Well, here we go again, beginning another adventure, which turned out to be a bit longer than we usually undertake. Late summer usually has us thinking of cruises to Alaska and Hawaii. But this year, HAL offered another South Pacific itinerary that really appealed to us. Aptly named "Tales of the South Pacific", we booked this 51 day cruise, with a two day stay in San Diego. We will have a 12 day break in December to take care of a million things at home, including the holidays, then head off January 1st for the 128 day Grand World Voyage. It is exhausting just thinking about it, as it has taken much planning to make it work smoothly. So far, we're off to a good start with the unexpected news from our travel agent yesterday that we had been given a complimentary upgrade from our outside room to a veranda. Miracles do happen. And it came at a good time, since the situation at home in California has been bleak recently. The dry weather conditions, mixed with low humidity and high winds has prompted power outages. At the time we left home, there had already been two phone calls from the power company warning us of blackouts that would begin Saturday evening. News about the many fires in the state have been beyond disturbing as well. Perfect time for us to leave, we guess.
In August this year, we experienced a weekend of wild fires (arson-started), which closed our roads for two days. During that time, a doe had a fawn on our place, which is something that occurred once before this. So we have had a border, with the fawn staying within the safety of our fence, and the doe visiting to take care of her baby. It has been fun watching her grow and forage for the acorns from the oaks. She (we assume the fawn is a girl) has been joined by a large buck, who sustained an injury. He took refuge in our place too, rested for a week, then was on his way. Both animals, as well as several of their buddies have become almost tame as they allowed us to approach them with no fear. We do hope by the time we return, they will be gone and doing their thing elsewhere where they can find more feed. Once winter hits, there is little to sustain them.
Much to our surprise, as our driver picked us up at 4:30am, we found that the main road had sustained a water leak that undermined the street. A crew was working in the dark fixing this leak, making it necessary to reduce the traffic to one lane. Good thing this was taking place on Saturday, and not during the commute work week. These things can never be predicted, sort of like Murphy's Law. In all of the forty years we have lived here, this is the first time to experience these conditions. If this helps to prevent more devastating fires, then this will be the new normal.
Back to our journey, the ride to SFO was just over an hour. Lucky again, we had both gotten the TSA pre-check, which worked well for one of us. But with the new knee brace, one of us got the xray and closer scrutiny. Wanded and swiped, I passed with flying colors. All went off according to schedule, and we arrived to San Diego before 10am. It had to be warmer here than at home….more like summer, and not autumn.
Our hotel for the next two days is located within a few blocks of the cruise terminal. Today, the Star Princess and Eurodam were in port, so the activity in downtown was noticeable. Requesting early check-in, we were given a room immediately, instead of waiting until 4pm. Nice, since we had been up since 3am, and needed to relax for a bit. But only for a little bit. With some shopping we needed to do, we were off to get the job done.
But first, after discovering the Westfield Mall was being re-modeled, and only a few stores were opened, we searched the Gaslight District for a suitable restaurant for lunch. Highly decorated for Halloween, we found the Sign of the Whale, a sports-type bar, was perfect. And besides, they had specials on ice cold beer today. Sharing a burger, we enjoyed watching the locals arriving dressed as witches for the occasion. This must be the weekend for parties. Even the pet dogs were decked out as pumpkins and ghouly ghosts.
We did find the local pharmacy with the directions from our waiter, and found most everything we needed. Looking forward to some down time after the long walk today, back at the hotel, we did some emailing and TV watching. By 6pm, we headed out for dinner at Claim Jumpers, a few blocks away. We ordered our favorite salads while watching the Eurodam leave the scenic harbor. The sun was setting as we finished our meal, ending a nice, but busy long day.
More tomorrow…..
Bill & Mary Ann
