Weekend Away

Like my daddy told me when I was 18 - get your bags and get out

This weekend I went to L.A. to spend time with Eric alone without children which we haven't done for longer than a night in about 6 years. I dropped the kids off at their older sister's house and she dropped me off at the airport. I have never flown Southwest before and was unprepared for the circus like atmosphere. First my flight was delayed for 4 hours. Then the gate kept changing and the time the flight would leave kept changing. No problem, I had no where to be on a Thursday so I settled in to read my book. After 4 hours I got to experience the weird boarding ritual of Southwest. In the confusion I accidentally let 30 people board ahead of me because I couldn't figure out where to stand. With two Southwest flights boarding at the same time and neither flight attendant announcing which flight she was calling instructions for and the fact the gates and times had changed there were people in the wrong line on both flights. I was happy when I got on the flight and actually found a seat. Then the jokes began from the flight attendant - the phrase noted above was the last thing she said as we got off the plane. It was so nice to reach L.A. and get off the plane. I wish I could say I would never fly them again but since they are inexpensive - I will.

You Should Always Carry a Map

When my husband was done with work we went to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. We stood in line for two hours and had terrific seats. The guests were Kevin Spacey and Jesse McCartney. They were both entertaining. After we left the show we decided to spend some time on Hollywood Blvd to avoid the traffic on the way back to our hotel. We stopped to get some french fries and directions. There was man who had been in the studio audience at the show so Eric chatted with him and asked directions. After giving directions the man said to my husband "You should always carry a map - that way you know where to go". I chuckled to myself while getting my french fries. After that we made fun and used the phrase whenever it fit. We never did purchase a map and upon leaving Hollywood Blvd - I rolled down my window and ask a kind gentleman next to me directions back to the 405. We ate dinner at 10:00 pm - extremely late for us! We were at least 20 years older than everyone else in the bar/restaurant and we had fun people watching.

You Idiots! Stock Up at the Dollar Store!!

On Saturday we walked to the beach and spent time playing in the waves and getting some sun. On our walk a man who appeared to be homeless kept yelling to us that we needed to stock up at the dollar store- more helpful advice. We didn't know exactly what we should be stocking up for and what we needed to stock up but we did try to steer clear of him on the way home. At the beach Eric was called out of the ocean by a beautiful blond life guard when apparently he strayed into surfing area. 5 minutes later she put up the all clear yellow flag and pulled the surfers out of the water. We were so confused about the flags and where we could swim. We just tried to swim where we saw other swimmers. We walked along the pier and Eric enjoyed talking to locals about fishing.

A Pod of Dolphins

Early Sunday morning we went to the pier to see the ocean one last time. While we were there watching swimmers in the distance we noticed a pod of dolphins. We watched them for all most an hour. It was fun to watch when the dolphin's path intersected with a swimmers path, a little head would pop out of the water in surprise and then you would see them sit for second until the dolphins had passed. The dolphins also continued in closer to shore and some of the surfers had a close up as well. One of my favorite books is Grayson by Lynne Cox her descriptions are so vivid I can just imagine these swimmers must see some wonderful sights and although I am afraid of deep, dark water, I all most wished I was out there swimming - just to see the dolphins.

My favorite part of the trip was spending time with my husband as if it were one long date. I made a goal to squeeze in more hang out time into our hectic lives. It's nice to be home again.