I didn’t hear Little Drummer Boy this morning. Instead, we woke up at 9:00am to Jim Morrison singing “Riders On The Storm,” because that’s Eric’s cell phone ringtone. He keeps getting calls asking about some buffet. “What time does the buffet open?” “What street is the buffet on?” We don’t even know where the buffet is, but considering Eric has a “718” area code, it’s probably in Queens and they’re calling San Diego!
I couldn’t fall back to sleep, because all I could think of was that I had a million errands to run before picking Scott up at the airport and I should probably get up. I did, and got right into the shower, which is VERY unusual for me. I left the house by 10:30am and went first to the dry cleaners and then to KEILS to do our food shopping. Eric was going mountain biking with the RV and by the time I got back at 11:00am with all the packages, he was already gone.
I put everything away and then left the house again. I wanted to go to the card store, because I have a lot of occasions coming up this month, including my Dad’s 80th Birthday (6/11), my parents’ 57th anniversary (6/17), our 24th anniversary (6/16), Father’s Day, Eric’s birthday, 6/26, and my nephew, Steven’s birthday (6/28).
After I bought all the cards at the card store, I headed to Starbucks and then straight to the airport. I got there at about 12:20pm. Scott’s flight was arriving at 12:30pm. I drove around “the circle” a few times and then picked a spot to park (which I knew was illegal). After around 10 minutes a woman chased me away, so I went to the other end and did the same thing. I was expecting Scott’s cell phone call any second, but now it was almost 1:00pm and he hadn’t called yet.
The second time I got chased away I told the guy I was waiting for a friend and his flight must be delayed. He said there was a “breach in security” and they had shut the terminal down. No planes were coming or going. Great!
I decided to leave, because I had forgotten Betty (our GPS system) and was planning to go back to the apartment with Scott after I picked him up, but I figured I’d save time. The airport is really just 10 minutes away, and since I knew there was going to be a delay, I figured I had the time.
Scott called just as I was going up the stairs to the apartment. I didn’t tell him where I was because I didn’t want him to feel bad that I had already been there and had gone home. He told me he was at the gate, but they wouldn’t let them off for at least 45 minutes. I was happy I had decided to come home! I got Betty, looked up the address of Hotel Del Coronado on the computer (that’s where we were heading after I picked him up) and then had a little snack (I had breakfast at 9:30am and it was now after 1:00pm, so I was starving!)
I got back to the airport around 1:30pm and Scott still hadn’t called. I went to a “cell phone parking lot” where you can wait for a call and then drive just 2 minutes to the terminals. I brought my DICK FRANCIS novel with me (good thing) and waited. I finally picked him up at around 2:30pm!
We went straight to Coronado Island. First, we parked the car and had calzones at a little pizza place with a back yard café. We were both starving and wanted something fast, so we could go to the hotel. Scott wanted to treat me to lunch and offered to go to a restaurant in the hotel, but I know they’re just tourist traps and we’d pay 3x what the food was worth. This was fast, delicious, and satisfying and didn’t break the bank!
We then drove to the hotel, parked the car, and walked on the beach. It was a gorgeous day and the beach was busy with surfers, sunbathers, families having picnics, couples canoodling, and tourists (like us) taking photographs.
We went into the Hotel Del Coronado and I showed Scott around. It’s really such a fabulous hotel – 120 years old – and he was very impressed with the architecture, character and history of the hotel.
After that we headed back to the mainland. Scott was exhausted, because he was on NY time and he had been up for a long time. I dropped him off at his hotel and I came back to the apartment. Eric was already napping and I happily joined him. We woke up at 7:00pm, took showers and went to pick Scott up at the hotel at a little after 8:00pm.
We took him to Pacific Beach to our favorite sushi restaurant – HAIKU. They gave us their usual warm greeting and we had a delicious meal of edamame, shumai, and four different rolls.
We were absolutely stuffed, so we skipped dessert. We told Scott we were taking him to Gelato Vero in Hillcrest, but first wanted to give him a chance to digest, so we drove down University Avenue and showed him some of the hot spots in Hillcrest.
Then we went to Gelato Vero and sat down to enjoy our gelato. Eric and I usually take it to go, so it was the first time we had been upstairs to their seating area.
By 11:00am Scott was exhausted – it was 2:00am his time – so we dropped him back off at the hotel and came home. I am going to the zoo tomorrow, so I don’t want to get to bed too late. I have some pictures from our day today, but I’m too tired to download them all, so please forgive me. I’ll try to put them on the blog ASAP!