Vacation '06: The good the bad and the ugly

We just got back from the big Spring Break Vacation in California. Clark had some business thing in San Diego in the beginning of the week last week, and had expressed his interest in us coming out with him quite some time ago, and after we realized that the trip lined up perfectly with Madeline's spring break, we decided to extend it a bit and make it a real live vacation. Here's your recap.

Monday afternoon the kids and I flew out to San Diego (Clark had flown out the day before to get some of that business stuff done). The flight was a piece of cake. Clark (bless his heart) had taken the carseats and some of the heavier stuff with him, so I didn't even have to haul ridiculous amounts of luggage into the airport with 2 kids in tow. It was a nonstop flight, just under 2 hours, and the kids were great for the whole thing. We got to the hotel, which was GORGEOUS, with no problems. If you ever get the chance, I highly reccomend the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego. It was a treat. Even though it was too chilly to get in the pool, and I didn't set foot on the beach, which was literally right next to the hotel, it was great to fall asleep listening to the waves.

Tuesday the kids and I went to the San Diego Zoo after walking all over Coronado island looking for breakfast. I was in the mood for REAL breakfast, like with protein, not just a muffin or some crap like that, so we walked clear down to where the concierge suggested, only to find it closed, then walked clear back and settled for the bagel place directly across the street from the hotel. Whatever. The zoo was awesome, and the kids were decent. Or, to be more precise, Madeline was a dream, and Zach was slightly less whiney than he's been on an almost constant basis lately. I used to live in San Diego when I was in kindergarten and part of 1st grade, and I got a little choked up walking into the zoo, and remembering being there as a little kid. It was great to be able to share that with my kids.

Wednesday, we headed up the coast to Anaheim and Disneyland. Since we hadn't been sure when we'd get up there on Wednesday, the original plan had been to just do one day in Disneyland on Thursday. We lucked out though, and got on the road at a decent time, then the Disneyland Hotel had our room ready at noon (four hours earlier than official check in time), so we decided to charge over to the park Wednesday. I think I was more excited than the kids. We did "Small World" first, barely had to stand in line at all, and the kids loved it. I was a little less impressed with the "Toontown" area, which was new since I'd been there. After riding the train over to the new Winnie the Pooh attraction, and then walking back to Main Street for dinner, Zach was done with Disneyland for the day, so he and Clark went back to the hotel, and Madeline and I stayed out for the parade, a few more rides, and the fireworks. Between the parade and the fireworks we spent probably two hours sitting on our asses on concrete, which wasn't exactly comfy, but it was worth it. Madeline and I rarely get to spend time like that together, just the two of us, and to get to hold her on my lap and listen to her ooh and aah over watching Tinkerbell fly over Cinderella's castle was priceless. All in all a good luck day, especially considering that Clark ran into one of his best friends in line at the front desk of the hotel. He was at a conference there and was checking out when we were checking in, and neither of them had any idea the other would be there. We didn't get any time to hang with him, but it was wild running into him like that.

Thursday our luck started to change. Madeine and Clark got up and headed over to the park first thing, and Zach and I packed up the room. We had only managed to get one night at Disneyland hotel, which was a little bit of a bummer, but we were rolling with it. Right as we were getting ready to hunt down breakfast, my phone rang. It was Clark. Apparently his boss thought it would be a good idea to schedule a Very Important Meeting right in the middle of our vacation. Don't ask me why (I have my theories). So, Clark is IN Disneyland WITH his little girl, making calls on his Blackberry to try and rearrange our hotel and flights so that he can go to this meeting. Then, the Blackberry dies. So, he has to LEAVE Disneyland WITH Madeline to hunt down his charger (which was in the car in the hotel parking lot), go back to the room (where he just missed Zach and I), and reschedule the rest of our trip around his boss's whim. Turns out that while it was a Very Important Meeting, it was not, in fact, a Very Urgent Meeting, and it totally could have waited for next week sometime.

We spent the rest of the day in Disneyland, after making a pact not to speak of the boss or the meeting so that the kids could enjoy the rest of their Disney experience. They had fun, we kept our seething anger to ourselves, and late afternoon, early eveningish, we headed back down the coast a ways to Laguna Beach. We stayed at Laguna Beach on our way to Clark's dad's memorial service about a year and a half ago, and had a really nice experience, so we thought it would be cool to spend the night there on our way back to San Diego to fly home. Unfortunately, we couldn't get booked into the hotel we had stayed at that time, so we tried a different one. Big mistake. It was bad, real bad. They had us (a family of four) booked into a teensy tiny room with a king and the worst, most uncomfortable pull out couch I've ever encountered. Not to mention it was on the half basement level, sandwiched snugly between the parking garage and the Pacific Coast Highway (the highway was literally like 20 feet from the back windows of the room, wheels screaming by at eye level). Add to this the fact that it was dirty, and dingy, and there was nasty hair in the shower, and we got to listen to our next door neighbors doing it (loudly) while trying to get to sleep. Lovely. Unfortunately they were booked full, so a different room was not an option. We did, however, get into the lovely Inn at Laguna Beach for the next night. (Since we had to stay an extra night for the meeting) Anybody keeping track here? That's 4 hotels in 5 nights.

Clark had to get up early to go to the Very Important Meeting, leaving me with the kids, and no car, to pack up and get to the other hotel (which was made even more enjoyable by the fact that I got my period that morning and had raging cramps). After walking (FOREVER) to get breakfast, we checked out of the nasty hotel and gathered our things to head over to the nice hotel, hoping we could possibly get an early check in, since we had no where to go while waiting for Clark to get back. We were planning to take a cab over to the other side of town, but apparently, there were NO CABS available in Laguna Beach at that particular moment, and wouldn't be for about an hour. The lovely woman at the front desk (yeah, that's sarcasm) suggested we take the bus, and probably had no idea how close she was to getting kicked in the teeth by the hormonal, angry woman with no car, lots of luggage, and 2 kids in tow. The manager of the hotel ended up driving us in his car to the other hotel, which was nice of him, I guess. He had the nerve to ask me why we were leaving his hotel, and I told him in the most polite way I could manage, little ears being present and all, that the room they saddled us with was completely unacceptable, and gross, and we were OUTA THERE!

While we didn't get an early check in, it was heavenly to be in the nice hotel where people were accomodating and things were clean. They checked our bags, took my cell phone number and said they'd call as soon as the room was ready. So, we were stranded. Granted, there are worse places to be stranded than Laguna Beach, but I was so tired and cranky I would have sold my body (or part of it anyways) for a place to lie down and some cartoons to keep the kids occupied for a bit. We ended up walking down the beach to the playground where the kids blew off some steam, then lunch, and a quick phone call to Stine who was gracious enough to listen to my ranting, which really did make me feel better, a little ice cream, and as if on cue, the front desk called right after the ice cream bowls hit the trash can.

The rest of the trip back was up and down. Turned out we didn't have a nonstop flight back to Albuquerque the next day, so I ended up being late to my yoga class which was the icing on the anger cake as far as the boss and the meeting and what have you, since that was the ONE thing I had asked to be accomodated on schedule-wise. There were toilet issues in the hotel requiring a maintenance guy with a plunger trying not to wake the sleeping children. I didn't notice the sign at the airport saying that any undeveloped film or film still in the camera would be destroyed if left in checked bags until AFTER checking the bag with the camera containing the Disneyland family pictures. (That one almost made me cry, right there in the middle of the airport) BUT, the flight was a piece of cake as far as the kids went, and we got home safely and without too much grief.

WHEW.

Overall we all had a great time, and I'm really glad we did it. All travel has some travail involved, and ours was mostly manageable. Gone long enough to be glad to be home. Isn't that why we need to go away sometimes, really? To appreciate what we've got? After the 3 hours of yoga I did directly after getting off the plane, and taking the kids to their weekly apres-yoga pizza outing, I sure was glad to see my house and my bed again. I also definitely know how lucky we are to be able to just go like that when the opportunity arises, even though the credit card will be feeling the damage for a long time still.

I am planning to post about my yoga happenings, hopefully sooner rather than later, many exciting things going on with that, but it does take up some time.