In Memory of Steve Irwin

Well we are due for an update of this thing. We took a trip to San Diego in July for beach week to spend a few days camping at San Elijo with Mark and Jo and my parents as well, and of course catch a Padres game. We were able to spend a night at Susi and Adam's and go for a swim with everyone there. I managed to jump in the pool using a crafty tactic of jumping in the water in a sort of rolling motion, creating a tidal wave of sorts, thoroughly drenching Jane and nearby family dog, Buddy. It was a nice break from the drive in which Jane actually contributed a fair amount of driving this time!

We headed to the beach for camping and were able to quickly set up camp thanks to the old motorhome. (which is now going to be gone forever...see mom or dad for details) I was able to get lots of surfing in on this trip, however the waves were rather un-epic this time around so a lot of it was done on the recently purchased 8-foot foamie provided by Mark. It reminded me how underrated longboarding is and I look forward to living down there and investing in a nice longboard for days like that. We had fun hanging out with Mark and Jo, my parents and some friends that came to visit us at the beach. Campfires, cheddarwurst, roasted marshmellows and occasional roasted starburst were all on the menu, (as well as a secret stash of peanut butter candy...thanks jo!)

All the excitement came however when I decided to go on a quick morning surf sesh while Jane went for a run. I saw an older guy lose his board (common, if you can't hang on to your board when its 1-2 feet, you don't belong out there!) so I went to go rescue it for him and make his trek a little less strenuous. I should have known that no good deed goes unpunished as after I handed his board back off to him I felt a squishy, wiggly animal under my foot followed by a quick thrashing around and sharp pain to the ankle all within a split second or two. At first I thought, whew that was close, and hopped on my board and took a few paddles, only to think hmm, that kind of hurt. I looked back at my ankle and saw a hole with blood steadily pouring out of it. Yup, a stingray got me! I headed back in and began to walk back towards the stairs and every step it began to hurt more and more. I dropped the board at the bottom of the stairs and hobbled my way back to our campsite in search of some relief. Marrrk! (my thinking was Mark, the surfer/lifeguard could quickly spring in to action,which he did, but later I learned he really didn't know what to do, he fooled us though.) We managed to put my leg in a box lined with a trash bag filled with almost boiling water which provided a lot of relief. After about an hour and a half of that I figured I was good to go and put a bandaid on the wound and headed back down to the beach where I got in a few more hours of surfing for the rest of the day despite the steady trickle of blood. It definitely hurt though, I don't recommend it.

We finished off our trip with a Padres game where we finally won when we actually attended. It was a great trip, minus the one small wild animal attack. We miss you Steve Irwin, glad the stringray that got me wasn't quite the same.