Back to Cali

So back to our crazy huge gonzo day of fun (during our Out West vacation, if you remember where we left off the last post). August 12th some of us Hawleys started off at Cousin Jimmy's in west Phx-ish (really, his house is most of the way to California so it made sense to spend the night there before heading for the 'other' coast.), so of course the kids went swimming at Jimmy's before breakfast. After breakfast, we pointed the car West and headed for San Diego (including a geology and geography lesson along the way - does that count for homeschooling?). We left off in Snoozeville, and will pick up the story when everyone woke up.

Our quest for the Left Coast ended at Coronado Island, a sweet spot for Chuck and I because we honeymooned in the palatial Hotel del Coronado (seen in the background of this picture, behind the two beauties. You probably didn't notice there was anything else in the picture - those girls really are quite stunning.)
The girls were first onto the beach and immediately noticed the shimmering glitter of some gold-ish specks in the sand. It was sparkly and magical. The girls really thought they were somewhere special. I don't know if you can see the sparkle on their feet but this was about the only way we could capture it in a photograph (click on the pic and maybe it will show up better in a bigger version).


This is the place, although Chuck and I don't look quite like I remembered the last time we were here (10 years ago!). This place really*is* magical, and we were lucky enough to get married in December when the entire town was dimly a-glow with twinkle lights and there was a huge and beautifully decorated Christmas tree rising several stories in the Hotel del. We received a Christmas ornament as a little gift while we were there and every Christmas it goes near the top of our tree.

I was thrilled to be back on Coronado Island and remember all the things that were special about the last time I was there - twinkle lights all over the town, Chuck and I flew a kite on Coronado beach and almost got arrested (seems the Navy pilots from the nearby airbase might be disturbed as they tried to land their multi-million dollar planes - oh dear, I've just given away a military secret, haven't I? Now our Navy pilots will be in serious danger on their missions as kids around the world fly kites to confuse them. Rats. Well, continuing the list...), there's a great breakfast place just around the corner from the hotel where you can get an extra helping of grits if you tell them you are from the South (they acted like my lack of accent was no big deal!), and the hotel itself was extravagant and ornate inside. A great reminder of my immense luck and happiness in this life!

Anyways, the beauty of the beach is a true wonder here. These rocks were coated with some kind of little creature that if pressed slightly would squirt a little stream of water...


...(okay, you must take away our homeschooling points since we didn't even bother to find out what kind of creatures were on the rocks or what was in the sand.... so....I've been sufficiently shamed and just found out on nationalgeographic.com that there is mica in the sand on Coronado Island, a mineral my kids love, but they seriously wanted to mine the beach while we were there - collect all those gold flecks and get rich; I'm sure they were thinking the adults were nuts for not cashing in on this obvious bounty, another reason to doubt that we know anything about running their world.).

Well, there is *still* more to this day; afterall, the Hawleys really like to eat. More on that later!