I spent a lot of my time in Boulder living on the corner of
two dead end streets in a neighborhood affectionately known as the Hapgood
Hood. There was an even mix of families and students, and in the duplex across
the street lived a young man named Dubz. He lives in San Diego now and decided
to get married, so my old roommate Alex and I made the trek west to
congratulate him on this momentous day.
Most of my “vacations” have involved worrying about weather
patterns at high altitude, hoping my thumb is attractive enough to slow a
passing motorist, or bumbling around a foreign country. I rarely cross paths
with hotels and rental cars, but there’s a first time for everything and over
Memorial Day weekend I took a pretty standard vacation.
We got started in San Diego swapping our underpowered Focus rental for a bright red Mustang. Now, I don’t have any illusions about a Mustang being a sports car,
and I’m pretty sure they de-tune the rental cars anyway, but while it handles
like a boat it does go really fast in a straight line. Trust me, I know because
I left every stop light by putting the pedal to the floor. It wasn’t long
before we learned that the car gets more fun with traction control turned off,
and that was the beginning of the end for that set of rear tires.
The first day we ventured down to the water and found an
ocean choppy with wind and storm swell, pummeling anyone who dared enter. Alex
gave it a solid attempt but eventually tired and surrendered, joining me on the
beach. Not to be deterred we borrowed suits and boards from my old neighbor and
partner in crime - code named “Ninja” because he knows karate, drives a
Kawasaki Ninja, and two Canadians couldn’t remember his real name. The three of
us went down and found much nicer, better formed waves on our second and third
attempts. Paddling around on a long board was perfect for me because it was fun
and active but didn’t engage my hip at all. Alex caught a few waves while Ninja
and my old neighbor Collin showed us how real San Diegans do it.
And then of course there was the wedding. I’m not much of a
pomp and circumstance kind of guy, but I will say it was beautiful and
picturesque. They were married
under two palm trees in a beautiful resort on an absolutely perfect day. The
food was good, the bars were open, and I’m pretty sure we woke up half the
guests walking back from the reception to our rooms.
Monday I had a beautiful picnic lunch with my friend Kendall
before Alex joined and we headed to the Scripps dive locker for a BBQ on the
beach. We cooked and drank some beverages just outside my friend’s office
window which is located 20 feet from the sand and 40 from the water. I don’t
know how he gets any work done. We took our leave there and headed to PB where
we had a second BBQ at Ninja’s - complete with guns, horseshoes, adult
beverages, smashed tables, and a microscope trained on plant cell nuclei. It
was every bit as weird as it sounds. I wanted to capitalize on every last bit
of time in San Diego so I ended the night with a friend at a bar in Hillcrest
that had a rainbow flag permanently curled around the Bud Light tap.
And thus concluded one of my only standard vacations. I
thoroughly enjoyed having a relaxing weekend - looking for lightening not
because I thought it would kill me above tree line, but because it was pretty.
Most of my trips will still have adventure and danger, but now I know that a
trip with rental cars and hotels doesn’t have to be boring.
