Having a Ball Breaking the Chain

Not so long, not so strange

What a great little three-day escape from reality. A TIRING little escape, but definitely a fun one.

On Tuesday, we left our home town for the grueling 45 minute drive a bit later than expected, due to some last minute errands that stretched longer than planned, but, even with a self-tour around the grounds we were still in our room, sitting on our beds in our pj's in time for the first of two (yes, repeat, but I had missed one of them and it was erased from the DVR before I had a chance to watch it) episodes of Veronica Mars. We ordered room service dinner and ate Monte Cristos and melon (yummy honey-dew and cantaloupe) and tried not to think of how much it cost. Well, I tried not to think of it. My daughter finds the not-thinking-about-it part really easy. Then, I decided that vacations were not for worrying about money and crap, so I found my zen center and let it go. Of course, management somehow found out I was zen-centering and added another charge to my bill (I forgot to ask for a zen-centering room), but I'll meditate on that later.

The next morning (Wednesday) we relaxed and walked on the beach (for like 10 minutes... it was freakin' 100 degrees out there, yo!) and then headed to the air-conditioned goodness of a shopping mall. Naturally, the STORES were all blasting the cool air, but, being Southern California, the mall itself is outdoors. So you basically shop and/or browse a place then scurry like fire-walkers to the next store for more browsing and/or shopping. For the non-initiated, browsing is what you do in the stores you either have no interest in or cannot AFFORD. Mostly the latter. Fortunately, I have a teenaged daughter who's practical enough to look at a pair of $56 flip-flops (that, admittedly were very cute) and say, "No WAY would I waste that much money on those." (Which, in reality means, "No way do I expect my mom to buy those for me," since she left home with no money in her wallet.) I think she learned, at an early age, that uttering such endearing phrases tends to pay off when there's something she really DOES want. Crafty young woman, no?

When it was so hot we couldn't stand it any more, we took a movie break, then back out to the mall as it cooled off. We headed back over the bridge to Coronado for more relaxing around an umbrella-ed table and enjoying the evening breeze off the ocean. Bliss!

We were up and showered and checked out by 11 this morning and did a final photo-op trip around the hotel and grounds, then on to an extended IKEA stop on the way home. Almost as soon as we got home (we actually did a rock-paper-scissors to determine who got to check e-mail first) she was getting calls from her friends (you would think she'd been gone a month!) and soon three of them were here and they were on their way out.

So, it's 8 p.m. and life is back to normal. I'm a bit more relaxed than when I left, and more than a bit more POOR than when I left. What a (not so) long, (not so) strange trip it's been.

posted by Sheryl @ 7:36 PM