California

At breakfast I say to Snowdrop -- I suppose we love looking out on the ocean because it makes us think beyond our own known world.

Why is there a horizon, she asks. You know why: the shape of the earth creates the illusion of a place where the sky meets the water. Hey, if you walked in a straight line out, you'd wind up coming (eventually) to the spot you're in now. This is true even if you walked to the left, or to the right. Isn't that something?

She thinks about this then asks -- who invented surfing? Do they surf here? So we switch to surfing. Topics that don't normally come up on our drive from school to farmhouse.

She was awake, like me, shortly after 7, but there was no rush to get going. It was 9 before we made it down to breakfast. And we lingered over that as well. I said to her -- breakfasts on vacation are the best. You never have to rush off when you're done. 

Snowdrop insists again that she misses the buffet, and I let her believe that, even as I have never, and I mean never seen her eat breakfast as well as she eats it here. Not even in Paris -- home of the super baguette/croissant meals.

This morning, I booked a ride into town. 

(waiting for our ride...)

They have a free shuttle service. We get in, others, without a booking have to wait. I insist that we can squeeze them in. I mean, it's a van that holds 6 plus the driver. 

We're joined by a three person family. From London. In LA for a bit of sunshine. City first, then Disneyland (same day as Snowdrop!), then Laguna Beach. Leaving tonight. They're lovely people. We exchange travel stories. Lives lived in different climates. One of those fleeting exchanges that bubbles and fizzles as you move on with your life and they with theirs. Only this time, the chance encounter has a lovely cap to it much later, in the afternoon, when the British girl asks Snowdrop to join her and a few other kids (yes, the horror boy and girl!) in a game at the pool. Snowdrop is always friendly and always just a little shy at the outset, but the girl is so delightful that she abandons her quesadillas and I lose her in the best possible way. To kids her own age.

But all that happens later. Right now, we are in Laguna Beach and I ask to be dropped off near the (weekly) farmers market. Well now, that's a wonderful reminder that we are in a different climate zone! All things grown locally. So many fruits! So many! With loads of free samples so that I discover what persimmon tastes like and Snowdrop falls in love with pluots. 

The market is small and when we walk past all its offerings...

.... we move on to search out souvenirs for her brothers. Snowdrop defaults to stuffies for them. Fine. This is not the time to think through other options. Laguna Beach is filled with shops. One block after the next, for all those visitors, tourists, vacationers. I'm not going to walk my way through them. We find a delightful little shop with sweet stuffies -- boom! We're done.

We reward ourselves with an ice cream pause.

I'm ready to go back then. I know the girl wants loads of beach time. That over shops and Laguna Beach browsing anytime! 

While we wait the few minutes for our ride, we stroll the park and beach strip in center town. You could not get a more typical California vibe.

Snowdrop says -- it must be fun to live here. Me, I've never thought California would be a fun place to live in. For many many reasons. I rejected it for grad school,  I rejected it when my then husband had a job offer in LA. But to visit? In October? Bliss.

Before heading for the beach, we stop at the CVS. Third time on our brief stay here! We're looking for pool toys. A noodle would be great, but none can be found. But there is a doughnut! She asks -- how will we get it inflated? Oh, children of this century! No app, no gizmo necessary! You blow!

And now it's beach time. 

(elevator down to the ground floor...)

I have no words to express how much she loves this: playing endless games, telling stories of who knows what, building castles, and today -- playing with, or against the crashing waves. I'll leave you with a few photos.

And then it's pool time and doughnut time...

and lunch time... (I insist she try fried calamari -- she once liked it, she likes it again.)

... and this is where her new friend from London comes in and another from Denver and Snowdrop is lost to the world of children. That crazy complicated delightfully uninhibited world of children. Privileged children, to be sure. Some more than others, but still, children who have traveled far in their young lives. 

(the hotel sets up a station for "s'mores by sunset"... Snowdrop and her new friend from Denver make at least three each: the perfect appetizer prior to dinner, no?)

Evening. We eat outside, at our favorite table. She chooses her favorite -- their pasta, and I choose my favorite here -- their sea bass. Snowdrop of course wants this to be our last dinner here of this trip. She wants to return. A sure sign of a happy camper -- you always want to return to the places that made you happy.

(oh that bread and butter with black salt...)

with so much love....