Santa Monica

Over Thanksgiving weekend, as I was scrambling to revise my dissertation, something unthinkable happened. Our campus email went completely kaput. I suppose it was not entirely unthinkable, since the system had been experiencing some serious hiccups over the course of the semester, but I never could have anticipated the message on our homepage Wednesday afternoon: Calmail will be down until Monday morning. No logging in. No accessing your files. I think many of us felt simultaneously terrified and thrilled: oh, how behind we would get! Oh…how behind we could get! All of my revision notes and emails from the committee were locked away in my email (for the record, steps have been taken to make sure such a thing never happens again), so what could I do? Nothing! I considered it an act of God. A good one. So, what did I do? I went to the beach with my husband!

The weather was insanely gorgeous: sunny, clear, and 75. Sometimes, when you are given a gift, you just have to run with it!

When we arrived, we headed down to the pier, which was predictably crowded, but nonetheless fun to explore. The pier is technically the end of Route 66, which holds a special place in my heart, as does its modern-day cousin, I-40. Oh, I-40, how much time have I spent on you?

The Ferris Wheel looked so lovely against the bright blue sky. We didn’t go for a ride, but admired it all the same.

As were strolling around the pier, Eric noticed this little star painted on the floorboards. So sweet. There is probably only one person in the world who remembers that, for a very brief time in high school, my nickname was Little Star, and that this is a fact of which I was proud. (Besfrinn, I hope you are smiling) 🙂

Since I lived in the Bay area for seven years, I have an unshakable habit of bringing a sweater with me everywhere I go. On this beautiful day, however, I wished I’d worn shorts! For the past few years, we’ve spent Thanksgiving at Sea Ranch with my family, so this is quite a change in wardrobe! But at least I was still at the ocean, even if my family couldn’t be there.

There were even a few brave souls in the water. I will be joining you, say, in July!

I took this shot as we were leaving the pier. I like the happy hustle and bustle. And that pigeon so bravely standing in the middle of the pathway. Perhaps he likes steel drums.

We had just as much fun exploring the city of Santa Monica, and we stopped for lunch at the tiny little Interim Cafe, where I had, hands down, the best veggie burger of my life. I’ve had plenty of doozies in my vegetarian days, but never one so succulent and flavorful as this one. Highly recommended!

When we’d worn our legs out, we headed back to our car, passing this enormous Christmas tree along the way. It was a perfect festive day, full of relaxation. Calmail, thank you for the early Christmas present!