8 Hours of Fun

70 degrees at the coast. We left home 11:30 am and shortly after the bank (getting money) we went straight to Torry Pines for a hike on Broken Hills Trail, which we never been to, then headed the beach. The waves were a bit big and I'd love to try my new boogie board again, so we walked all the way back to parking (along the hwy, very lucky) to fetch the board.

I had 1 or 2 great runs, which made a novice very happy. 40 minutes later, there were some scratches on my legs and belly; I had to stop. It's better to wear one-piece bathing suite or wet suite for this sport, I suppose.

John said the waves were very strong and seemed to have rip current. And it turned out true. The news guys kept surfers alarmed.

We brought along our new snorkel gears thinking it might be a good day to try. Despite big waves at Torry Pines we thought it's worth to check it out. After drying off under the beautiful mid-day sun, we drove miles south and found a parking spot at the La Jolla Cove near the coffee shop, another lucky try. We wondered how we got all the luck in the world today? Perhaps people were all going to Del Mar Fair (SD County Fair), which was just open.

Water at the Cove was generally calmer and colder; however, there were a few big waves crushing in from time to time. Though I was determined to give it a shot, I couldn't help shivering (nervous and from the cold water too).

John promised to be by my side the entire time. The first time I tried, I was no more than 5 feet from shore. Basically, an older kid could stand up fine in such sallow water. Somehow the water got in the snorkel tube. I got really nervous and ran away from the activity.

Another wave of white waters came in. I decided to wait until they were gone. As I stood on the shore, John snorkeled since he couldn't while helping me. There was a young, very tanned Latino man with perfect American accent asked me if he could borrow my snorkel gear for 10 or 15 minutes.

"I'm not from around here. I don't know about the spot... I saw some fish in the water earlier but it's difficult to open eyes in salt water..."

I thought I had to wait anyway, so I lend him my gear.

Soon after, John signaled to me that there were some fish close to shore. I didn't go to him so he came up shore to find out what's going on.

I told him I lent my gear to a stranger and he wasn't pleased.

"Why you let a stranger put the tube in his mouth? I wouldn't do that!"

"Well, if we rent the gear, I wouldn't know whose mouth it's been either... I just didn't think it's a big deal."

Anyway, it's too late to change my mind. I pointed the person (in the water) I lent the gear to to John.

That person came up to shore only 5 minutes later. I asked him if he saw any fish. He told me yes and suggested me to try. Then he also said water got in the tube a lot.

John's ready to have me try again.

I washed the gear in the ocean first as he instructed and then went in the water. This time I saw a silvery fish with purple stripe swimming before me. It's quite exciting! As fun as it could be, water got in my tube a couple of times. I became very nervous and start struggling then quickly asked John to take back to shore. It's very embarrassing because I was probably 3 or 4 feet from shore and I could easily help myself.

As I finally stood up in the sand, I turned around and wanted to talk to John. There was an orange fish so close to the shore that I could see it with naked eyes above water.

"It's the state fish." John exclaimed.

There's no way I'd go back to the water. I had to let the orange silhouette go. John snorkeled around and went as far as the kayaks. Later he told me as the water got deeper, the visibility turned poorer, no fish in sight and better to stay close to shore. He said it's funny to see me going in the water. My eyes were wide open and my breaths were so heavy.

I suggested that we could finally check out the French Bakery since last time we missed the store hours. But first, John wanted to stop at Beverages & More in La Jolla. We bought Franciscan Cab 2001. 20+ blocks later, about 5:30 pm, 2 hungry people walked in the French Bakery. We bought a loaf of bread and 4 pastries, total about $12.

Then we stopped at Trader Joe's at PB for grocery. Again, no trouble with parking, the opposite to usual scene. But before shopping we happened to meet the special hours (5~7pm) of the sushi bar next door. I thought grocery shopping with empty stomach wouldn't be good. We walked in the sushi bar for a quick snack. Our sushi master was a white guy who apparently spoke good Japanese. We had special Cal roll (inside out) with masago, which definitely needed to be specially ordered, tuna roll, and spicy yellowtail roll. About half hour later, we went shopping and then headed home.

As we pulled in our parking space, John looked at the digital clock just below the dashboard -- it was 7:30pm.

"Wow, we've out for 8 hours. Imagine during weekdays, I'd be sitting at work the whole time."

Since we had sushi already, dinner needed not be much. We opened a bottle of Chilean cab and the bottle we bought today, comparing Cal cab and Chilean cab. The Franciscan cab was excellent, cedar and oak merging with classic berry flavors. The Chilean cab reminded me of Bordeaux and also wonderful. Besides wine, we had baguette from the French Bakery, cheese, and canned red salmon. I honestly couldn't remember what we ate. John was still a bit hungry and emptied some leftover, I guess...

It's late for a new movie, which required more concentration. We played Manhattan again and both fell asleep in front of TV.