If it didn't officially end on Labor Day, Summer certainly has come to a close this week. Today marks the official beginning of Fall, and though most people have put an end to their Summer time activities, there are still those who will bask in sun-filled bliss as long as humanly possible, even into October if the temperatures permit. But for all practical purposes, we considered this past weekend to be our last hurrah of Summer before pulling out our orange, red and gold decorations.
The Harbor Days festival in Oceanside is where we chose to implement our final celebration. It was your typical festival with various food vendors, arts and crafts and live music, but focused the theme on pirates and military displays. The atmosphere was very family friendly, with many children and adults getting into the act by donning pirate costumes of their own. We even watched a live hypnosis performance, which was a first for me and very entertaining. Still, I couldn't help but feel for the guy who was made to believe a Chuckie doll was his beautiful baby boy!
The most educating experience of the day was exploring the many military displays they had on site. Among them were many vehicles and an Army medical tent. After exploring the medical facilities, I must say, it's not the kind of place I would prefer to be treated. It certainly gives a person new found appreciation for our modern hospitals with their many conveniences. Once again I am humbled by the many sacrifices our men in uniform make to keep us safe! The Coast Guard had an exceptionally nice booth as well, along with a free tour of one of their ships. Personally, I found their little robotic talking ship, Coastie, to be much cuter than the real thing though.
We even got a chance to stop into our favorite fish and chips place up there, which is always a real treat. Just before leaving we had the pleasure of watching a harbor seal interacting with a family on a boat. They were feeding the seal fresh fish, which was received with great anticipation. At times he would even jump out of the water and give the onlookers a chance to survey its massive size. It's quite amazing how something in the wild would be so comfortable around humans.
Other than our time in Oceanside, we managed to fit in an afternoon at the beach. The water is definitely starting to cool down, despite the bit of a heat wave we've been experiencing. It won't be long now before we'll be forced to seek out new ways to spend our afternoons on the weekend, but that's the beauty of the seasonal cycle...you never have a chance to get stuck in a rut. It's a good reminder that no matter how monotonous life may get, change is on the way!
What did you do for your last hurrah of Summer?
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