SD, CA - Hits and Misses

Great minute by minute plans for the day, and, as we all know, the best laid plans....

Up at 4:30. OMG, why in the world would two retired duffers get up at 4:30? Darned if I know. Well, yes, I do. My Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Fred are on a 2-week cruise to Hawaii which arrives here tomorrow at 6:00 and debarks after 8:00 sometime. Since we two landlubbers have never been on a cruise and have never seen someone off on one nor welcomed anyone back from one, we thought it would be a great adventure meeting them when their ship came in.

Of course, Gary and I live in a world long past, when we could greet people arriving by plane or boat right when they debark. Wrong. Remember the excitement of watching a plane land, taxi to the airport, and the passengers coming through the gate? Long gone. Actually, when I last spoke with my aunt, I didn’t even think of meeting them when they got in and calling by cell would be roaming charges since they are at sea. So, we were just hoping they’d come through the gate where we stood. Is this all pie in the sky? Sure is. But, it’s worth a try.

Here’s the plan:

        4:30                up - but I can’t guarantee awake

        5:45                at the harbor watching the ship gliding silently by with its lights aglow

        6:00                at the pier watching it dock

        7:00                walk to Panera - you knew we’d get the sweet treat in, now, didn’t you

        8:00 +            back at the pier to welcome them in

Here’s the reality:

        4:30                up, awake, dressed and off.

        5:45                OOPS, the ship is almost into the pier but we could see its last moments gliding in.

        6:15                at the dock, this ship is huge with 936’ in length as it towers over us. Meanwhile, we learn that the passengers will probably get through customs after 8:30.

        7:15                at Panera having our coffee and bear claw. We must be here earlier than we usually get to Panera since this bear claw tastes like it just came out of the oven. But, have I ever had a bad bear claw at Panera? Never.

        8:30                 OOPS, back at the pier we wait around a bit and then see that the passengers are leaving the ship and heading into the customs area. We stand where the passengers must come through and wait. Lots of taxis surge in and slowly we realize that Marilyn and Fred will probably take a taxi home and we might miss them. Here’s the pricing sign on the side of a cab. What is a 1/14th of a mile? Probably about one rotation of a taxi tire.

        8;45                we head over to where the taxis exit the pier area, thinking we can at least wave to Marilyn and Fred as they are whisked out by a taxi.

        9:00                AHA, finally we have a good idea: we call Fred’s cell phone, speak to them and learn that their debarking time is 10:30. we offer to give them a ride home and they agree.

        9:30                we arrive back at our RV, empty the back of the car, change clothes since it is considerably warmer now, talk with the ducks and head back to the pier.

        10:05        OOPS, Fred calls and they are on the pier waiting for us.

        10:15        we arrive back at the pier, pick them up and head to their home.

Well, looks like a few things didn’t work according to plan - mainly because we didn’t know the San Diego cruise procedures. But, hey, we saw the ship gliding in, we saw passengers debark and we got Fred and Marilyn home. Knowing that they wanted to unpack, get their mail, grocery shop, etc. we left them and headed to the beach. Natch.

Here, we tried to read the newspaper but it was a bit too windy for the newspaper and we headed down the beach to get our walk in. Temps in the high 70’s, sunny, Saturday, and the beach, the sidewalk, the shops and the restaurants were all packed. What fun.

And, that was our day. Hits and Misses. But, as my brother-in-law says, a day on the beach in San Diego is always better than a day in the snow in Iowa.                 

Now, it’s 9:00 and we’ve been up since 4:30 - am I tired? Zonked is better like it. I shire hep I con’t make any spilling ertors.