit, but that seemed okay.
7. Our Ears
We spent most of the week in our Will-assigned-personas. Will was Mickey Mouse, I was Minnie Mouse and Rick was Goofy (hee hee). When we got to Disneyland, we each got hats to match our characters and Will made sure that everyone wore their hats at all times. He addressed us as 'Minnie' and 'Goofy' and insisted that we call him 'Mickey'. Again, we were at the height of cool.
8. Fireworks
We could see the Disneyland fireworks from our hotel room. The best thing about that was that we could watch them with our shoes off and our poor, puffy, tired feet elevated. There was a station on the hotel TV that played the music that went along with the fireworks show. They really thought of everything.
9. Will's crush on Minnie
We saw a lot of characters, but the only character Will got really jazzed about seeing was Minnie Mouse. The first time we saw her, Will ran up to her and she picked him up and twirled him in a circle. Then they sat down on a bench and chatted for a long time. We spent a lot of time at Minnie's house in Toon Town. Watch out Mickie Mouse.
10. My child was complimented on his manners
We were in one of the gazillion gift shops. Will was doing some "shopping" and I was telling him to put things back. One time a mother and her child were standing in front of the shelf where Will needed to return his latest item. As he walked away, I heard the mom say, "Did you hear that little boy say, 'Excuse me'? He has very good manners." Huh. I didn't know that he knew that 'Excuse me' was good for anything other than saying after he burped.
1. The smell of the air Words cannot describe how fresh and lovely the air smelled in Coronado. When we walked around, I noticed several varieties of flowers that I had tried to grow in my flowerbeds back in Ohio, but they all had inevitably scorched in the summer or died with the first frost. The grounds of the Hotel Del looked like Paradise.
2. Sitting on the balcony in the morningOur room that the Hotel Del had a balcony overlooking the beach. On the first morning, Rick took Will for a walk on the beach. Watching Will chase birds down on the beach under Rick's protective eye was some kind of wonderful.
3. When Will told me I was the princess of the sand castle we had just built 4. Explaining to Will that the men and women jogging along the beach were exercising because they are in the military and staying in shape so they could keep up safe is part of their job
Rick was thrilled to be back on his old stomping grounds. He was stationed in San Diego for many years, including the time he spent as a Supply Officer for Special Warfare Group 1 (they oversee the Navy SEAL Teams). We saw a lot of military activity from the beach- ships, helicopters, and submarines. Rick was always pointing out that ships were doing anchor drills or that it looked like some group was getting underway. One morning we saw some people swimming back and forth between buoys. Rick said he was pretty sure it was a SEAL class training for their 2 1/2 mile ocean swim. He said it must be a pretty new class, because there were still a lot of them. Yikes- I saw the movie 'GI Jane'.
5. The surrey rideI had just asked Rick not to wear his Ohio State sweatshirt to go golfing because I was worried he would look like a tourist. Then Will got his heart set on renting one of these. Truthfully, it was fun.... and, boy, did we look cool.
6. The fruit
Getting back to the Paradise thing... You know that song from Camelot-
"The rain may never fall till after sundown
By eight the morning fog must disappear"?
I'm sure that somehow the same laws apply to Southern California. And the beautiful weather grows beautiful fruit. At every meal we ate huge strawberries and plump grapes, juicy melon and sweet pineapple. For some meals, Will ate nothing but fruit, but that seemed okay.
7. Our EarsWe spent most of the week in our Will-assigned-personas. Will was Mickey Mouse, I was Minnie Mouse and Rick was Goofy (hee hee). When we got to Disneyland, we each got hats to match our characters and Will made sure that everyone wore their hats at all times. He addressed us as 'Minnie' and 'Goofy' and insisted that we call him 'Mickey'. Again, we were at the height of cool.
8. Fireworks We could see the Disneyland fireworks from our hotel room. The best thing about that was that we could watch them with our shoes off and our poor, puffy, tired feet elevated. There was a station on the hotel TV that played the music that went along with the fireworks show. They really thought of everything.
9. Will's crush on MinnieWe saw a lot of characters, but the only character Will got really jazzed about seeing was Minnie Mouse. The first time we saw her, Will ran up to her and she picked him up and twirled him in a circle. Then they sat down on a bench and chatted for a long time. We spent a lot of time at Minnie's house in Toon Town. Watch out Mickie Mouse.
10. My child was complimented on his manners
We were in one of the gazillion gift shops. Will was doing some "shopping" and I was telling him to put things back. One time a mother and her child were standing in front of the shelf where Will needed to return his latest item. As he walked away, I heard the mom say, "Did you hear that little boy say, 'Excuse me'? He has very good manners." Huh. I didn't know that he knew that 'Excuse me' was good for anything other than saying after he burped.
