By the Sea

Good Morning from San Diego -

I'm writing this from my partner's work laptop, so will be brief, brief, brief today (both because this little keyboard makes my fingers crazy and because there's this big beautiful city to explore). It's overcast right now, which is such a sight for my scorched desert eyes. I'm sure it will burn off later like it did yesterday, leaving us with some cool bay breezes, blue sky and gentle sun (but not so gentle that both of us didn't get burned yesterday while walking around and enjoying being able to be outside.)

And what did we do yesterday? We're at a big, fancy hotel during the conference part of the trip, so we're right by the water. We flew early so were settled into the room by noon and were ready to explore. We walked along the water, past the giant sculpture of the sailor dip-kissing the woman and the big naval war ships, and ended up at Anthony's, which was supposed to be fantastic. It was good. It was turista. My sense is that no local ever eats there, but it gets plenty busy with people visiting who want seafood and a spot on the bay to eat their meal.

After Anthony's we took the ferry over to Coronado, where we wandered a bit, found the farmer's market, bought some apples and grapefruit for the room, and then ate ice cream and drank chai (me: lemon ice cream, partner: iced chai) on the beach while watching kids of all ages play in the water. We found some shells along the seashore (but didn't sell any of them), which are what you see on the Virgen in addition to the map of Coronado.

After the ferry ride back, it was a quick soak in the hot tub to relax traveling muscles then a walk into town for a slice of pizza (which became the biggest Stromboli I've ever seen - most of mine is still in the hotel fridge), then back here to bed, to bed (traveling always makes me tired - even when it's a small plane from Tucson to LA and then an even smaller plane (like the kind with propellers) along the coast from LA to San Diego).

My partner presents this morning on LGBT resiliency on college campuses, which is set in the larger conference context of sexual assault work done on campuses. The attendees are all from campus sexual assault centers who receive grant money from the Office of Violence Against Women in D.C. She'll be done by noon, at which point we'll go explore some more.

In reading this, I'm aware of the wonderful experience this is and the gratitude I have for being in a place in my life in which I am able to participate in such a good thing. Yes.

Here's to that for each of you.