December 10 day trip to Oceanside

After a leisurely mid-morn wake up time and easy-does-it breakfast, we headed for Oceanside for a day trip. We got there in a jiffy (30 minutes!). Pulled directly into a temp area where all the day trippers pull in and took a few snapshots. A friendly local volunteered and snapped a few of me and Bev. Also gave us advice on free parking and good places for eats. Directly found some street parking and walked just a few blocks to main tousit attraction there at Oceanside - The Pier. Weather was great. A week day helped with crowd control - there were just the right amount of visitors out and about. We got on the really big pier with everyone else and sauntered all the way to the end. We stopped lots of times to take picutures of ourselves, the beach, the surfers, the gulls and pelicans. Hey, when I'm a tourist, I behave like one.

We hit the restaurnt at the end of the pier, Rubys, where I bought a pretty good cup of coffee from a very friendly staff (3 bucks!). Sauntered all the way back to the pier entrance. Bev found a place to sit for a while and I walked to the beach, all the way to the lapping, waves. I felt for the warm pacific waters, and even tasted the salty sea, but just barely. I wished I'd been wearing a bathing suit and had a towel and had all the time in the world. It shore was brief, but I still felt satisfired. (entire Oceanside visit, btw, lasted about 2 hours)

I found Bev at a bench, and we headed for the van which I half expected (incorrectly) to have a parking ticket. Before we got to the van, a homeless kid approached me for the second time and I told him nope but before he could get too far I called him back and gave him all the change I had in my pocket, maybe two bucks. Inside the van, I lowered the windows and Bev lit a cigarette and we relaxed before heading home. A woman in a wheelchair was rollling by. She asked Bev for cigarette and Bev gave her the one she had just lit. And she told us Merry Christmas and we reciprocated, in stereo. Then we drove the short distance home.

The trip was short, the visit had not been taxing, after we got home, we used our energy stores to do lots of left over visiting, the last stuff on the topic list. I would be leaving in the morning.

Bev consistently expressed her desire to return to Austin while at the same time acknowledging her excellent domestic situation (great little slice of paradise place at a terrific rate). She does not like living in California, she just misses Austin. Din, drinks, music here and there, a discussion of all the stuff we didn't get to. I knew I'd be traveling tomorrow and got to bed on the early side, comparatively. Midnight.