Beachin it…Round Two

Round Two started when a Southwest Airlines jet landed at Lindberg Field around 11:00 am on Sunday. Kyndi announced her arrival with a text, “I just landed”. Claudia and I met her at the predetermined pickup point, the curb outside baggage claim, put her bag in the car and headed off for San Elijo via a quick stop at the closest 7-11 for a large Slurpee.

She was properly greeted by Gizmo and Choka and we all settled back until Alisa, Brooke, Alan and Erron arrived for a West Coast Birthday Party. At Kyndi’s request, the gourmet food for her party was ordered from Filiberto’s. Claudia and I took off with an extra-large, double-huge list of food orders. We probably should have stopped by the nearest brokerage house to buy stock in Filiberto’s before we placed the order.

In short order, we returned with the food and all of us settled into seats, chairs and benches in the rear area of our campsite for the feast. 

After stuffing ourselves well past the safety level of actual stomach capacity, we came inside for dessert. Dessert consisted of two half-gallons of Dryer’s ice cream, one coffee and one mud pie, each with a large spoon stuck vertically in the container. The ice cream was set deftly between chocolate cookies and a homemade Cookies and Cream ice cream cake, a large remnant from my birthday at the end of last month. Stomach capacities were stretched to the max! We all goofed around until bed time where we all hit the sack with a huge “THUMP”.

Tuesday was “Sleep in Late and Go to the Zoo Day”. Gizmo had other ideas about sleeping in late, but we all made it to the zoo in mid-afternoon. We did the bus tour and the Skyfari ride and then settled in to walking. The animals weren't really out during the bus tour, but became more open and vocal as the day moved toward night. The greatest show was at the lion enclosure. The huge male was up on a raised platform, roaring and coughing and really putting on a show. Kyndi brought down the house with a comment of “Sounds like he’s coughing up huge hairball!”

After watching the evening entertainer show, we headed for home.

Wednesday was an early day. We got up at 7:00 and headed for La Jolla for a 9:00 am kayak tour of the sea caves. Kyndi and I got fitted with a helmet and life jacket and headed for the beach launch site. We headed out just after 9:00 and grouped up off Pebbly Beach.

We slowly headed toward the caves, floating over huge schools of anchovies that were being harassed by larger fish, probably barracuda or mackerel, one sea lion and three porpoise. Kyndi and I slid outside of the group a bit and got within about 15 to 20 feet of the feeding porpoise. We floated by the caves and wound up actually going inside one of them. We went through a narrow opening and then into the interior of the cave itself where we found a sea lion sleeping on a ledge about 10 feet above the water. We then came back out and joined the main group. We all then headed back to the launch point and surfed a small wave to the shore. Quite a morning.

The next day was a carne asada dinner at Alisa’s after our morning shift was over. I even went in the pool to cool off. Dinner was super, fresh tortillas, carne asada, guacamole, etc., etc. and etc.

Several months ago, when we first knew Kyndi was coming here, we asked her what she wanted to do when she got here. The first thing that popped out of her mouth was that she wanted to go shooting. Which rifle? My AR, of course! My kind of girl! Hey, she’s from Texas.

Thursday started early. We all got up for a quick breakfast, threw all the gear in the car and headed for the shooting range. We got all set up at the 100-yard range and she proceeded to put some Texas whoop-ass on a rabbit. Nice job Kyndi!

Friday was her last day in God’s country so we took her to VG’s for a donut and an apple fritter. OK, OK, the fritter was for me! After the quick stop at VG’s, we headed for the Encinitas Café for a breakfast of banana-walnut pancakes with an egg and sausage. YUM! It was then time to head for the airport to send Kyndi home. What has she missed most? Marley, her dog. Has she had fun? You betcha! Hey…we did too!