Up before the sun, pack the car with dive gear, have a light hotel breakfast, and drive to Port Hueneme for gas where a Tesla has parked itself roughly into a barricade. Home around 1:30pm and I’m due to start work for Sunrun tomorrow so I check my email to verify the online training that was discussed only to find that they want me in La Jolla this week and for future training. That I could’ve handled, but the mandatory weekends put a halt to that job as Caleb wants his nights and weekends with me.
I send a reply email and apologize for the misunderstanding. I’m grateful I don’t have to buy business casual attire last minute as I’m more of a black bottoms and uniform top, workout attire, or jeans and dresses type of employee. Caleb says I can stop looking for work as we thought it was a good idea, and some jobs can be fun and rewarding, but they’re too demanding on our schedule and not necessary for our survival… for now.
I logout of and unsubscribe from job search engines and job openings notifications. This somehow relieves some stress from Caleb too knowing that I will have more fun and interesting days instead of just talking about whichever customer was the most memorable that shift. We do laundry after dinner which means crosswords at the laundry mat and reading when we get home. This is one of my four-thousand plus Mondays with over nineteen-hundred behind me. I’m grateful to leave the workforce yet again and spend my start of the week every day.
We’re up earlier this morning and out the door before my alarm. We survived the cold on Friday so we have a better idea of what to expect today. We’re the first customers on the boat and set up next to a dive exit point which means less people to waddle over with our fins on. Same process – get all gear set up, have crew member give safety briefing that only half the boat can hear while we set out to sea, get breakfast sandwiches distributed.
Our first dive will start later than the one on Friday, but we’re still promised three dives. We’re just not guaranteed certain locations as that depends on the captain’s opinion of the ocean’s mood. We start at Yellow Banks, which is on the southeast side of Santa Cruz Island. We’ll start out going northwest so we can return in the southeast direction. Underwater has been the only time I’ve used a compass and it helps to navigate without the resistance of the surface to return to the boat.
The surge is moving sand around which lowers the visibility of the dive, but makes the kelp seem more mysterious and magical. The lobster are easy to spot with their bright orange legs contrasting with the grey, purple, and green around them. As I struggle to make my way through this kelp alley, which would have felt like an eight-lane highway if the water were calmer, I notice a lobster taking advantage of his low center of gravity and extra appendages.
It was the spotted horn shark that caught my eye first and it was the lobster’s knowledge that the species he chose to crawl over prefers to eat crab and urchin, though snails, squids, and itself could easily be on the menu. Regardless of how people think our existence started, swimming or hiking amongst nature shows our ability to adapt so profoundly to the impacts of the environment and to make changes through generations to continue to exist – no matter how strong the current or dark the seas.
I surface with 750psi in my tank, but roughly one thousand on the other five (including the three on Friday). I want some kind of expectant pattern to emerge and I’ve learned that we can return with more air after longer dives in warmer water regardless of depth than when our bodies are trying to maintain our core temperature in colder water regardless of dive length. This means we need to dress more warmly, especially my feet, so we can extend our bottom times to the allotted hour.
blurry nudibranchblack scorpionfish
If our travels have taught us anything, it’s resilience – from camping in the snow, getting caught in the rain, recovering from a cold dive, eating papier-mâché on a subtropical island, and getting viciously attacked by mosquitoes. In these moments we’re forced to make a plan and as luck would have it, we’re also able to laugh about these situations later – these are the “good times” that others are looking for and we find them in the middle of a park, the side of the road, being unprepared because we forgot the wrong thing (there’s always something) and because I’d rather die via bloody animal bite than watching it happen to someone else.
I hope Caleb and I are able to withstand a few more thousand mosquito bites in our lifetime so we can continue to watch the smiles come to our faces that being in our element brings. We prefer to be at the mercy of nature every day, regardless of how amazing and inspiring, instead of submitting to the manmade cages of time and expectation that “civility” brings with it. A bonus of these most fun and natural activities is that they can be extravagant or enjoyed on a budget and both will make you feel happy and connected.
The second dive has a school of blacksmith damselfish, of which two-thirds seem to wear the cloak of invisibility or they’re out for fall break or were just eaten by larger fish, marine birds, or harbor seals. We also see Patiria miniata (bat star), a variety of nudibranch, camouflage and bright anemones, California sheephead and Oxyjulis californica (both in the wrasse family), sea cucumber, a grouper, possibly some living sand dollars, a couple of cowries and Trochus shells, and a beautiful black scorpionfish just to name a few.
Big Scorpion Anchorage has so much to offer that we choose to remain here and dive it again after lunch. I’ll have a quarter of chicken today, since I’m more flexitarian than whoever mixed up their menu choice, with beans and potato salad that are way better than the rice. I also get to have a hot cocoa with lunch as the dive master who approached me earlier, thinking I looked familiar, just happened to know where the boat keeps the packets when they need the counter space.
The third dive will introduce me to the second largest mollusk I have ever seen. The first was a cuttlefish in the class of cephalopod and this sea hare (so named because it’s closer to the size of a rabbit than a snail) is a gastropod, both between ten and thirty inches in length. The common garden snail reaches two to four inches when extended. I was surprised to watch the sea hare’s leaf-like body that looked like it was wrapped around an empty cantaloupe as it seemed to munch on the holdfast (that doesn’t absorb nutrients like roots) of some kelp.
I wanted to give the hare a squeeze, but attempting to pop an animal like a balloon has always been on my never-do list and is definitely not allowed if I am to maintain the Junior Ranger pledge to appreciate and respect plants and animals. I will follow the motto to Explore, Learn, and Protect. Trying to remember the Hierarchy of Biological Classification brings me back to 6th grade science as I don’t recall going over this in biology or chemistry in community college. Either way, it’s never too late to start learning, remembering, and reteaching yourself because no one will have all the same interests you do, and it’s most likely that you won’t find inspiration in school, but outside where life is.
Poking out of the coral is a giant sea star, the original bedazzled decorator before rhinestones found their way onto jeans in the last year of the 20th century and they wear it very well. We see nudibranchs in shades of bubble gum, mac-n-cheese, and mini eggplant on fire. The route back to the boat is over and through the tangles of kelp so we don’t lose ourselves in the forest by attempting to remain untangled. Turning for a second and then getting back to the degree of travel you were going seems simple but the ocean can look like the Antarctic Polar or Saharan Desert where every which way is the same so it only appears you haven’t gotten lost yet.
California sheephead
I determine that I could do a liveaboard (sleep on a boat and dive as much as my computer/body will allow) at this site as there’s so much to see. I’m removing gear as soon as I get to my spot on the boat and as my wetsuit drops to the seat and the cool wind hits me I run to the hot tub and apparently almost run someone over to get in quickly. I will talk to and apologize to that guy, Nick, and he understands since I was so cold and his spot just happened to be next to the seat-step to get in.
We meet a lot of people on this trip – the bigger the boat the larger the crowd, but Nick stands out. He is the first diver I’ve met who chooses to dive without an expensive prosthetic on his left leg. He says it would probably slow him down and only break like the other home-crafted ones he now makes so he can participate in BMX and other sports too. He lost his leg to nerve cancer when he was two and got sponsored by a hospital until he reached 18 years old. I might not have noticed had he not hopped to get in line to jump in. Nick’s perseverance destroys excuses for lack of living to the higher range of your capabilities as our bodies are more amazing than we give them praise for.
sea hare
Caleb grabs the two dive bags with wheels and I’ll grab our weight bags (aka a small tool bag and repurposed insulated lunch bag) and we pass the guy who stood in the way of the crew and put his bags in front of ours because he was in such a hurry to get a cart to assist him in getting back to the parking lot. Had he asked nicely, I might’ve even helped carry his things, but being an ass isn’t the way to be, and is extremely rare in the dive community, unless you consist of a hole and two fleshy protuberances that actually serve a purpose.
We stop at Whole Foods for pita chips and cilantro lime hummus so that Caleb has something to snack on after we hang things up and ring them out so they are partially dry for tomorrow’s drive. At this point, we are grateful to be staying the extra night instead of dumping salty gear into the back and driving four hours home and then having to deal with the humid mess. I’ll also take this time to regret not braiding my hair while I condition it three times to reduce the matting that you’d only find on a stray dog or a homeless toddler.
The cold water has done its job of providing for the sea life and burning my energy stores to keep warm. The shower feels exhausting because I literally rinse and repeat three times. The reading is relaxing as I’m a visual learner who is stimulated by the research of others and also looking forward to sleep. I’m grateful to have the time and opportunities to incorporate books into my life – while sitting on a couch or in bed, walking around the neighborhood or on a treadmill, crouched over a campfire or inside a tent, or stretched out on a blanket or a lounge chair.
We get up and outside for a walk, such a great way to start or end a day or to entertain your mind and body in the time between. We settle for some on-the-house breakfast and will return outside for more steps. This isn’t a paragraph on the health of it, but we had already decided (since the dive boat didn’t call us with a cancellation) that we would spend the day on the town, but the first attraction doesn’t open until 9 a.m. so we are in no rush to get checked out.
19102023
Caleb originally booked two nights and upon calling customer service they couldn’t find us another night at our current hotel so they upgraded us, same star rating but more amenities for the same price, to another property ten miles inland which would increase our morning commute by eight minutes, not that we wouldn’t be early either way. I think hotels should be able to have half-star ratings to give a more accurate account of what to expect – quality of breakfast and availability of conditioner for salty hair (though I didn’t ask for any either).
outsideinside
Oxnard is the namesake for Henry, the president of both the American Beet Sugar Company, with a factory built here in 1898, and the ABS Association. I remember his name from The World of Sugar by Ulbe Bosma (2023) which I finished reading just three months after its publication. I could get into corporate greed and regulations against loss of limb, but I would need another blog for that, so I leave the introduction here. I continue with us finding a shaded parking spot on a residential street so we could walk to Oxnard Historic Farm Park, where a home and winery were built in the 1870s.
The gate is open and the area quiet. I toss out a hello, just in case, but it seems to be a self-tour place so we get started with the implement barn. We make it two steps and are greeted by a very talkative and informative older man. He is proud of the history and survival of this plot. He enjoys the ability to educate children on where food comes from and gives volunteers a place to help grow grapes, grains, vegetables, and berries. It’s a half-hour later when I step away to answer a phone call and leave Caleb to get introduced to another guy.
Salutin’ Santajust a smoking, surfing snowman
I’ll maintain my space at this point and start taking pictures. If those guys aren’t going to give us a tour we will be here all day discussing decades of information, which wouldn’t be terrible, but I have other plans. Caleb will start to pull away too, after they’ve ended their conversation a few times, and we have a look at the rusted equipment that the farm wants to restore. The old house is locked up and most of the windows boarded, but I’m able to sneak a peek in the front door and want so badly to go inside.
Mullin Automotive Museum
Walking the perimeter, we learn that Albert Maulhardt used this land for beets and lobbied for the factory that Henry would build. We also find out that 1,229 acres were sold in 2002 for housing and the less-than-acre plot was only saved as the city required a park in the subdivision. Farmers, historians, and other groups have helped by donating time, money, and books to this locale to maintain its roots in the community, and in 2021 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
We drove to the Santa Claus statue because it showed up on the map. Not sure what I was expecting but I park in the lot next to it and luckily it’s maintenance hour or day because the gate is open, some words are exchanged, and we’re allowed in to take some pictures of Salutin’ Santa in Nyeland that was built by Kenneth Vaughn in Carpinteria. As far as traveling statues go, this one hasn’t seen much but inspires runners to travel half the distance in the Santa to the Sea half marathon in December.
1925 Bugatti Type 22 Brescia Roadster
Caleb likes looking at cars because he knows about the engines and wheels, blah blah, that go into making them fast and efficient travel machines. I like looking at vehicles for their historic value, shiny qualities, and tidbits that set them apart from the rest. With this in mind, we chose the Mullin Automotive Museum, with a focus on French Art Deco in the ’20s and ’30s vs the Murphy Auto Museum, just 1.6 miles away, with cars on display from 1903 to the present day.
The Mullin is only open on Fridays and Saturdays from 10a-3p, at least for public access. My ticket is $16 and Caleb gets in free. It would be convenient to have more vacation periods while on active duty to get all the discounts everywhere. Then, once you’re older anyway, you could do your time on a ship or behind a desk because we will miss all the free tickets we have access to that a veteran only gets discounts on, though it’s still saving money and wouldn’t deter us, but might delay us in visiting.
Automobile innovators took inspiration from contemporary art, architecture, social movements, and science to build iconic rolling sculptures that merged elegance, aerodynamics, and efficiency after WWI. I’ve never heard of a car described this way, so I’m already glad we’re here. In the collection is the “Barn Find,” a 1948 Delahaye Type 135MS Coupe that made its way to the US in 1970, sat in a garage for 15 years, and then was bought by Peter Mullin who realized the untouched engine compartment would be a great guidance for anyone looking to renovate another Delahaye.
After WWII, Solex created motorized bicycles for urban inhabitants (working class) and children in France, selling 100 per day in the 1950s as their price was less than a month’s wages. Solex has since transitioned to electric engines in 2011 that sell for roughly $2,400 today. This motorbike can be seen riding around France, Germany, and New York in films from 1958 to 2007 and is written about in one short story by Primo Levi in his collection The Periodic Table. This book is named the best science book ever by the Royal Institution of Great Britain.
1935 Bugatti Type 57
Then there’s the sad story of the 1925 Bugatti Type 22 Brescia Roadster which with only 40 horsepower could impressively reach 100 mph. One of these rare cars was won in a gamble in 1934 and abandoned at the Swiss border when the new owner couldn’t afford to pay the customs. Years later the government was required to destroy it and pushed it into a lake with 35′ chains attached, just in case. More years passed, the chains fell apart, and the car went swimming down to 173 feet. The car was discovered by a diving club in 1967 and soon became an attraction for deep divers.
The car would still be there, and not now in the museum, if it wasn’t for the sympathy of a grieving family to sell the car to raise funds for a charitable foundation to protect against youth violence. Some 2,000 people showed up in the summer of 2009 to watch what was left of this car be hauled out of the lake after 75 years. The car is definitely a symbol of endurance as it lasted so long submerged, but water has a weird way of preserving and destroying (remaking) all things that it touches.
Some cars were made for racing and others for leisure. There are paintings, sculptures, and furniture also on display. I thought I might become bored or less interested as some car museums just look like parking lots to me. I can appreciate the technology and engineering that goes into creating this modern travel machine, but to realize how many of these ideas have been around and either not in the middle-class market or not shared with the US is something else to think about entirely. There’s also some family history here of the artists and mechanics that made these cars a reality.
A good museum is like a good book; they answer questions you didn’t know you had and have you asking a lot more throughout and after. This museum left more of an impression on me than I thought it would, so I’m glad we came. We’ll have a cinnamon roll each in the parking lot, brought all the way from home after Caleb made them. It’s too sweet for me, which is not usually the case as Caleb cuts half the sugar from the recipe, making them taste better. We’ll walk down the street and back before driving to a closed Carnegie Art Museum.
The Neo-Classical building opened in 1907 as a public library and was turned museum in 1986. The city voted to save itself some $500,000 and closed the museum in 2019 with the possibility of reopening when new development comes in and raises the prices of the neighborhood and the taxes. It hasn’t happened yet. We’re only a few blocks from Heritage Square where Victorian and Craftsman-style houses from 1876 to 1912 were relocated to this block to preserve the architecture of some pioneer family homes. Oxnard is soaked in history.
Plaza Park
There’s still a church in use, the only wooden one surviving from the founding period of Oxnard that cost $3,176, to include the lot, in 1902. It is now called the Heritage Square Hall. Other buildings accommodate coffee, wine, and dentistry. The courtyard is being used to setup for a wedding reception. We enjoy the curved windows, stained glass, and the last original carving above a leaded window on the Scarlett House. I also watch the squirrels playing, the spider hanging, and a mural fading as we make our way back to the car.
theater turned indoor swap meet
Our new room is ready for check-in so we will take two trips up to bring in all our bags. I can travel around the world in a backpack, but when we bring our own dive gear we each have a duffle bag of necessities, minus the weights and tanks if the company supplies them. Spectre charges more for their lead so we brought ours and learned that we might need to get an extra few pounds if we’re going to keep diving in such cold water that requires thicker layers.
Heritage Square
I shower just so I can add conditioner to my hair. The salt and wind hairdo might look cool after a day in the sun but after all of nature’s caresses you need to take care of your tresses. We’ll read while my hair dries and then explore this area a bit on foot before driving to Luna Grill for lentil soup that we wrongfully thought they had because that’s what I was craving. They are a fast food restaurant so I wasn’t looking for greatness but I was starting to get hungry and didn’t want to drive an hour for dinner just to also be disappointed.
Heritage Square Hall
We’re in luck as in this plaza there’s a Whole Foods that sells cups of lentil soup so that I can eat that while we wait to order at Lazy Dog. It’s a chain restaurant, something we usually avoid while traveling so we can expand our taste and better enjoy the region. Now not being as hungry I see we also had the choice of a local chain Korean BBQ or a wood-fired pizza place. I order my pink lemonade and water, so I can mix them and am content with my soup. We didn’t realize the delay in our order until the waiter came to the table to apologize and let us know that the manager would be right out.
Scarlett House
We were then offered our meal on the house, even if we decided to get the dessert to-go since our food request hadn’t survived the shift change. I gratefully accepted the banana pudding since I hadn’t eaten any since being in Fort Worth probably 20 years ago – wow! With another full day ahead of us tomorrow, we don’t feel the need to stay out late and are okay going back to the room to read until we’re sleepy or my get-ready-for-bed alarm sounds.
I woke near 1 a.m. from a weird dream. I had gone into the bathroom at work to clean something out of my hair and found the toilet piled high with paper towels balled up over packages of hotdogs, tourist maps, and markets (not sure on that one) and was contemplating the mess. Luckily upon waking, I was able to go back to sleep in the clean bed for another four hours. We leave the room and check-in with Spectre Dive Boat before boarding while the sun is still debating cresting the horizon.
the foreststar the size of Caleb’s thumbnail
The boat seems twice as full as the last time we were here which was back in August 2017. It was our first time diving without a guide, I lost a flashlight, and we sat out our last dive on the first day because Caleb’s neck was hurting (eight days before his subaxial spine surgery) and I was exhausted from the current, swells, and kelp attacks. Those would be our 27th to 31st dives and today would start with number 124, having accumulated over 60 hours of underwater time in between.
possibly a bat raydefinitely me
We (and I mean Caleb) set up our dive gear. Some people come aboard with their gear on so they can set it down and get their tank filled and there are still classes and individuals who are paying for the full treatment of getting their gear set up, getting help with weights, and fitting a wetsuit. All this is done by 7 a.m. so that things will be tied down and we can listen to the safety brief while we drive in the no-wake zone as we leave the harbor.
Garibaldi damselfish
Breakfast is hot sandwiches (with meat and ain’t meat), even hotter coffee/tea/cocoa options, and some pre-packaged snacks along with plenty of water. While we wait an hour and a half to arrive at the first dive site I will notice a man from Pennsylvania reading a book, Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen, which is apparently a chaotic tale taking place in the Florida Keys and is more Caleb’s genre than mine. I continue to listen a bit more into his conversation with the couple from Switzerland as he advises them on the best places to see when they make their way to the Pacific Northwest.
We start to change from sweaters to wetsuits when we notice an instructor getting into his dry suit. Other people will follow as they feel that we know something they don’t while others seem to wait for permission. You are allowed to be ready as soon as you board, but it’s not recommended in warmer climates where you can easily overheat. We enjoy being the first ones in the water so that we have a chance to see everything (scare them all away) before others unknowingly swim by or cause us to miss an encounter; though we always miss something and that’s just nature.
kelp basssea snail
The air is 66 degrees, so even though the water is two degrees warmer at Dove Canyons, it feels colder. I notice a fish feeding frenzy, consisting of at least four species, on a sea urchin that had the unfortunate luck of being in half; not sure how it got into that predicament. Out of the dark depths, the furthest being 36 feet, rose what appeared to be a bat ray that continued to keep in shadow until it disappeared. We come aboard for our 70-minute interval and the hot tub is turned on and will be toasty after our second dive – which is the stopping point for some divers.
Can I take your order?
Our second dive site is Wizard’s Hat, named after a nearby rock feature, but could also be called kelp soup. We swim through an arch in hopes of seeing sharks but are just as happy with the acrobatic fish playing in this haven from the garden of entanglement. However, they don’t need the assistance of air tanks to keep them underwater and other tools that can easily get caught in the dense forest of what sea otters and spiny lobsters call salad. I try to navigate to a more swimmable area, but the only way is up and out of the water so Caleb can recover from being attacked by his food’s food.
During this intermission, two wives found themselves in the hot tub as they’re not certified to dive but felt like accompanying their husbands for a day on the water. They attempt the weak excuse of their age as to why they haven’t taken the plunge yet, but I assure them I’ve gone under with divers double their years of life. As others return, they will remove their neoprene (banned in the hot water bath) and dunk themselves in for a rest. I’m too certain that once my body returns to its normal operating range or the over comfiness that respite from the cold will bring that I would suffer to return for the third dive.
Also joining us on the boat is a class from Dive Santa Barbara. They only drove 32 miles to be here and one group about twice that. This is just more proof of how much this boat, and company, sticks with you as the teacher used to work aboard but quit when his part-time status wasn’t enough support. My only issue would be with their safety and pre-dive briefings being heard by half the guests, though it seems an important member from each group was able to grasp enough to stay alive, not get lost at sea, and have a good time; which is what it’s all about.
With hood and gloves removed, I’ll partake in some cocoa sipping before the third dive at Barracuda. The water seems warmer, but I’m sure it’s only because my internal body temperature has dropped so the difference doesn’t feel as drastic. We seem to be followed by our own Garibaldi damselfish, but after being named the state fish of California, their numbers are stable enough to add an orange pop of color to many a green or blue background with dirty tan kelp and eye-catching pink or purple sea plants nearby. Fifty minutes pass in the blink of an eye, but my feet have been keeping count of the seconds and remind me of their extremity upon exiting the water when I try to regain my footing.
I’ll strip my way down into the hot tub leaving my gear in a pile at my numbered station, taking off my skinsuit once I’m safely under the water’s warm grasp. Surprisingly, this box can hold at least six people, but being sufficiently warmed up, I’m not trying to stew in here with too many bodies and I get out to change into dry clothes and make room for others to do the same upon their return. Then I can deliver them warm brownies with ice cream, such a treat, and make sure their trash ends in the bin and not the sea. I much prefer warm water dives, but fear I’m being spoiled for future colder water ventures when I’m in a drysuit so that I may attempt to swim with narwhals amongst the ice.
We return to Ventura Harbor at 4 p.m. and after loading our gear into the car walk over to the dive shop to look at finding another deal. I got my 7mm Henderson wetsuit on sale. We only notice what seems to be a suit for a giant but are told it’s more for circumference than height; either way, it’s too big for me so we will continue to wait as we’re not in a rush. Caleb still wants to find me a hat with a strap so it won’t blow off my head on a windy day while bike riding. We walk into Hats Unlimited with this purpose and to our surprise (not really) we leave with matching American flags with sharks as stars chinstrap sunhats.
we have the same jackets too!sunny return
Not ready to return to the room just yet, we find a local brewery, Red Tandem, that has card and board games galore. We will pass an hour playing with a regular deck of Skip-Bo, War, and Uno (once we separate the two decks). Next on our to-do list is to find food as lunch seems many hours ago. We had the choice of a chicken quarter or veggie burger with sides not worth remembering. I took advantage of the free bar snacks so I’m not that hungry. We’ll return to the room so Caleb has access to the food supply there and we can read and stretch out, me under a blanket.
Caleb tried to book us a weekend getaway, thinking we could just get through Los Angeles quickly on a Friday and return Sunday night wiped out. Luckily, the Spectre Dive Boat was booked but could fit us in the following weekend on Friday and Sunday with a possibility of three days if they had a cancellation. We make the reservation and Caleb finds us a room only ten minutes away from the harbor. He packs our dive bags on Monday so that we have all our gear in one place and can charge all the batteries the night before.
Up for a morning walk and I’ll add my 1mm sharkskin top that Caleb gifted me probably two years ago and I have yet to wear to my bag. This is good news though, because it means we’ve only been diving in warmer water. We make sure to grab my hood and thick gloves too – I will need them. We leave the house at 930am and four hours and 200 miles later we arrive at our suite by the sea. We drive to Oxnard State Beach Park to put our feet in the grass, sand, and water.
We walk north up the beach and watch who appears to be a 35-year-old man eat kelp from the tide delivery service because his very grandparent-looking caretakers weren’t paying him any attention or at least not concerned as he wasn’t in the water. The view is nice (not enough to capture too many pictures apparently) but we are more concerned with the flip-flops in our hands, the tiny grains between our toes, the sun on our faces, and the conversation between us. The main reason for the lack of photos is that I left my camera in the car or back in the room.
To protect Caleb’s fair complexion and his tender feet we return south via the delicate sidewalk amongst the million dollar homes; using their shade and slow speed limit to admire corner balconies, shades of blue paint, and tall windows until we’re reunited with the sand and then the grass that will lead us back to the car without blister or sunburn; which is most preferable always, but especially before a dive trip. We shower upon return and I only mention this to bring up the sticky brown goo that accompanied our soles without our awareness.
The lack of wind in my hair has built up an appetite and we will walk to dinner at Toppers Pizza before the evening rush. It’s close, it’s local, and has a good star rating. We are pleasantly surprised by the salad bar; as everyone knows this is where you go to build up your immunity to snot and whatever stickiness is on the hands of the children groping for everything within reach. I’m able to tune this out while actively participating, just like anyone who’s ever stayed at a budget motel, not that the wealthy don’t know how to properly make a room disgusting and possibly condemnable too.
Anywho, I enjoy the convenience of precut vegetables that are sized for my small palate and always the addition of peas compared to the chunkiness that I chop up my carrots or beets or to Caleb’s ability to slice something in half before it’s considered bite size. We then order the poppers stuffed and topped with bacon to go with our chipotle carnitas pizza. There’s something about shredded meat (perhaps more flavor coverage area and tenderness) that adds to the enjoyment of a meal. Our dining experience wouldn’t be complete without people watching – eavesdropping on the old couple, watching the woman eat from the salad bar, and trying to determine what drugs the awkward trio are on.
Walking back to the room after dinner gets me thinking about the art of taking steps – best in the cool morning before a hot day, in the mid afternoon with shade interspersed, and after a meal to aid in digestion; it’s a bonus if you get to return home and smell the cooked aroma afresh. I’m grateful that I haven’t had a bad walking experience. If I’m very cold I walk faster and too hot and I slow down. Even years ago when I was on crutches there was a peace to be found by moving outside and I enjoy that same calm, hand in hand with Caleb now, as we stroll along this quiet street.
With our bodies and bags prepped, we wash our 28 bones and scrub our tongues, before climbing into bed to read the night away. I had just finished reading The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman and brought along an easier read about the Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz. The former is more about the spread of knowledge and technology to pull people out of poverty, not a misunderstood idea of geodesy. The latter is more about the external habits of dogs that scientist’s can monitor, just like apes and mice, to better understand the species and why owners anthropomorphize these traits.
TheJessicaness 