Farewell to Paradise

The San Clemente vacation is coming to an end. Yesterday a bit of depression hit me and the rest of the clan. Everyone is somewhat testy with dreadful anticipation.

I rode a total of 322 miles in 10 days of riding. Yesterday Leslie and I beat the best time that I had set with Fielding on the tandem. We averaged 18.3 mph for the 26 mile ride. She was a trouper. On Tuesday I had to yield to a tank and several ?Bradleys? at the tunnel on the Marine base. I saluted as they went by. Today I went past the sentry about 7 miles before turning around. The girls all enjoyed scanning for wild bunnies, squirrels and roadrunners once we got onto the Marine base.

Last Saturday after Jim Greenan left to take Jay to his hotel, he returned and literally dragged us out of our pajamas to get fondue at one of the uppity restaurants by the pier. We had a fun time. Afterward we walked to the end of the pier and oohed and aahed at the bioluminescent effects of the red tide in the water. It was especially cool when one of the fishermen would reel in their line.

By the late afternoon on Tuesday you could tell that a swell was hitting the coast. Sure enough we awoke on Weds morning to 4-6 foot surf. That meant we weren't going to be using the boards. But, I had some fun bodysurfing. However, I can tell I'm no longer 25 years old. I had to take it a little easy and not take as many risks as I used to. I played with Laney in the tide zone. She got attacked by a stray patch of man-eating kelp. No permanent injuries. She also almost got knocked down by a small tsunami wave that surprised her. She managed to outrun it. But, it looked like she was going to fall down a couple of times. It was quite entertaining for observers.

So on Thursday since the waves were still kinda big and scary for the novice surfers, we loaded everything on top the Explorer and took a trip down to Doheny. The kids enjoyed themselves. But, did not like the rocky bottom. Next time we need booties. I wore my sandals which helped a lot. But, they catch a lot of water when you are trying to bring your feet under you. I still managed to get a couple of cuts on my feet.

We will miss the sun and the sea breeze and the crepuscolo sul mare, the cool pleasant evening air. We will miss the "beach trees" that Laney starts spotting in Las Vegas in anticipation of our arrival. Hopefully we are refreshed enough to withstand the rigors of another year behind the plow.