Thursday, July 24, 2008

The Staycation

It seems that our economy has forced many Americans to have, what is now termed as, the "Staycation". I think it's kinda obvious what that means - you don't go anywhere and you don't get to do shit.


I haven't quite had the staycation - actually, I'm lucky enough to have had three little "getaways" so far this summer. I know that I am AMAZINGLY lucky to live in a city (and state, for that matter) that (pretty much) the entire world dreams about coming to visit.


The first was Mammoth, and we all know how that one turned out! See my post from July 4th, if you haven't read it already. Next was La Jolla - only 2 hours drive away, just north of San Diego.

Um, yah - totally gorgeous. We had many difficult choices of what to do each day - Beach? or pool? Rough, rough, rough. At this point, however, I was 0 for 2 on accidents on vacation - my DH got stung by a sting ray at this very beach you're looking at above. No, it didn't pierce his heart or anything, and he is fine. He did leave a trail of blood from the water to the lifeguard station. In the end, it really wasn't anything that five ibuprofen and two beers couldn't fix.

So, if you go swimming in the ocean in La Jolla, please shuffle your feet.

Finally, Oxnard. More difficult choices between beach and pool. No sting rays. No flat tires. Just a fantastic family adventure. During the baby's nap, I got to sit quietly on my patio, reading Eat, Pray Love.

This is the California dream. Palm trees, sunshine, blue ocean, beautiful sandy beach.See that path there? We rented a surry bike that fit all five of us and rode along the beach. The kids scooted their hearts out there. We had beautiful sunset walks there every night.

We stayed here. Highly recommend it for a family vacation. Highly DON'T recommend it for a romantic getaway. The cacaphony of children's talking and screaming at breakfast in the morning alone, will have you running faster than you thought possible. However, when that noise is somewhat drowning out the talking and screaming of your own children, it feels like a blessing that will have you smiling, and reassured about life in general.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I knew that view and patio before you even linked to it - we stayed there last year and had a ball, even did the surrey on the path and a little bit off the beaten path. And I loved Eat, Pray, Love, too. Took me many months to get into it, but once I did, I couldn't put it down.

Sounds like a fun summer!

Anonymous said...

Loved the post... had me laughing more than once.

artbeth67 said...

We've stayed there too, but not with the kids yet. Keep planning on going back, just hasn't happened yet! It really is a wonderful place :)

We were recently at Seal Beach and a man was stung by a sting ray there too. We heard from the people with him that when they went to see him a bit later there were a few others who were stung in there with him also. What's up with all this?

peggy gatto said...

Tally, I am waving atcha from Tahoe and enjoying doing nothing!!!!!!! No sting rays but they say there is a monster living in the bottom of the lake...been up here for 40 years and I am still waiting to see it!