On the second to last night of our Covid Getaway, I have to admit that it has turned into something more..somewhere in between our trip to Hawaii last October, and how we spent Jim's first week off this summer, in August, with no phone or Internet, with the lone goal of trying to watch the last seventeen minutes and forty two seconds of "Unbelievable" while trying to pronounce the name of the storm, Hurricane Isaias.
It's just a world I'm not used to. We've been dining out locally a few times since late June, and I've only needed face protection(a bulky plastic shield) to walk from the car to a safely distanced table. It hasn't been an issue, but now I have to wear a mask..a lot..and avoid people..a lot..and sanitize everything..a lot.
Something everyone has been happily doing since the pandemic hit, and I have not, since I've never ventured out this far or for this long.
People are giving us all kinds of suggestions--the must dos, the must sees, It reminds me of when we went to Paris, and everyone implored us not to miss the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.
But I'm perfectly OK missing the night life here because it's basically non-existent, unless you're the type of person who loves a casual stroll, which I am not.
Having said that, this mini-getaway will absolutely make one of the five highlights of this vile, awful terrible year we're now in. It comes in a solid number four, behind the number one bright spot of 2020, "Schitt's Creek." (Nothing save a world-wide vaccine that comes out before I finish typing this blog entry will top that. It dethroned both "Gilmore Girls" and "Parenthood" and there will never be a show of this caliber. Not in my lifetime.)
Highlight number two would have taken place pre-covid, the January weekend at Rich and Robin's where we caught up and ate well and watched the Golden Globes, the most important award show of the season because no winner has been predicted yet. And even without the viewing and our snarky commentary, they are much missed friends that we love deeply.
The third best thing about the year that should not exist was our trip to Sandals in early March. We hadn't been to a Sandals resort since our Jamaican honeymoon thirty years older, and the resort in Antigua was just as lovely. (Had I only known THEN that there'd be worse things to come than excess seaweed--like being named Karen and you know, the pandemic and all--I would have counted my blessings)
This trip will slide nicely into fourth place as I'm finally getting my groove on. The pool was terrific but the beach was nicer. The waves were still rough, but Jim taught me a trick that if you position yourself sideways, the breaking of the waves is less forceful. Of course by doing that, my entire profile is in full view to beachgoers, so I had to weigh a lot of pros and cons.
Napping in a comfy chaise lounge on a gorgeous beach really does chase away those blues, It really does remind me that 2019 is not behind us but in our future.
Oh, and in case you're wondering, the fifth highlight of 2020 would be the wit and wisdom of David Sedaris and Randy Rainbow. I could live on nothing but their snark and biting writing for the rest of my life if I had to.
Oh, and if you're also wondering, the entire list above will be erased on November 4th and replaced with one and only one event that saved 2020. My number one highlight.
See if you can guess..
The only tough part today was walking up the ramp that led to the beach. It's too taxing for someone like me when shoes are worn, but the sand is too hot if they're not worn.
That will be the first and last example of a first world problem for the remainder of the trip--I was fine, and grateful to take it all in.
Great book, great nap, great company...life as it should be, even in a year like this.
I did get a mouthful of sand, which had to be rinsed out with a mouthful of saltwater, and 'though neither were a pleasant sensation, liked a freshly brewed iced tea, neither were as bad as a colonoscopy prep.
There was a comedic moment when we came back to use the pool before dinner, when a two year old screamed out: "My Mommy just peed in the pool!"
The Mom was aghast and filled with very quick denials and apologies, but I don't know, if someone accused me of doing that I wouldn't be mortified. (It would have to be in an ocean)
Jim scoped out a great place for dinner, overlooking the water that made us feel like we were vacationing in Ogunquit, Maine ,in the summer of 1988, the summer we knew we were going to be sharing that California king-sized bed and the future bidet for life.
It was a picturesque place and I got something called "Airline Chicken" that very much interested a bird the size of a miniature poodle until I scared it away.
I expected a TV dinner tray with maybe a piece of boiled chicken, a scoop of hard rice, and two canned cling peaches, but it was really good. I could have done without the vegetable that accompanied it--a "type" of broccoli that Jim agreed looked "exactly like green coronavirus"
It was better than the spinach from last night that smelled like it was squirted with Chanel Number 5, I know, I know, I was tired last night when I blogged and wrote "Channel Five" and was asked what that smells like.
Where I live, Channel Five is the Fox affiliate, so you can describe what that may smell like however you'd like.
We went back to Springers Since Prohibition tonight and I realized I was here before, in the early 80's, when my friend's sister graciously invited us to her rental home in Avalon.
Do you recall this, Linda Stellenberg?
We had a very incompetent teenager scooping out our ice cream orders in front of a big poster that read, "Ask Us About Our Big Dip" and I pointed right to the flustered scooper and said to everyone at our table, "do you think the poster means HER?"
In summary, I am glad we made the decision to spend a few days here, even this late in the summer, this late in the year.
You only live once.
Unless some little kids exposed you to something unwanted in the pool, then..maybe not.
But hopefully, the only toxicity we were exposed to today was what the two year old claimed her Mommy did.
More tomorrow
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