Weekend Road Warrior

Desperate times call for desperate measures - like five and a half hour flights each way for a weekend. Faced with the fact that I now have a niece and that my schedule for the next few weeks is really hectic (between vacation, holidays, surgery, you know - the usual stuff!), I decided to hit the road last weekend and high-tail it for the sunny left-coast of San Diego. Given the fact that I have pretty much no vacation time at my current job, I was pretty restricted as to what I could do. But with red eye flights in abundance now, I could fit a lot into two days! So Friday night I jet-set for California and arrived at around 10:15. Summer graciously scooped me up at the airport and I stayed up at her place in Pacific Beach for the night since space was limited at Graham's and I didn't want to cause any undo stress, especially with my late arrival. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that there was a one-week old baby in the house who was a nocturnal predator, feasting on the sleep and dreams, not to mention milk, of her parents! :)

Saturday morning I was up bright and early at 7:30am - Liverpool was playing the early game (it started at 4:30am PST) and I couldn't contain myself and sleep with the game already finished and the scoreline waiting for me to read on their website. Well, that and the fact that I had jet lag. And the fact that I was going out to breakfast with Summer and her roommate. And the fact that there was a princess for me to go visit up in Cardiff. And the fact that the sun was shining bright and warm outside. So, actually it had nothing to do with the game....

After dining on the splendid fusion breakfast cuisine of Cantina (all I have to say is "wow"!), Summer and I headed north to Cardiff to do a little shopping before heading to Graham's. I needed some gear for the weekend as well as my upcoming trip to South America's beaches so I picked up some new sandles (Summer's the expert on these!) and we stopped by E-Street Cafe to get some morning java for ourselves and Brie. A few minutes later, we were up at Graham's place and the relaxation began.

I don't know what I was thinking but for some reason I didn't realized how small and fragile newborns are, with their little tiny fingers, toes, and features. Ellie was a precious little thing, she loves curling up on your chest to sleep with her little feet curled up to her belly while touching each other - she's gonna love doing yoga in a few years! We pretty much relaxed the whole day, chilling out, watching college football, and catching up.

No trip to San Diego is complete without a stop at the beach. In the late afternoon, I headed up to Carlsbad to see my old high school friend Russ and his wife and child down at the beach. The day was getting late and it was starting to cool off, so I wanted to take advantage of what little warmth was left outside before the day ended. Russ and I headed out to the brisk, 64 degree water and caught/were-destroyed-by a few waves. The water was so cold that I got a few large white spots on the bottom of my feet that were numb still when I got back to Graham's.

We had some garlic and vegetable-loaded pasta, salad, and stuffing to eat that night. Even with sleep deprivation Graham and Brie can make a fine meal! We watched a movie about a couple kids back in the seventies that started the skateboarding revolution down in Long Beach - do the names Powell & Peralta or G&S ring a bell? These were household names back in my youth because they were the major manufacturers of skateboards and wheels. After dinner and the movie, I met up with Graham #2 down in La Jolla to have a beer and catch up before heading back to Summer's to get some shut-eye.

Sunday was more of the same, except we were watching NFL rather than college football. After chilling out for a while, we headed out to fulfill one of my standard San Diego visit requirements: Mexican food. Seriously, those of you in California don't know how good you've got it! I more or less refuse to eat Mexican food out here in New york, let alone anywhere else in the country, because of the lack of quality grub. There are a lot of Mexicans in New York, but I still haven't found anything that hits the spot. So we met Summer down at Fidel's in Solana Beach to have some nourishing, artery clogging enchilads, cheese crisps, etc. Yummy...

After lunch, we reconvened and then went to have a walk on the beach with everyone, kids (Macy fits in) included! She was wrapped up and cozy in the all-terrain-vehicle/stroller sleeping away. She had slept all the way through lunch and kept sleeping after our walk, so I'm sure she was a handful that night :) ! We had an awesome, orange and pink sunset in the hazy, overcast sky and a temperature that was a bit too chilly for swimming in - unless you have a permanent coat like Macy. She had no problem swimming in the ocean in an effort to kill her squeeky ball or to sprint after a flock of birds for several minutes non-stop. It was hilarious how she was after them, as they swooped just inches above the shallow water. She ended up so far away that she was just a dot on the horizon before the birds turned around and headed back towards us with her just behind them still. She was exhausted by the time she got back, but she fulfilled her responsibilities of being a bird dog...

I've definitely gotten used to taking red-eye flights back home from California and I think it's the only way for me to fly. I boarded the flight at 9:30pm that night and passed out before we even took off. My mind was at peace after a great weekend and the iPod was pouring forth soothing, ambient music that is awesome to sleep to. I woke up once on the flight home when my whole left side was frozen from an air leak from outside the emergency door that I was sitting next to. This happens frequently on American flights and is quite annoying. Maybe that's why I got a blanket and the other passengers didn't. I was able to fall back asleep thankfully and only woke up after the pilots made an announcement to prepare for landing. So the flight worked out perfectly, just like my whole weekend!

J. Riley, back into my routine.