I hadn’t given it much thought to do blog posts for my current California trip, but after the adventures on day 2 – I decided to go back to day 1 and record this trip for posterity! So here is day 1…
When I found out our union’s annual winter conference was scheduled for Orange County/Anaheim/Los Angeles again I started thinking about how I should make it a mini-vacation as well, including possibly doing activities with my friend Matt again (and his wife) and they’d be out in the Burbank area again. So I came out here 1 day early and am staying an extra day so I can have more fun! Here are the stories of those adventures.
Day 1 started with me getting up way too early to catch my flight out of Lansing to get to LAX. When I booked my flight I forgot that there are several airports in the LA area and picked the one farther away from my hotel, but it is just a chance to visit another airport! I finished packing in the morning and left on time to get to the airport and got there in plenty of time, as I always plan extra time – just in case. I get my bagged checked and go through security. I notice that they send my backpack down a special section of the security, and then they tell me I forgot to take my laptop out, so they had to do special screening on it. Oooops! The guy was really nice about the whole thing and even apologized for having to do it, but it was procedure. I didn’t mind a bit, I was the one that messed up, and it didn’t take too long. When I got to the gate I noticed that I had lost my FitBit somewhere. I went and asked security if I could leave and get something from my car and then go back in. I could, so I did, finally found my FitBit, on the sidewalk in the snow where a bag started falling off my shoulder and must have bumped it off.
Our flight was delayed first by the flight crew arriving late, then had to go through de-icing, and then had to sit and wait on the taxiway for them to fix some issue that caused an indicator light to turn on. Even with the delays we still arrived pretty much on time, I think they are really padding their times to give them lots of leeway. The rest of that flight to MSP and the flight from MSP to LAX were uneventful. I do need to remember to schedule longer layovers at airports as I like to explore airports when I travel, and didn’t have time to explore MSP again and stop and get Ben & Jerry’s!
Picked up my rental car with superb service from Enterprise once again, driving a nice Buick LaCrosse. Drove to my hotel without any problems, got checked in, unpacked, and relaxed for a bit. Then decided to head out to dinner and looked for close by Italian restaurants and picked out Marri’s Pizza and Pasta – a nice little local Italian restaurant. When I was there I heard another family come in and said they were there 19 years ago. I figured it must be a good place if someone remembered it from 19 years ago and wanted to come back. I then headed to a Ralph’s (CA’s Kroger) and Walgreens to buy some snacks and food for when I’d have to be eating on the run for my schedule. I then came back and went to bed a bit early so I’d be prepared for the adventures of day 2!