MOM'S Adventures #1

October 7th was the first of some fun and crazy adventures we friends (MOMS) hope to accomplish over the next year. Belinda dreamed up the idea and planned the first one. These photos are the invitations we received from her. We had no idea what we would be doing until we arrived at her home and she revealed that we would be kayaking La Jolla Cove. The one regret is that no one had a waterproof camera to capture the event but Diane (our now elected MOMS historian) put her experience in words. I will now cut and paste her retelling of the day here, since she did such a great job of it:

"What a blast! It was like going through Alice's looking glass with all the unexpected twists and turns. ( Bring your swim suit;;;an OLD one, hmmm mud bath?;;; and your wrist bands(suggested by Laura, thank goodness) OK, no mud. HMMMM Old swim suit, Wrist bands. Am I going to be dropped from a HELICOPTOR?,;;;;We're going kayaking, Oh, OK, I can do that;;;;; In wet suits (oh, yeah, the ocean's COLD) My wet suit is already wet and cold, but I peel it on somehow,;;;;; YOU MIGHT FALL IN (quick, buy thingy to hold on glasses);;;;;;Take a paddle .YOU will be paddling, ME? What about all the cute hunky life guard boys standing around, waiting to get on our kayaks with us, I guess I will be HELPING them paddle, I can do that;;;;We go from the beach right into the SURF, WAIT won't that KILL me?;;;;;;; WITHOUT A GUY IN YOUR KAYAK TO HELP YOU;;;; O MYGOD!!! No guy leading us? Jan got a guy when she jumped out of a plane!::::We're in the water and the waves are rolling in, and Sharon is sitting in the front of our kayak.
OH! OH! OH! the girl in the bikini wants me to sit down on that thing."Hop on", she says. --But I don't HOP anymore.In the real world I sit gracefully down and then swing my legs carefully on. NO HOPPING! . BUT CLEARLY ONLY A HOP WILL GET ME ON THE THING WITHOUT FLIPPING SHARON INTO THE WATER. ;;; Here goes. --hop! sort of , I'm ON!!!!. "PADDLE, PADDLE!!" Bikini Girl is screaming in my ear.. I wait for Sharon to start paddling so I can "coordinate" behind her via my two-second "training".Then I start screaming, too, 'PADDLE, PADDLE!" We paddle straight into the pounding surf which, like the Red Sea, opens miraculously before us to let us through, and after awhile we don't hear Bikini Girl screaming anymore, and I realize, just like Daddy running behind the bicycle -- and letting go-- we are on our own! There's Laurie over there bravely paddling all by herself. Belinda and Rilla are somewhere in the pack of 15 or so kayaks that make up our tour. We head out to sea. I AM NOT BELIEVING THIS!
It is surreal. I am a little anthropomorphosized orange kayak-critter paddling in and around and among fellow kayaks-ettes in a happy wild flock of kayaks with little yellow-tipped wings flapping up and down as we scurry in and out , bumping each other like bumper cars, loosely following Kayak-King, the cute hunky 12-year old blond one.
We gather for a little Kayak-King informational lecture about the bouys and learn about some insane swimming race that people have around the bouys sometimes, and something about the tide going north or south depending on the season and how the planets are aligned. Then we go close to some "caves" that are sort of indentations at the bottom of the really high cliffs that the water is washing right up against. And we hear about those caves which would be different if the tide was lower or higher or something.
We learn about the little black cormerants that look like skinny little black geese that live on tiny juttings on the cliff, and actually prefer to build their nests and raise their young on the teensiest possible invisible ledges that they can squeeze onto. And they don't have hollow bird bones, but solid bones so they can dive 40 feet deep after fish and not get squished by the pressure, so they don't fly so well and need to catch air currents to fly much. And they have turquoise eyes.
And there are five "caves", but none of them look like caves, except the last one where the people are standing behind a little railing inside looking out at us having descended 145 steps from a shop above the cliffs in La Jolla to stand there and look out at us. And I remember one time about 30 years ago when I stood there behind those raiilings, and I feel pretty smug that I am now one of the "sea people" and not a "looker".
And there is another sort of cave, except it is a hole that goes right through into sunlight and sand on the other side, which really makes me rearrange my whole idea of the cliffs, which up to then seemed pretty solid and like they were part of the land behind. It doesn't make sense, so I discount what I just saw and go comfortably back to my old reality of the cliffs.
Close to there are the most wonderful thing! The sea lions. We are very close. Like the length of a car close. There are twelve, and Kayak King says that is the most he has ever seen at once there. They are all on rocks in the water against the cliff. One is tawny instead of black, and looks like a puppy laying here looking at us. The others are very noisy.
We also see Garibaldi, which are the orange California state fish I have been teaching my classes about for twenty years. Sharon says Paul used to catch them.
Laura tells me she is very seasick. I am sympathetic, but feel smug, because my wrist bands have kept me comfortable. Laurie decides to go back, and that is exactly what I would have done.
We are on our way out into the ocean to see leopard sharks, and Sharon and I are racing Belinda and Rilla. Then, for no particular reason, Sharon and I are tipped into the water! The kayak is upside down, but we flip it over and Sharon scrambles back in. But I realize right away, that gravity is gravely against me ever getting back in. Why can't I be as light in the air as in the water? That would help. Lots of advice from everybody. Belinda and Rilla are there, and the Kayak King moves in to save me. But unless he practices levitation, I don't see what he could possibly do for me, while balanced in his little kayak.
Of course, it doesn't help that I am laughing hysterically, and every time I try to stop I see my buddies laughing even more hysterically, and that starts me up again. And my life vest has been forced up around my head, which has my arms pretty much pointing straight up at the sky. And it is no longer doing a great job of keeping my mouth out of the water. I am grateful for the glasses thingy holding on my glasses, and blissfully unaware of the spectacle my cock-eyed white visor made hanging over the side of my face.
Kayak King gets on the other side of our kayak, and tells me to reach across to him. I try that, but yell, "Stop ! That's my breast, young man!" as my breast is clearly trapped under the kayak, and pulling on my arm will hurt a lot, and not budge me. (My friends are convinced that he grabbed my breast, but that was anatomically impossible, and would have been fine with me if it had painlessly and magically set me back in the kayak.) So then a nice big man, who weighed about twice as much as Kayak King (though not nearly as cute) comes up with his kayak on the other side, and helps me get the life vest down a bit so I can move my arms, and see. And then I hang onto Big Man's kayak and swing my leg up on my kayak , and Kayak King grabs it and pulls me on! Yayyy! I will not have to be towed to shore with my legs hanging down like chubby leopard-shark bait.
Only now I am on my stomach on the board with my face squished up against Sharon's back, and only another old lady could possibly understand that this is still not a very good position for me to be in. Grunting and groaning I manage to get up on my hands and knees, with my butt high in the air and my head resting on the Kayak. This may be the favorite spectacle of the gleeful onlookers.
"Just push yourself up and sit down". says helpful Kayak King. "I can't even push myself up on my own living room floor." I reply grimly. But then I do it somehow. The crowd roars. The fat lady is back on her seat in the kayak. All is well. We can go look at leopard-sharks.
Except now I am suddenly truly seasick. Curse you, wrist bands!! Why did you stop working?. Poor Sharon. "We have to go in," I tell her, We have to miss the leopard sharks." Sharon is a true friend and paddles me to shore, ignoring the ghastly sounds of me barfing behind her, all over the life vest and the wet suit, since I don't dare lean over very far. After I am thoroughly sick, I feel great, and enjoy the ride in on the surf. I hop out (I have finally mastered hopping ) and rinse everything out in the surf. Laura has been playing in the surf waiting for us. We walk back , turn in our equipment, Get a Mom's Adventure photo, and leave. What an unbelievable experience!!! What a day!!! Thanks Belinda!!!
Now we get to have a wonderful evening at Vanessa's cool home. She has arranged a delicious meal of do-it yourself- pizza and salad, followed by pudding, and we talk for hours. It was a truly great Moms' Adventure.
Jan, we all said over and over how much you would have enjoyed it and how you were missed. We hope Eileen is doing OK, and understand you had to be with her. The next adventure will be soon.
And we will all be at Katie's concert next Saturday. See you then. Diane"

Vanessa with her dwarf bunny "Bun Bun" Crazy ladies! Good Friends! Fun Day!