The Golden Coast

I'm not sure if that's what California's beaches are called for certain, but when we stepped onto the shores of Coronado Island near the Hotel Del--I kid you not--the sand sparkled with gold! I tried to get video of it, I tried to get pictures of it, but all I can say is, wow! was it pretty to watch the sand sparkle in the waves! Grandma J looked it up, it's not gold, it's mica, but I'm going to pretend that I discovered gold in the water, so that I can afford to stay at the Hotel Del Coronado. Granted, when we walked into the the interior, heavy with dark wood paneling, the fire alarms were going off and a kindly voice was telling us not to be concerned--which was maybe a little bit concerning. I'm guessing it had to do with the fellows pulling the stages of scaffolding from around the picturesque peak of the roof, completing their long labor of historic restoration.

We saw some jets fly by. We saw the endless, wide stretch of beach. We saw our toes sink into the soft, warm sand. We saw the waves crash over the rocks--and discovered these were the best tide pools, yet! Next time, we will bee-line for this pretty stretch of the USA :)

After our trip through The Del, we headed for the Brigantine restaurant for fish tacos. They were tasty! Then we did some souvenir shopping and enjoyed wandering in and out of all the little shops near the coast. One thing we really hadn't enjoyed much of on this trip--ice cream! So, we popped into the Moo Time Ice Cream parlor and ordered up some amazingness (funny that CA friends identified our location, just from the photos of the ice cream :)

Back at the house, I worked on getting some of the suitcases packed, got closer to finishing up a book Grandma J happened to have on her shelf that I happened to have on my reading wish list, and got a bit cleaned up after ourselves--which also meant we got a few more loads of laundry done.

For dinner, we drove down to grab some yummy, cheesy pizza . . . then drove back up to the house to enjoy eating it by the fire. I also unpacked and repacked the sweet little baby things P got for Baby S. Grandma J wanted to see them, and it's so fun to fold those tiny little outfits!

We realized that my phone did some time change theatrics and we needed to leave much earlier for the airport the next day than we first planned (good thing we checked when we checked in). 

For our drive to the airport, the weather was wet and gloomy for the first time, really, since we arrived nearly two weeks before. We were sad, Grandma J was sad, but as much as we'd like to stay, we needed to scoot on home. I'll tell you who was very happy to see us! Well, maybe Graysen--he kindly picked us up from the airport (we connected in Minnesota, adding to the list of all the airports our Crew flew in and out of; they did have a Chick-fil-a, so that was a bonus).

But if you answered, Daisy, you were correct! She did the ultimate happy howls for like 20 minutes . . . and then peed or puked in her kennel four times over the next week. We're now closing the door after dinner, so she can't chugga-lug-glug her water before bedtime.

But as usual, I digress . . . what a special trip this was! We are grateful for CA family and friends who welcomed us back, fed us, entertained us, celebrated with us, and took care of us. Caelan said, "I really like having a stay-at-home grandma; I think that should be a thing." Lol! All the meals planned, prepared, all the snacks provided, all the dishes done (with a little help from us, of course), all the days filled with fun . . . sunshine, palm trees, the ocean, the flowers, the canyons . . . it was a blessing upon blessing kind of vacation, and we are still thankful--even almost a month later, because it took me forever to write these posts--for the rest and recouperation. Until next time!