December 29, 2007: Day 1 – Winging our way to Long Beach (no, not on Vancouver Island!)

Was a long, long day. That damn alarm went off at 3 am! We dragged our weary bodies out into the frosty air and drove down to Victoria. Thank goodness the roads were decent and we made good time. Our flight left on time, 6 am, and holy crap, was it ever a quick trip to Seattle. No sooner were we levelling off after taking off then we were preparing to land. After many shuttle trains about the airport, we found our gate, kissed Brynna goodbye as she went on her way, and had very little time which to sit down before our flight was called.

Due to extremely good tailwinds, our 2.5 hour trip became a 2 hour trip. I dozed during a lot of it but was able to see most of northern California out my window, very pretty. Long Beach Airport is definitely a blast from the past, it’s teeny tiny and you get off the plane on stairs and walk to the terminal and then outside to claim your baggage! Once we collected everything we caught a cab to the Hyatt. We got a harbourview room on the 5th floor, can’t see a lot of the harbour cause we’re lowish but we can see the Queen Mary, lots of palm trees, boat masts and the hotel pool.

We decided to walk about a bit, checked out the blocks closest to the hotel and then went to the Pike which we visited last time we were here. It’s an entertainment/shopping/restaurant area with a ferris wheel (like the killer one at the PNE) and a carousel. It’s very clean, pretty, touristy. We had a nice quick Mexican lunch, decided against a movie and instead spent time at Borders, the book store. Gary got movies, I picked up a couple of books and then had a latte at SBC. Back to the room for a nap, too tired to stay up much longer. Couldn’t sleep much, I’m so not a napper but at least I let my legs and feet rest.

We headed out for dinner around 6:30 pm, Bubba Gumps. We ate there last time, good food, ambiance. I had a blueberry lemonade made with blueberry vodka, yum! Followed by a Fishwich and a side of broccoli, it was so good.

After we got back to the hotel we just put on some tv and I crashed around 11, finally. Gary was playing with Sim Societies for a while then he too gave it up for the night.

It’s Sunday morning around 8 am as I write this and we’re going to get a muffin downstairs (can’t spoil our appetite for cruise food!) and then wait around until we can catch a cab to the pier, somewhere’s around 10:45. Aloha.