"Hi, Tricia!"
I'm a terrible blogger. There, I said it. There is something daunting about a blank screen that makes my brain freeze. Sure, I have things to say. Things I want to remember. Things I want to share. But getting those first words typed out is a major hurdle. One that causes me to click on a new tab and revisit somewhere familiar instead of starting anew. It's just not worth the stress, right?
Well, we just returned from an amazing trip and I want to remember it. I want to be able to go back and enjoy the details and images of it whenever I need a mental break. So, I'm back. Blank screen be damned.
The Backstory
My mother is 83 years old. She has had a series of health problems in the past year that put her in need of somewhat regular care. She has lived next door to me for several years, which meant she was close enough for me to do what she couldn't (laundry, household chores, some cooking, etc), but she was still relatively independent. Six months ago she came home from the hospital to my house instead of hers because she needed more daily "hands on" care. That was difficult for her, but also an adjustment for us. I won't bore everyone with the details, since I'm certainly not the only person in the world dealing with elder care issues. Suffice it to say that at some point, I needed a break. A real break. A more-than-the-four-hours-I-can-be-away-at-a-time break. In order to get a break, a few things had to happen. First, Brad & I had to figure out what we could afford (which involved a lot of airline miles accounts and hotel reward points) and where we could go. Well, actually, that was second. First, we had to get in touch with my siblings and see if they had dates available to spend time with Mom. She can't be left completely alone anymore, so that means juggling our schedule around hers... and working with what days/times the rest of my family had available. We quickly came up with a week that worked and it was the last one in June. The week leading up to July 4th, actually, but we were able to travel home on the 3rd. Okay, wait. That puts us back to planning where/how to go. Once we had date, we started looking at flights. I will be completely honest and say that I wanted to go as FAR away as our airline miles would take us. At this late date, there wasn't a lot to choose from, but there were several flights that would work to either Vegas or LA. We discussed options for a few minutes and I finally said, "If we fly to LA, does that mean I can go to Disneyland?" Brad just grinned.
Decision made.
Our boys have never been out west at all. I really wanted to see at least one national park, and my pick was "the one with the giant trees". Brad said, "Which one? The redwoods or the sequoias?" Well, hell. Don't give me a pop quiz. Let me strain my brain. "The redwoods are too far north, aren't they? We'd spend too much time driving. Aren't the sequoias reasonably close to LA?" After a quick scan of the map, yes. But scanning the map made Brad want to see Yosemite too. Okay, fine. Two national parks, plus Disneyland. We have a plan.
We were able to book flights that were decent. Not exactly what we wanted, but when you are using miles at the last minute, you take what you can get. We were using a combination of FF miles, credit card miles, and a companion ticket offer Brad has been saving for forever. It meant we had to book things in a really weird way and Brad & Daniel's tickets were linked, but mine and Joshua's were each an individual ticket. That will be important later. Brad spent hours finding hotels that would work that we could use our reward points for, but in the end it was worth it. I cleaned and washed and packed, doing all those required pre-vacation chores and then some (since I was having to prep for visitors here as well). It was all, seriously, worth it.
Wednesday, June 24th -
My brother was taking the first shift with Mom and his flight landed in the early afternoon. He rented a car and was at my house before 4 pm. We had dinner with him and Mom and then drove to our catch-a-couple-more-hours-sleep hotel near the airport. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 8:30am, which would have required leaving our house by 4am in order to park offsite, shuttle, check in, and make it through security. The hotel meant we could sleep until nearly 6am. Huge difference at that time of the morning, especially with the long day ahead. We showered, put on pjs, watched game shows (it's a family addiction), and went to sleep as early as we could.
Thursday, June 25th -
I need to change my phone alarm to something other than the one that sounds like the ship "battle stations" alarm. Talk about a wake up call! I'm surprised I wasn't clinging to the hotel room ceiling like a cartoon cat. But I digress.
We got up, dressed, and out in just under 15 minutes. That was the deal. They could sleep until the last minute, but no dragging when it was time to get up. Everyone cooperated.
We made it to our offsite parking, hauled our luggage on the shuttle, and were at the Delta kiosk by 6:30. We just couldn't use the kiosk. First, we were checking 2 bags, which should have been free since we are Skymiles Platinum. It wouldn't recognize that. Second, Joshua couldn't check in anyway because the system thought he was a minor traveling alone. Nope. He's in the seat next to his mom. Just had to book it separate because of the whole points thing. So we had to haul our collective selves to the counter for check in. Super nice guy figured out what was going on (I'm sure we aren't the first people in this situation) and he fixed everything in a matter of seconds. Bags checked, tagged and gone, and here are your boarding passes. Piece of cake.
Not a terrible line at the security checkpoint. The usual (mostly) business travel herd, but our wait was no more than 5-10 minutes. We've been in much worse in Atlanta. When we got to the desk, I had Joshua's boarding pass (he's next to me) and Brad had Daniel's. The TSA agent asked, "You Joshua?" He nodded, "Yes."
"Who is this?" and she points at me.
He just stared at her and then at me. "What do you mean?"
"What do you call her?"
"Ummm... Mom?"
"Okay then."
Daniel had much the same reaction. It's been a few years since our last flight and I forgot to prep them on the "are these your parents" questions. Ooops!
We had plenty of time before our flight boarded, which we had planned on, so we found a restaurant serving breakfast on our concourse.
You better enjoy that $10 waffle, kid!
Once we ate, we really only had time for a bathroom break and then it was time to start boarding the plane.
I wasn't really sure how the boys would do on a 4+ hour flight, but I wasn't too worried. They each had a book, so I knew they could pass the time.
Then the flight attendants provided the always entertaining beverage service.
I swear, these things make me feel like a giant. It should say "tiny pretzels" on the bag or something.
Somewhere over Texas. I think.
My screen would not respond to my attempts to zoom in, so I had to deal with guessing somewhat where we were. The touch screen didn't like my fingers or something.
Somewhere over Oklahoma. Probably.
We found the mountains!
Hello LAX. It's been awhile!
The Disneyland themed Alaska Air jet at the terminal across from us. A sign? I'll take that as one.
We collected our checked bags and shuttled to the car rental agency. It was a looooong wait for our rental, but we got the minivan we had reserved. They kept trying to talk us into an SUV or luxury car. Nope. We'll wait.
It was a white van. Who has white rental cars? Isn't that just inviting a mess? Whatever. Off we go, heading north!
I've heard nightmares about LA traffic. Granted it was only about noon on a Thursday, but it didn't seem that bad to me. But then I'm used to Atlanta traffic, so my gauge about what is bad and what isn't might be off? I dunno. Either way, we were moving. Anytime you are moving, to me, you are doing fine.
We stopped... somewhere. I'm not sure what city. Anyway, we found a shopping center and ate at a MOD Pizza. It was great and everyone was able to get what they wanted.
Brad & I were adventurous and tried new things. The boys? Not so much. Meat and cheese. But that's okay. It's vacation!
Daniel pointed out the frozen yogurt store two doors down, so we went there for dessert. Why not?
As many toppings as yogurt? Possibly.
We finished the drive to Dinuba, CA, where our first night hotel was booked. We spotted a Rite Aid and decided to grab a case of water and buy a small cooler for ice, then went to the hotel to check in.
It was 109 in the shade. Oh, but it's a dry heat, right? So is the inside of an oven, people! It was hot. As soon as the sun started going down, the temps dropped fast. Probably a 40 degree swing between the high and low for the day. That's more than I'm used to. Anyway, we grabbed a quick dinner at a local Chinese place that the desk clerk suggested and then crashed for the night. It was a long travel day.
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