~Al, the Koupon King, has struck again. Barb’s hubs finds the best deals! This time it was a twofer for kayaking in San Diego’s Mission Bay. Hurray! My hubs, Alan, and I were invited. Note: Barb and I both married Allan/Alans and both got married in September of 1972! This is sort of a 40 years celebration. Her hubs is Al mine is Alan. Anyway……. both my hubs and I have wanted to kayak so this was exciting. But, I have a confession – I’m apprehensive around water. One of my earliest memories, at age 2, was being fully dressed with a wool sweater on walking at the beach in Santa Barbara, Ca. I was walking by the water when a wave knocked me over and I was pulled along as it rushed back to the ocean. I can still feel that terrifying moment being dragged to the sea with parents laughing. That feeling does stay with me. When I was in my pre-teens, my parents had a pool installed. I did swim in it, but I’m not a strong swimmer, unlike sister Barb. So…. yesterday when the first wave hit us I almost had a heart attack telling my husband we had to go back. He talked me down and once we really started going I had a blast! I did wear a life vest the entire time, they aren’t required on kayaks. Al did too! You can tell who the safety conscience ones are!
While braving the wilds of the ocean in double kayaks, ok the bay, Barb and Al were in one and Alan and I in the other. Their friend had a single which we all tried. The single is really easier to maneuver. In the morning it was overcast and windy with the tide rushing out making it easy going out towards the ocean, but a lot of arm muscle was used paddling back against the wind and tide. After lunch, Barb and I kayaked together keeping close to the shore as we followed/watched birds. Barb’s Al is waving goodbye to us as he proceeds to venture out into other parts of the bay.
After our grueling trip around the bay, totally fun, we had a picnic. The minute we sat down with our food, we were surrounded by gulls! Noisy, squawking gulls! After about 10 minutes, all but one flew away to try and find better pickings – we weren’t feeding them. All but this “baby” gull who remained the entire time looking at us. He’s saying, “Feed me.”
My Alan was on the “protect-the-picnic-area-from-the-gulls” duty after lunch. The rest of us were going back out. Barb and I wanted pics so he came down for the beach launching. A huge herd of gulls came swooping past us heading for our picnic site. HUGE! By the time Alan rushed back, they had already emptied an almost full back of tortilla chips. You can see the empty bag, on the right, which the birds had dragged away from our area. I’m lucky they didn’t try to drag away our lunch bag. There wasn’t even a crumb left in the chip bag! It was a hit-and-run for most of the birds had flown away by the time Alan got back to take a picture. These gulls needed a paddling!
It was a wonderful day. I’m ready to do it again. Well, maybe not until my sore muscles feel better. Knowing how I feel about water, Mom had checked up on me a couple of times before I went. Thanks mom! I made it! Conquering one’s fears!