The plan was for Wayne and I to fly down to San Diego and slowly make our way up the coast, eventually ending up in San Francisco a few days later. Our so-called California vacation, except that I already live in California, although I've never been to San Diego.
We started on Sunday afternoon, arriving at Toronto Pearson International Airport for a 6:40pm flight. This was my first opportunity to see how the other half lives, thanks to Wayne; I am referring to 'Air Canada SuperElite' passengers. The adventure starts at the check-out. No waiting in line with the common riff-raff for these SuperElite passengers, we ... ahem, I mean they... get their own special set of counters. And apparently, this privilege extends to their travelling companions, namely me. No problems at the counter, but we had some rough spots later on.
You see, not all the common folk understand the ways of the SuperElite. For instance, we (;-)) have our own customs/immigration line (you wouldn't want us to stand in line with _them_ now, would you?). As we were speeding past a ridiculously long line-up, one irate woman (who actually had the guts to say anything) spoke up and said, "Where do you think you are going??!!". After some explanation, she understood that 'we' had our own door to immigration. The same goes for the security guard who wouldn't let me in because I did not have a SuperElite guard. She wasn't convinced by Wayne's explanation that I was his travelling companion. But she let me through once she spotted the 'Priority Baggage' ticket on my luggage.
The real fun begins when you get to the Maple Leaf lounge, only for SuperElite passengers. No screaming kids, florescent lights, or uncomfortable seats in the waiting lounge. Inside the lounge is a quiet atmosphere, with soft lighting, and, of course, only the SuperElite like us. :-) You can help yourself to a drink (coffee, juice, pop, and yes, even the 'hard stuff'), and a snack. Both Wayne and I had the chocalate gelato. Folks, next time you're in the Maple Leaf lounge, you really must try it; it's divine. ;-)
Reality, however, is not far away. Sooner or later, you have to leave the Maple Leaf lounge. And SuperElite does not mean First-Class :-), which means that we were once again sitting in the cramped airline seats that we knew too well. The flight was rather uneventful except that we took off an hour late, and the movie (Down To You) was awful. (Wayne, did you have better luck on the flight back?)
Before we knew, the lights of San Diego appeared in our cabin windows and we were touching down. It was a warm 72 degrees (22C) at 10pm, and I was impressed at the palm trees at the airport. (True, I live in Northern California, and we get our fair share of palm trees ... but it doesn't seem as natural as it did in San Diego).
After picking up our luggage, we hopped on the Hertz bus to get to the rental place. This is where we met the mysterious woman who was to guide us for the next seven days. She told us that she knew all the back streets, how to get on the freeway, and all the 'Places of Interest'. Yes, we were skeptical, but then she told us she was 'never lost'. :-)
Before you let your imagination run wild, let me clear the air and tell you that 'she' was a GPS system for the car... very cool, and she stayed to her name (most of the time).
Let me tell you, Wayne and I have quite a few suggestion for those NeverLost people. The first was the user interface (they obviously haven't taken Ergo). But I digress... We punched in Wayne's uncle and aunts' address, and off we went. We successfully got onto the 805 freeway (or was it I-5?), but we got off on the wrong exit. No matter, NeverLost got us to whether we wanted to go... almost. We got really close but it had a hard time with the number of the street address. After resorting to directions that Wayne's uncle had given, we found our way to their house. Directions 1, NeverLost 0. (OK, maybe they tied.)
Wayne's uncle and aunt had a house in a new housing development on the outskirts of San Diego (which is still only 20 minutes from the center of town). They were waiting up for us (it was 11pm!) and when we went inside, it still had the new house smell. Mmmmm.... :-)
The plan for Monday was to visit the (world-famous) San Diego Zoo, and perhaps hit the beach, if we had time. After grabbing breakfast at the local supermarket (we couldn't find the bagel place), we headed to the zoo (help by NeverLost, of course). The zoo was great ... we ended up seeing a lot of birds, though. Interesting things we saw: A peacock that spread its feathers for us. A fishing bird (like a crane) eating a mouse! (It took the bird several tries to swallow the rodent WHOLE!) Very cute giraffe-babies. Really, really amazing and colourful birds. Lots of snakes. Wayne wanted more fierce creatures and animal drama. Both of us agreed that all the animals must be pining for wide, open spaces. It's not as bad as a circus, but zoos make me sad sometimes.
We finished with the zoo at about 5:30. Next stop the beach. Wayne's uncle had suggested a Torrey Pines beach. It was slightly foggy and cool as we got there, and both of us were a bit disappointed with the beach. Sure, there were a few surfers and children playing in the water, but it seemed quite sedate. I was fascinated by the lifeguards, driving up in their Jeeps and warning swimmers and surfers about dangerous riptides where they were swimming, and that they should move 50 yards where it was safer. Just like on Baywatch. (More about Baywatch later. ;-))
Wayne and I decided that we should drive south along the ocean and find some better beaches. And eventually we did... But as we were driving along, we happened upon UC-San Diego (incidentally, where Wayne's LA cousin, whom we would meet in two days, goes to school). After checking out the sights, such as the really cool library building, we were on our way to Pacific Beach Park. At least, that's what we punched into NeverLost. It so happens that 'Pacific Beach' was a town, and the 'park' was nowhere near the ocean. Close enough. We found our way to the ocean, and by the time we parked, we were in the Mission Beach area. This was more like it. This beach was quaint little ice cream stores, lots of beach-front rental properties, roller-bladers, bikers, joggers, walkers, college students, high-schools kids, grand-parents, and, last but not least, babes. We had arrived. :-)
Alas, the sun had set, and it was getting late, and we decided to have dinner at the Fire House Grill. We vowed that we would be back to the beach. The Fire House Grill was the start of a string of bad-luck that Wayne and I had with slow service in restaurants. It tooks us an hour-and-a-quarter to get our meals AFTER we ordered. However, they had free-refills. And I learned that an important feature that Wayne always looks for in a restaurant: free refills. My pink lemonade was good (the 3 glasses that I had!), and the dinner was 'ok'. ('Not returnable', on our restaurant rating scale.)
The next morning, we managed to find a bagel place (Einstein Bros.). 'Returnable', according to Wayne. And we were off to SeaWorld. That was the plan, anyways. Twenty minutes later, after a short drive on I-5, we pulled into the SeaWorld parking lot, paid $7 for parking and got in line. What happened next is a bit foggy, but the conversation went something like...
Me: "It's $40 bucks ..."The next thing I remember, we are pulling out of the parking lot, and Wayne is cursing about $7 parking.
Next stop: Mission Beach. Coming up next: Raccoon Eyes. To be continued.... Part II