A Special Anniversary Day July 28, 2022
We celebrated our anniversary this past Thursday. We always do something on this special day but it can vary from being fairly simple…a dinner out at a favorite restaurant…or something much more elaborate. And we take turns planning the celebration.
Last year we spent a night in San Barbara followed by a night in Marina Del Rey (LA - SEE PHOTO BELOW) with a visit to see the grandkids. In 2019 we spent 7 days in Maui. While living in Boston we made a 3-day trip to the Ritz Carlton in Palm Beach FL (I set up this surprise trip with several weeks of clues, 1 each day – my wife did not know where we were actually going until we got to the airport in Boston!). And a few years ago my wife set up a catered dinner on the beach in Cardiff by the Sea – was THAT cool!
This year was also special, as all celebrations are – anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, showers, births, family reunions. No matter what you do to celebrate it’s all about the memories, the people, and the emotions, isn’t it?!
The beach has always been a big part of our lives together, starting with our honeymoon on Holden Beach NC, multiple trips to St. Martin, Aruba, different beaches in the Boston area and the South and North shores, Ogunquit and Kittery ME, our beach house in Wellfleet on Lieutenant Island (Cape Cod - SEE PHOTO BELOW), Maui and Kauai, and of course multiple places here in California. Both daughters got married on the beach, too, 1 in Carlsbad, 1 in Cardiff by the Sea!
So the beach WAS again the theme for this year, organized by my wife!
We started with picking up lunch and headed to a favorite beach south of Carlsbad Village where we parked – rather dressed up since we were ultimately off to dinner hours later – in our beach chairs on the sand in front of the lifeguard shack. It was a beautiful day with a light sea breeze and low 70s and the beach was crowded. As you can see I had my special glasses on – sunglasses (not for reading) paired with my reading glasses. You do what you have to do when you need to see your phone in the sunlight!
The next stop was Moonlight Beach in Encinitas, a fave of ours with great views from the bluff parking lot. It’s a popular beach given the snack bar, bath house, beach volleyball nets, playground, and handicapped access, plus plenty of free parking and close proximity to the downtown area…but crowded on weekends and especially in the summer.
Next was a drive through downtown Encinitas, Cardiff by the Sea (great ocean views and the beach where our older daughter got married), Solana Beach, and then Del Mar before heading inland to the freeway to go downtown.
As expected in the late afternoon traffic heading south was heavy. But we had a 6:15 dinner reservation at Sheerwater at the Hotel Del Coronado, so there was plenty of time to explore the beach area south of the hotel. We stopped for photos of the Coronado wetlands looking across the bay, then headed north to the Hotel Del for a glass of wine before dinner.
FInally, it was off to Sheerwater for a wonderful dinner outside, with great views to the west. The food and service were fabulous, and all in all it was a very special way to end a wonderful celebratory day together.
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