Spring Break part 2

Well, I loved San Diego so much that I decided we had to go again with Rachel and Erin. If we could afford it, I would move there in a second, but since that doesn't seem likely I guess I'll just have to settle for another visit. So on Monday, March 17th we caught the last plan out of Houston to start our spring break vacation. We had hoped to fly out earlier in the day, but the flights were really full and they weather was kind of yucky, so we were just happy to get out of town. When we got to San Diego it was late, so we went to our hotel, had a pizza delivered and called it night.

The next day we started exploring the coast. We drove out to Coronado and then to Cabrillo National Monument. This was so cool--beautiful views of San Diego and more of the unique San Diego coastline. We really enjoyed exploring the tide pools, although we were too early to see most of it as the tide was still in.

After Cabrillo, we headed to Mission beach where we had lunch at the same bar and grill Melissa and I ate at. No dolphins this time, but the food and the view were still wonderful. We then went down to the beach for some water time. Erin and Rachel were brave enough to get in the cold water. I promised Erin a boggie board if she got all they way in, and she did. She and Rachel had a good time playing in the waves, although they were covered with goosebumps when they were done. After laying in the sun for a little while to warm up, it was off to La Jolla and then to the temple. It was a great first day!

Our next day started off at the Zoo. The girls were amazed at how big the zoo was. We took advantage of the bus tour and sky ride to get from one end of the zoo to the other. After a couple of hrs, we headed out to our car for a picnic lunch, and then back in side to see the last of the animals. Erin loved the elephants of course (she wants to be an elephant keeper when she grows up), and Rachel really enjoyed the Panda bears and watching the Polar Bears play. I really liked the Meerkat exhibit this time--they are such cute animals! I think Greg just liked spending time with his girls. Once we finished at the zoo we jumped in our rental car and headed for Utah where we would spend our next couple of days. On the way we ate at In and Out Burger, something the girls had been wanting to do. The burgers were great, but the fries were the world's worst!

While in Utah we spent a couple of days with Grandma and Grandpa Jensen. The girls enjoyed seeing the sheep Grandpa is watching. We tried to find a sheeptail for Erin, (for sanitary reasons rubber bands are wrapped around the sheep's' tails to make them fall off) but were unsuccessful (which is probably a good thing since the thought grossed her out). We did get to see one that they had at the house, but that belonged to their cousin Josh, so they couldn't take it home (Dang it!).

We also took a drive out to Grafton Ghost town which was small but kind of interesting. We spent an afternoon hiking in Zions National Park. We hiked up to the Emerald Pools, which were really cool. Zions is so beautiful! It really made me miss the mountains. Rachel and Erin also got to spend an evening visiting with their friend LeAra. All in all it was a really fun stay.

We had originally planned to return our car in Vegas and fly home from there. Unfortunately all of the flights out of Vegas had closed up, and there was no way were going to be able to get out there. After doing some research on other possible departure cities, and well as a phone call to see how much it would cost to change our rental car return spot we decided the best course of action would be to return to San Diego. So we got up early Saturday morning and drove back to California, hoping to get out on the second to last flt with the last flt of the day as our back up if things didn't go as planned. Well, wouldn't you know it, things didn't go as planned. When we got to the San Diego airport we discovered that not a single passrider had gotten out the entire day and that there were 75 people on the list. We weren't at the bottom, but it really didn't look good for us. I started making calls to other airlines to see if anyone could get us to Houston, but was unsuccessful. Since it was spring break and Easter weekend, all the flts were full. So we waited for both Continental flights hoping that something would happen and we would be able to get on. The first one left without us. We were offered one seat on the second one, but I would have had to been the one to take it. That wasn't an option, because if I left, Greg, Rachel and Erin's seniority would drop and they might never make on a plane that weekend. So we were stuck in San Diego one more night. What a hardship! Luckily we had a Marriott coupon for a free night stay. I called them, asked for a room at a hotel with a airport shuttle, and we were off. We were settled in our hotel by around 2 pm and had the rest of the afternoon to play. We relaxed in our room for a while and then headed down to walk along the pier. We enjoyed some Greek food on the pier and had quite an enjoyable evening. I was even able to get AATO for the shift I was scheduled to work the next evening, so now we had an extra buffer if we were unable to get out on a flight on Sunday. That was a relief!

The next morning we headed to the airport hoping to get on a flight. There were several familiar faces of other passriders who had been stranded (some of them had been there two days already). One the first flight we were offered 2 seats, but once again had to turn them down as we had to stay together. But luckily there were enough seats for us on the next one, and we were able to make it home that evening. Not the best Easter Sunday I have ever had, but at least we made it home! And even with the difficulty on our return, it was a wonderful spring break!