San Diego improved significantly on Friday when I spent the day walking around town and laying on the beach. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do first, so I walked about 3 miles further than I had to just because I was so indecisive. On the plus side, I did get to see Balboa Park, which is quite pretty, although it's virtually impossible to buy a cooling beverage there, because some of the park's long-term residents have broken into pretty much every drink vending machine in the place and emptied them of their contents.

Anyway, I walked around the city till about noon and then caught the ferry out to Coronado Island, which the wonder killer behind me informed everyone was not really an island, because it connects to the mainland by a thin strip of land to the south. On Coronado I found a Greek restaurant that served a version of my favorite soup in the world. Not as good as my favorite Greek deli in New York, but still a nice surprise. Then I headed across the island to the beach. On the way there I passed more adorable little houses with exquisite flower gardens than you could shake a stick at. The beach itself was just right. Busy enough that there was always someone to watch if you got bored, but empty enough that you could lay out on the sand and still have about 30 feet between you and the next person.

Now here's where I made my mistake. I thought, "Oh, wouldn't it be nice to get a little bit of color to clear away my winter pallor and prove I've been somewhere beachy?" I had been, as usual, super-ultra careful about my face all day, and at least I was smart enough to keep doing that. I put SPF 30 on my face at least 6 times. What I didn't put any lotion on at all was my arms and legs. Just a couple of hours sun, I thought. It might burn a tiny bit, but surely not too badly. Uh, yeah, you know how this ends, right? Yesterday's full day of plane flights was especially painful with my lobster-burn legs and arms. Especially when a lady let her suitcase fall over and the handle whacked me in the knee. Sigh.

Other things I learned in San Diego...

• Maybe I had such a rosy vision of the city because the first time I saw it was 18 years ago. 18, people, 18!!! That's almost two decades! No wonder the city has changed so much since then! And it also ties in to lesson #2...
• I am now officially too old to shop in Urban Outfitters. I came to this realization when the clerk who was ringing up my skirt called me ma'am and asked if I was buying it as a gift. When I said no, she got this startled look on her face and said, "Oh! That's even better, then!" Perhaps it was the fact that I was dressed in my full conference-going outfit of button down shirt, khakis, jacket, and high heels that threw her. Or it could just mean that she was born in the year I first visited San Diego. Sigh.