Day 7: Why do people hate Mondays?

This morning we finally got some much needed sleep and slept in until 10. We lounged around the hotel until after noon and then tackled the much hated task of cleaning out the cooler. It was full of water and we were sad to throw out some of our neglected veggies and a *sniff* melted, wet bar of chocolate and a whole container of hummus. What you see in the picture is what we salvaged.

Then it was off to the food co-op and then the beach. We have discovered that co-ops in California tend to be all vegetarian. By then it was nearly 1pm and we hadn't eaten (we are not the poster children for blood sugar control this trip) and so we were wandering around dazedly trying to figure out what to eat. In the end, it was yummy strawberries, once again rice cakes and peanut butter, and hummus and crackers, and veggie juice. We took all of this with us to the beach and Sabrina wondered allowed if people thought we were crazy with our jar of peanut butter on the beach. We sat and ate on the beach for about two hours. We figured if anyone asked we would just explain we were from Seattle, which also probably was obvious by our pasty paleness. We noticed two girls near us that clearly spent a good part of their lives tanning, and I imagine we were just as offensive to them for our whiteness as they were to us for their over tan-ness.

We spent a good deal of time sunning ourselves (yes mom, we wore sunscreen) and reading our books. Eventually we decided to take a dip in the oh so warm Pacific. We were frolicking joyfully in the waves when Sabrina looked back towards their towel to make sure no one was messing with our stuff and saw approximately 30 seagulls where the towel should have been. She turned to Laura and said "see where all those seagulls are? That's our stuff." We ran back to find that the hungry seagulls had run off with an ENTIRE bag of rice cakes (including the BAG) and an entire box of crackers. They did not seem to want the strawberries or the kombucha, but maybe they just didn't get to that yet. Oops. It was funny anyway, though somewhat embarassing since we should have realized this would happen given that the birds were patrolling up and down the beach the whole time looking for crumbs.

Around 5pm a few wispy clouds appeared and we got a little chilly, so we packed up and drove to one of Sabrina's favorite restaurants, Casa Guadalajara. At the restaurant we both ordered margaritas (how could we not?) We considered getting the large to share until we heard the large margarita was 27 oz-- it was the size of a serving bowl. The "small" was still 17 oz and we both were feeling a little fuzzy afterward. Good thing our hotel is only a few blocks away. We also ate too much but the food was muy bueno. (Sorry if I can't spell in Spanish). Sabrina had chicken tostata salad with no dairy and no tostata, and Laura had chicken tacos, no cheese extra guac. Delicious!

Sabrina did warn Laura that Southern California tap water tastes bad. At the restaurant Laura concluded her water tasted like "twig" which even now makes us laugh-- it's just too true. She says she imagines they stirred it with a twig before serving it.

A little note about our directions: we have decided to go with the map exclusively this time instead of relying on the computer to tell us where to go. It has worked out much better this way. We actually avoided getting lost for once.

And that's it-- we went to the store, the beach and dinner. No further adventures to report, because we were lazy all day and loved it. Why do people hate Mondays? It was 75 degrees, sunny and we were at the beach-- try not to hate us too much.