Upon arriving at the airport, we discovered that they have relocated the long term parking at the San Jose airport-- they put it out past the southern most tip of the South 40! There is a shuttle bus and, when we found a parking space, we got on it and were on our way to the American Airlines terminal.
We used Expedia.com for our tickets and had absolutely no problem being checked in on the flight (or in the hotel, for that matter-- Highly Recommended!). We went through security; Brian made it fine but I set the alarm off so I had to be scanned with the wand. What turned out to set off the alarm were the underwires in my . . . undergarment!! Totally strange!!
Our 2:25pm flight out left at 2:52pm and, by 3:10pm was turned around and headed back to San Jose!! This was definitely not a good sign!! Did you know that any time a flight turns around, it has to be followed on the runway by emergency vehicles? Well, yes, it does!! Aren't you glad you know that now??
After
returning to the airport, we stood in line for an hour to find out that
the next flight we could get
on would
be the 5:10pm which was "scheduled" to leave at 6:00pm but actually left
somewhere around 6:45pm. The problem with this is that our connecting
flight from LAX to San Diego was scheduled to leave at 7:40pm. By
the time we got to it (via a terminal bus) the gate walkway had been pulled
back and they'd hoisted the stairs and closed the door. We begged and pleaded--
there were five of us all together and so they reopened the flight and
we got on. When we got to San Diego, our luggage was waiting for
us and we took a shuttle over to the Avis car rental place and picked up
our car.
We missed the exit to the connector that would take us to the hotel but figured it out fairly fast. When we got to the hotel, we chucked our luggage in the room, and high-tailed it over to Chili's for a very late dinner!! After that, we went almost immediately to bed (although Brian played with every gadget in the room while I unpacked!!) and suffered our first night of NOBS ("Not Our Bed Syndrome").
On Saturday,
Brian's brother (Peter) picked us up at the hotel and then we picked up
Peter's daughter, Danielle ("Dani") (she'd spent the night at a friend's
house since our flights had been messed up) and then we all went to breakfast
together. Peter took us over to the Birch Aquarium at Scripps and
we had fun walking through it together. Then, we went over and watched
some hang-gliders and para-sailing-- I had never seen it up close like
that before so it was really fascinating, even if a little on the chilly
side in the breeze!!
Dani "Stayin' Alive" at Scripps |
Dani and Me in the Shark's Mouth |
Sculptures at the Entrance to the Scripps |
Parasailers Getting Started |
More that are Getting Started |
And still more on Getting Started |
Glider Landing |
All of the Hang Gliders |
and Parasails |
In the afternoon, Pete had a date so we took Dani shopping for her birthday present from us-- she's 11 now so we wanted to make sure that we got her exactly what she wanted. We walked all over a mall in SanDiego-- couldn't tell you which one-- and then stopped at a grocery store to get stuff to bring to Brian's Aunt Trish's house.
When
we arrived at "Aunt" Trish's (we don't call her that-- Dani does but not
the rest of us) we went for a walk to the ocean-- she lives near the Wind
and Sea Beach which is one of the most famous surfing beaches in the world.
All I knew was that it was the ocean-- I love the ocean. Dani walked
with Toby, Trish's Samoyed; we walked and chatted on our way to the beach.
After we returned from the beach, Peter arrived and we all had a wonderful
dinner made by Trish: salad (with a homemade dressing that was delish!),
baked potatoes and three-way halibut (grilled, baked and broiled). A good
time was had by all!!
Wind and Sea |
Wind and Sea |
Wind and Sea |
Wind and Sea |
South of Wind and Sea |
North of Wind and Sea |
Pre-Sunset at Wind and Sea |
Pelicans at Wind and Sea |
Sunset at Wind and Sea |
Full Sunset at Wind and Sea |
Sunday morning we woke up, I showered and packed (Yeesh-- Brian is so useless in these areas!), and we picked up my nephew, Aaron. We all met Peter and Dani for breakfast. Trish was going to go with us but decided at the last minute that she had work she should do instead.
After breakfast, since Aaron had something planned, we took him back to his apartment and then Brian and I went to Seaport Village. We walked around there and I found a Christmas ornament that had to come home with me. Around 3, we headed back to the airport even though our flight didn't leave until 7:30-- there was nothing left to do that could be done in under three hours so we thought it would be nice to just SIT in the airport. It was, too-- cute kids to smile at and junkie magazines to read.
While our flight at 7:20pm took off on time and arrived about 15 minutes early, we were stuck at the airport another 90 minutes waiting on our luggage!! The only thing we can figure is that they forgot to unload the cargo bays of the airplane we were on!! We were home (and a bit too wired for bed) by 10:30pm. We checked email and did some immediate unpacking of things that required it but, we'll have to finish up the rest yet.
Apparently,
as we've now established for our parameters of measurement, flights to
and from San Diego have problems. We'll have to work at seeing if
that changes in the future!
Return to Musings
Return to Meanderings
All Content Copyright © 2001 Marcia L. Dykstra. All Rights Reserved.