San Diego, Unplugged

My husband was planning (another) 3 day business trip to San Diego and since Meg just finished up pre-school for the year, we decided to tag along! What a treat--his company paid the bills and Meg and I lounged, swam, walked and slept the days away! It was absolutely gorgeous in San Diego these past few days, and we stayed at the gorgeous Manchester Grand Hyatt, with sweeping views of Coronado Island and the Harbor.

I forgot my camera. I packed it, but it ended up left behind in the trunk of the car (discovered only in the last few hours of our trip). This is tragic news to a photographer visiting San Diego.

I think it's the best thing that happened to me these past three days. Without any bulk weighing me down I carried my little cross body "wallet only" bag,  I never annoyed my daughter by making her pose a zillion times every time she stared doing something fun, and instead of my mind looking for the next photograph, I concentrated on my Meg.

Before the invention of photography, one William Wordsword wrote about committing to memory the pleasing visual images of today, saving them up in his mind's eye so that when he was old and no longer able to partake in these experiences firsthand, he could pull them up in his minds eye and almost transport himself to that experience and emotion again.

This weekend, I will remember:

1. Walking along the boardwalk with Meg, exploring all of the public art along the way.
2. Making it all the way (she walked almost a mile!) to the pirate ship but then being frightened to go onboard to tour it!
3. Sitting at the water's edge and spotting crabs. The red ones were special.
4. Swimming for hours.
5. Playing Go Fish by the pool, laying on our respective lounge chairs facing each other and wrapped in towels.
6. Making s'mores at the hotel bonfire
7. How much Meg ate!
8. Watching Shrek on the hotel pool deck after dark
9. Meg setting up "house" with all her dolls and toys next to the huge window overlooking the harbor, then asking to skip the children's museum, she just wanted to "stay here all day."
10. Two absolutely perfect runs along the water.

I love photos, but Mr. Wordsworth had a point. I will be reliving these past 3 days in my mind's eye for years to come.