Saturday, November 2, 2013

Long Beach, California, Part 4

I got home late last night, and let me tell you, my trip to California already seems like it happened ages ago. So quick! Before it fades completely, here are the highlights from the last two days.

1. Roger's conference ended at noon, and I knew that whatever we decided to do, it would involve a lot of walking, so I didn't do much...a little hot tubbing, a doomed-from-the-start search for something to watch on TV, a few minutes of reading. And boy did I call it.

Our day went like this: Roger wanted to go to Huntington Beach, which was 1.5 hours away by bus, with one transfer. The concierge gave us one set of directions, but the bus driver told us he was wrong and gave us different directions. She was wrong, and we found ourselves stranded. I knew exactly what to do--wait for the next bus and continue on our merry way. Or take the route the bus driver thought we wanted, and see what happened next. But this was Roger's one chance for some fun, so, knowing exactly what he would decide, I let him take over. We walked. It was an adventure--a "let's see where this bike road takes us", "let's see where what's over this next hill," "darn it's too late for lunch, but here's a granola bar to tide you over until we find a place to eat dinner" kind of an adventure. We ended up on Seal Beach, and even found the delicious Crema Cafe again (it was closed. Sigh).

My favorite part of the adventure was watching a huge group of pelicans dive into the water over and over again. Plus the beach was awesome, although a cold wind was blowing. My least favorite part of the adventure was a muscle spasm in my left calf for the first leg of the journey. Luckily it went away before our walk home. 

2. Halloween in CA. From what I saw of Halloween in CA, it consisted of children going from store to store with their parents, and getting candy if any happened to be left. Then they all went out to dinner at a restaurant. Those poor kids--I wondered if they had any inkling of the bounties my own children were getting here in Maine.  Speaking of which--it was harder than I'd thought it would be to be away from my kids for Halloween. I MISSED THEM. It sounds like they had a ball though.

3. The next day we had to be up at 4:00 so we could get to the airport. We got on the plane without incident, and it wasn't until we landed in Chicago that we found out that shortly after our plane took off there was a shooting at the airport and the whole thing had to be evacuated. So glad I missed that, and so glad that we were able to make our connection and get home on time. I was terribly anxious to see my family, and although of course we could have survived without seeing each other for awhile, I'm more grateful than I could say that we got home a little earlier than I'd even expected. And you know what? I think they missed me too.

1 comment:

  1. Oh! Away from your littles for Halloween? I can't even imagine it!

    I'm so glad you had a good time though. That adventure sounds like the kind my hubby would spur. These stubborn men, eh? ;) (Gotta love 'em.)

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