The Three-Dollar Minimum

Baudelaire wrote that the newly-discovered technique of taking photographs (at that time)was going to be a detriment because taking pictures of an event reduced our use of memory, a thing he considered necessary. And I guess if one really thinks about it, it's true. We only take pictures of, say, a vacation, so that we can relive the days sometime in the future. And I must confess that I am an unrelenting photographers on vacations, often interrupting an otherwise beautiful sunset just to take the photo to look at later: miss the moment, capture the "memory." So, on the last night of our vacation in San Diego, we all sat down and spent ten minutes writing down what we'd learned that we would not like to forget...there being few, if any, pictures of the events (don't ask). Some of these things might be fascinating to everyone, but many of them have meaning only to us as "inside" jokes. We just don't want to forget, and when one is pushing 60 rather strenuously, these things can slip away quickly.

1. La Jolla, north of San Diego, is pronounced "La Hoya" and is very exclusive. How exclusive? Even the panhandlers there have a three-dollar minimum and wear suits when they accost one on the street! (especially the Norwegian veteran we came across!)

2. Palm trees are not native to Southern California: they have been artificially grown there through use of vast water resources which are now drying up.

3. Multi-million dollar homes overlooking the Pacific will be in the ocean within 75 years, and the city of San Diego charges more than $100,000 to anyone whose house falls into the ocean! The rumor is that these were being given to AIG execs in lieu of their next bonus.

4. Lobster fishing is best at 7:30 p.m. even though rubber remnants can find their way into the lobster baskets. Trout heads make good bait, and there is a seven lobster limit. Crawling over the rail of a 60-ft.pier to untangle your lobster basket is guaranteed to bring out the people who love to see the cliff divers in Mexico.

5. "Pushing the envelope" by kayaking into sea caves, boating with sharks and kayak surfing with the self-styled "bad-ass" tour guides Ben and Devon from the Bike and Kayak tours of La Jolla is a treat for anyone who can take it. Flipping out of the kayak in an attempt to do some "extreme fishing" (I think) is fun for spectators.

6. Tiger, no zebra, no leopard sharks cannot bite a kayak in half. In fact, they can only chew: they suck up crabs from the ocean floor and chew them for food. There was no scary music playing while we cavorted with these sharks.

7. Pelicans and cormorants are completely different. Pelicans dive into the water to snare their fish, sometimes reaching 60 miles an hour. Cormorants dive up to 80 feet deep, then sneak up on fish from the underside where they cannot be seen! Pelicans eventually go blind because they keep their eyes open while diving into the water, and the continual collisions with the water eventually render them sightless. AND, while the birds often share the same habitat, they never mix with each other in any way.

8. How does one tell the difference between a seal and a sea lion? Sea lions will be on rocks and are very friendly, often swimming alongside snorkelers. Seals lie on the sand and avoid human contact. "Aloof" Is the word best used to describe them. Carol is a sea lion,and the rest of us were adjudged by Carol to be seals.

9. When making reservations through Expedia-AARP, keep in mind that a "reservation" really means a "request." Hotels do NOT have to give you what you think you paid for! "King-sized bed? Oh, that was just a request.WE figured you didn't really need one so we gave you two double beds overlooking the noisiest portion of the grounds." Old people get no love at all.

10. The boardwalk along the ocean in Mission Bay where we stayed, is not made of boards but of concrete: great for skateboarding, biking, inline skating, walking, jogging and panhandling, all of which get done simultaneously (and extremely slowly, I might add).

11. For $99 one can buy a beach bike: single speed, balloon tires, hi-rise handlebars,padded seat and all! If you are not familiar with coaster brakes, be careful!Carol loves them, but I find myself grabbing the handgrips to stop instead of pedaling backwards: not good when one is about to careen into a transient on inline skates making his way toward you with a demonic look on his face.

12. Wet suits are really warm! Unfortunately, the photos of us in them are lost forever. The tiger, no zebra, no leopard sharks got them.

13. BLAT: bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato sandwich.

14. We will NEVER know just how far it is from Mission Bay to the sea caves at La Jolla: some will swear it's 22 miles round trip, and others say less. One thing is certain: we covered every inch of it on bikes and on foot. You'd think that a place with a famous golf course (Torrey Pines, site of the Buick Open) would be more obvious, but our cab driver couldn't find it without GPS, and the elderly (older than we are) woman who turned right in front of our cab then simply satin the middle of the intersection didn't seem to know where SHE was going, either. That CANNOT be us some day!

15 Finally, because I had to end somewhere, kelp grows 18 inches a day. It is the fastest growing plant on earth except for bamboo. Kelp is used in makeup and that slimy stuff between the meat in Lunchables. EEEWWW!

Our list of things we have learned in this short period of time is really quite extensive. For now, these made the top of the chart. More to come probably, and ALL the photos on Flickr one of these days just in case we DO forget what, when and where.