2012 Catch-up: Atlantic/Pacific

A lot of things happened in 2012, particularly in the latter half of the year, and I barely wrote about any of it! So for the next few days (weeks?) I'm going to catch up on a few of the stuff I missed last year--and clean off my camera card while I'm at it.  Happy New Year, all! 

August was a weird month. 

I was off swimming in this during our annual family vacation... 

Edisto Island, SC

...and the next week I was dipping my toes in this: 

Coronado Island, CA

It's awfully bizarre to be looking at photos taken on both the east AND west coasts of the country and seeing sunsets over both. (That's only because our beach house is on the corner of the island, and it's really on a sound, not the actual ocean. It faces south-ish, so if you look over there to the right, you see the sunset over the water. It's weird.) 

ANYWAY, during August, I was far too busy to bother with this blogging thing, by which I mean that I was in South Carolina at the beach reading a lot of books and drinking iced tea and watching the Olympics for ten days. And then I went to San Diego, where I was attending a conference, so I actually WAS pretty busy. 

Luckily, though, my colleagues are fun to hang out with, so when we weren't in sessions or stuffing our faces with food (at this particular conference, you're basically either in sessions or eating, ALL THE TIME), we did some fun things.

Picnics along the water. Mexican food on Coronado Island, and a splash in the Pacific Ocean (a brief splash, since it was COLD). Dinner in the Gaslamp Quarter. 'Smores in the fire pits by the hotel pool. And, most awesomely, a party on the deck of an aircraft carrier. It was ridiculous. There were fighter planes and tours by salty Navy veterans and rides on fighter plane simulators and more than a few Top Gun references:  

"Look, I don't care which of you goes on the flight simulator with me, but I get to be Maverick." 
"Why?" 
"Because I want to be able to yell 'Talk to me, Goose!' while we're in combat."

(I'm not going to tell you which of the people was me in that scenario.) 

(Okay, fine. I was Maverick.) 

Not a bad place for a party.

Salty Navy vet (our tour guide) who fought in Korea

I hadn't been to the West coast since tenth grade, and I'd never been to San Diego, so it was fun to play tourist for a few days.