Burn baby burn

Eric and I went to San Diego this past weekend for a fun getaway to enjoy a little summer and a free weekend stay at the W earned through all my business travel.

The big activity on Saturday was: go to the beach. We chose Coronado beach from a menu of beach experiences described in detail by the concierge based on level of bar scene, level of crowdedness and ease of transport back without a car (the hotel would give us a free ride to anywhere within 8 miles but we'd have to find out own way back). Coronado Beach was low on sceney-ness and crowds, had the bonus of a ferry ride back through the bay, and had the added allure of being described as "a 1950's beach" which made me expect that everyone would be wearing those funny bathing suits you see in old photos.

A lifetime of badly burned fair skin has taught me to be relentless in my application of a high SPF block. But I was recently alarmed to discover what's actually in the sunblock I've been generously slathering on my largest organ and one which largely ingests what you put on it. Without going into great detail, suffice it to say I wanted to balance the carcinogenic effects of the sun against the carcinogenic effects of my sunblock.

Solution: shade!

We rented a beach umbrella under which I happily parked myself for several hours in the middle of the day. I read my book, we played 20 questions, I stared into the middle distance, etc. I did go swimming for a few minutes but not very long and then I hustled back under the umbrella.

Getting out of the shower that evening it became clear to me that beach umbrellas are not the comprehensive UV ray blockers that I had believed them to be.

I didn't get a severe burn, I just got the most awkward, blotchy, smeary, streaky random sunburn of my life. It looked like I had let a drunk panda apply my sunblock with only its left foot. My friend Jamaica has paintings hanging in her home that were done in Thailand by elephants. They would have done a better job. But all I had was the drunk panda, I mean beach umbrella.

There are pictures but they are of me just out of the shower and even though all the sensitive bits are covered it just doesn't feel like a good choice to post them here. But I still might. We'll see.