Day 2
My cousin Erin baked a cake for our arrival. It was a marble cake with chocolate frosting and colored frosting with drawings of flowers and waves. Somehow the colored pictures melted a bit and smeared, but I could make out the outlines and understood what they were. It was a sweet (no pun intended) gesture, and since we didn't have any the night before, it was only fitting to slice it up the next morning. Uncle Dave cut it and passed out the plates, and we dug in. The cake was delicious, but I couldn't very well start my day with just a piece of cake, could I? Well, actually I could, but Aunt Shelly set a bowl of fresh strawberries on the counter and fruit always calls to me. Fruit, cake and a glass of water- I was ready to take on the day.
Uncle Dave and Aunt Shelly let me borrow their car and Bekah, Randy and I drove ten minutes north to a beach my family nicknamed Table Top. I'm not sure why, but it's a cool name. Randy laid out while I attempted Try 1 for Bekah's senior pictures. I took a couple hundred of her sitting on a rock with the cliffs in the background, then with the water behind her. Then I made her get up and act stupid in the water, but she was a great model. I hope I got some nice shots, because the colors of the sky and ocean were beautiful blues and Bekah looked great in her attire. When we'd had enough pictures for the day, the three of us stopped at Rubio's, this awesome Mexican restaurant we all ate dinner at the day before. I had fish tacos-- never tried them before but heard rumors about their tastiness. The rumors were true, those were some amazing tacos. And they had the authentic tortilla shells- mmm mmm good! More relatives arrived that afternoon from Arizona; they drove up for the long weekend. I'm glad they did, because we don't get to see them often either, obviously because they're across the country. We stood around and chatted for an hour, but then the waves began calling. I took the other car this time and drove my siblings to the beach, where we proceeded to lay out/boogieboard. The waves were bigger, and on the first try I took one all the way back to the shore. I was flying again, and getting used to the sky.
My cousins had Junior Lifeguards again, so after they were finished we all hung out in the water, keeping an occasional eye on the time. Erin had a swim meet, so we had to leave the beach to get her home to change on time. We were only there for about an hour and fifteen minutes, but I could have stayed there all afternoon.
Her swim meet was the most boring thing I've been to-- a million tiny kids flopping around in the water trying to swim the length of the pool. She swam 4 times the entire afternoon; it was painful. Randy's eyes must have pried loose from their sockets from how many times we was rolling them, though I will say one plus from it was the amount of sun we received on our skin from sitting in the heat.
But then, the best part of the day... dinner at Poseidan, this seafood restaurant in Del Mar that is literally right on the beach. You could jump over the low wall out on the deck and be in the sand. It was an upscale eatery, and we had a huge table right at the western part of the restaurant before the deck. But the "windows" were actually rolled up like a garage door and there was nothing but air separating us from outside. Us Wisonsinites were in awe- it was one of the most beautiful things I have experienced, being able to look and see kids kicking up the sand and the early evening sky begining its final descent. To be sitting down to a nice seabass and have the white sand feet away and the metallic blue surf- breathtaking. I took a break from dining a few times, first to take pictures of Bekah in the fading light, and then for pictures of the sunset itself. Over the dividing line of sky and sea loomed the sun, an electric orange, wide and blurry. Suspended in the air, the next moment it just shot down the horizon and disappeared under the ocean. The water churned such a sheer blue, and the sun's lingering light sprinkled itself over the top, like the perfect topping to a sundae.
A flash of brilliance over the ocean.
We drove by a gorgeous cove, and on the way back from dinner we saw the black outline of the cliffs and fading color of the tangerine show in the sky. It was a magical evening, and it made me wonder what if would be like to be rich and have this opportunity at my fingertips. But then I started thinking about my family at home and how I wished they were there too- they would have loved to see the ocean sunset and have that meal. Dad would have given anything to give us that dinner, but there's no way he could justify paying so much when he has other matters to deal with. And then I thought about the nice, simple things he's done for me and our family back in Wisconsin, and he really is a wonderful man providing for us. And the more I think about it (I did a lot of thinking that evening), the more it really isn't real life out here- it seems like something out of a movie. These areas are pretty upscale with Lexus and B&W mobiles everywhere I turn, but mostly it is a beach mantra- just enjoy the sand beneath your toes and the waves in your hair.
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