The Beach Party

I hope you are all able to follow the running account of our daily travels from San Francisco down to San Diego from our PhotoBlog. Matt and I haven’t taken a more exciting and relaxing trip since our honeymoon. I am finding that America is full of beautiful landscapes, sights, sounds, and smells. Big Sur has to be the best forest I have ever experience. Just the ethereal smells alone are enough to give one pause.
The west coast has captured our senses (not to mention our hearts). I’m saying things I never thought I would: “I love the beach!”; “I love this summer weather!” It’s like a dream for this southerner to walk out in mid-July and not be smothered by a hot, wet blanket of humidity (and I hear it only gets better in September and October). I mean, we hiked from sea level to 1800 feet with ocean breezes cooling us and I barely broke a sweat! I was amazed. Now, Matt may tell you differently. He may say something totally erroneous like, “She kept stopping and turning around to ask, ‘how much further?’ every couple of feet.” And to that I say, “We hiked from sea level up to 1800 feet! Of course I was a little curious to know if the hill would end.” Oh, and to my fair-freckled friends a word to the wise: SPF 50 – 75. The sun is tricky.
Yesterday we swam with the sharks. Really. This, a feat even our San Diego-southern-surfing-friend Kyle thought would be impossible due to the crowded beaches and busy surf. We decided that after church we would head to the ever-so-popular “beach.” (It amazes me still that people just pull off to the side of the road, create a parking spot, and head for the surf…it is really an Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon world here!) We rent snorkeling equipment to take a look at what lives beneath us while we swim in the Pacific. After 30 unsuccessful minutes of staring at brown dirt, Kyle suggests we re-locate to another portion of the beach. We made the hike down the beach and no sooner had I put my mask on and bent down to take a glance in the sea-weed ridden waters than I saw we were surrounded by leopard sharks! Frantic and squealing (dumb, I know) I stumble over Kyle and Matt trying not to think “These are relatives of Jaws and I am about to loose a foot!” I am quickly reassured by Kyle and Matt (Steve Erwin wannabe’s) that these guys “are more afraid of me than I am of them.” Even with that pep talk I pursue this adventure with renewed caution and trepidation. Eventually I am able to relax and enjoy an afternoon of gazing at leopard sharks (who really are very shy creatures), guitar fish, sting rays, and all kinds of other fish I don’t know the name of.
After this long and tiring day, what better way to end it than watch a singer I am quickly growing fond of (I mean buy-the-t-shirt-and-album, fond of): My Brightest Diamond. Matt and I missed her in Atlanta when she opened for Sufjan Stevens, but were able to catch her at Belly Up here in San Diego.
What a day!