leaving California

On our last brief morning in Laguna Beach, Snowdrop woke up early. The remnants of a full moon were with us still, there, faintly throwing light over the palm trees.

(what, you'd like more of an ocean view, seeing as this is Ocean? Fine...)

For once, she was the one in a hurry. Her friend had wanted to meet up for a morning swim before she left, before we left. Snowdrop was on board with the plan and so I did a quick calculus in my head and decided it could work.

We were down at breakfast, at our usual table, outside, enjoying the last such meal in the sunshine of a (soon to be!) warm day.

And by 8:30, the time the girl had set, we were at the pool. 

She didn't come and I'm not surprised. They were a larger family, they had a car to drop off, breakfast to bring in (they ate in their room) -- all the stuff that would stand in the way of the inspired but impractical idea of a pre departure swim. Was Snowdrop disappointed? A little. The girl, a year older, a traveler too, with parents from Germany and I'm thinking Uganda, had the temperament that beautifully matched my granddaughter's. Were they in the same town, they would surely be good friends. But of course, vacation friendships are like camp friendships: fleeting. They almost never carry over beyond the moment that you are there, together, swimming, sitting in the hot tub, roasting marshmallows over a fire pit.

So she swam alone for a while.

And then we went back to our room and got ready to head out.

It was the same long drive to LA airport, but without the traffic. Sunday mornings are always great for leaving a city. We're at the airport, crowded of course, because it's LA. We find a few snack foods -- nothing more than that and then we board our flight back to Minneapolis, where we have a proper pizza supper.

It's 10:30 at night before we touch down in Madison. I hand her over to her dad, find my car and drive home to the farmette. And to Ed.

Hi, Ed! 

with so much love...