Despite Ruth asking about it multiple times, we didn’t get to do the 50¢ merry-go-round in front of the dollar store. We were able to find other adventure and even cooked a meal. Sort of.
Our morning activity was a visit to the Seabees museum on the naval base across the street. Seabees were created during WWII in order to build roads, airfields, harbor facilities, and more, all under combat conditions. The museum is pretty sizable, and has exhibits on their genesis, lots of WWII history, and some more recent history. There was also a room with relevant activities for the kids to explore.
Ruth clearly remembered the play structure inside the Burger King in Aberdeen, and was quite eager to go to another. We didn’t have any better ideas, so we decided to indulge her. Unlike the one in Aberdeen, this one was unable to do a kid’s meal with a hot dog, only a la carte.
We cut the BK playtime short in favor of Bolker Park, which we passed on our way to the hotel yesterday. I had a little too much fun on an off-center spinner. Ruth got me started, then accelerated uncontrollably. Anne had to come rescue me.
We went back to the room to lounge and take care of household tasks, like patching the tube from yesterday’s flat. Then pool time before dinner.
Our room has a kitchenette, so Anne suggested we use it. We walked to the Ralph’s down the street with the vague idea of frozen pizza. Max had leftover mac & cheese from last night, Ruth announced that she wanted fruit salad, Anne decided she wanted a salad kit, and Spaghettios with little hot dogs spoke to me. Plus the pizza. And stuff for lunch and breakfast tomorrow. It ended up being a pretty big haul.
Ruth insisted that she would make the fruit salad, with apples, bananas, and strawberries. So Anne set her up with a cutting board and a knife, and she went to town, very carefully preparing a bowl for each of us according to our individual preferences. It was very sweet, and kept her busy while the pizza cooked.
The pizza was a bit exciting to get out of the oven. They didn’t include oven mitts in the kitchenette (although now it’s obvious that we could have used a towel from the bathroom). There was a weird lip at the front of the shelf. Once I accidentally tipped the shelf over, we could get the pizza out.
Tomorrow we head into Los Angeles. It’ll be a long day. It’s flat, but 70-odd miles, the longest distance on the tour.