The Santa Anas bring good beach weather (San Diego, day 7)

March 29, 2007 by Barbara.

On the way back to the hotel Wednesday night, our cab driver told us that the hot weather came when the Santa Ana winds blew from inland instead of the cooler ocean winds. Our newspaper on Thursday told us that those Santa Anas would bring us a fabulous day. And it did. I headed off to my conference and Aunt Karin and Reid went to Denny’s again for breakfast. There were many diversions on the way there. If they walked in front of a city administration building, there was a fountain to admire and if they walked behind it, there was a mini wall between the sidewalk and the garden for Reid to walk along. There was also a row of palm trees along the sidewalk for a stretch. The trees on the right side of the sidewalk were just perfect for a two-year-old girl to hide behind and Reid did hide behind each one as they walked. The distractions on the trip and Reid’s leisurely approach to breakfast, meant that it was after 11:00 before they finished.

After breakfast, Aunt Karin led an expedition by bus to Coronado Island (which is really an isthmus, if I have my geographical terms right for land that is attached to the mainland). Reid slept about 15 minutes on the bus and when she woke up, they went to the beach. The sand was so fine and light and good for sandcastles. Reid got her feet only a tiny bit wet but the water was cold and that was enough for her. When Aunt Karin and Reid went for a walk down the beach, Reid let a couple of kids, who hadn’t come to the beach prepared, play with her sand toys. The other kids were delighted and Reid was proud to share. Reid even had her nap on the beach, laying on her Legoland towel in the sand with a shirt covering her face.

I met them at the Hotel del Coronado once my conference wrapped up. We went back to the beach so that I could dip my toes into the Pacific Ocean, too. Reid sent me to get her a bucket of water to use to build a castle but she wouldn’t come to the water. “Too dold!” I was told. We worked on a castle and buried Reid’s feet and legs, watched planes and helicopters fly over, ran about and had a nice time.

We took a bus back to downtown San Diego and then a trolley (finally!) to Old Town. Reid was excited to be on a train, especially after having anticipated it for so long. We went to a Mexican restaurant, recommended by the transit cop in the part of town that the cab driver had said we should go to. We sat on a patio neat this heater that sort of looked like a lamp but with heat instead of light coming out the top. Aunt Karin didn’t have a coat, since she didn’t take the stroller to the beach and I gave her mine. It’s easy to take the stroller for granted but it really is nice for lugging stuff around. On any given day, we needed shorts and t-shirts but also jackets (and Reid probably should’ve had pants but she sometimes said, “I too hot,” and we didn’t force the issue since she could cover with the towel). We weren’t really thrilled by the food overall as it didn’t seem spicy enough but I had a tremendous steak that I shared with Reid. We took a cab home and were glad that we had done most of our packing in the morning as our feet were dragging. Isn’t that how you’re supposed to feel the night before your trip is over?

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