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I enjoyed my time in San Diego.

I just don't think San Diego enjoyed me.


Record high temperatures, numerous wildfires, insane winds....

I think I should stay out of California for a while.

SAN DIEGO WILDFIRES

I was in Los Angeles for two hours in March before they had the first significant earthquake in several years.

Now I'm in San Diego, and there are something like nine major wildfires surrounding my daughter's home.

I feel like the bearer of ill tidings.

We aren't all the close to the major fires, but there is smoke on every horizon and in every direction. It's enough to make one feel uncomfortable, but not enough to begin packing our stuff.

YES, THERE IS AN EASIER WAY TO GET THERE, BUT...

This morning we all scrunched into the Prius to drive to the airport to drop my daughter and son-in-law off to catch their flight to Hawaii for a week.

And I nonchalantly was taking notice of the route my son-in-law was driving to be able to follow it on the return trip.

I'm pretty good at getting somewhere after I've been there once before, and while I haven't driven here in quite a while, I'm pretty familiar with the area.





I only began to panic slightly when he turned onto the first freeway going what I was certain was the COMPLETELY the wrong direction - heading east instead of west.

And about the third highway change, I was truly getting a bit terrified - how could I possibly return this way, when it seemed out-of-sync with all the ways I had been before?

After bragging about my internal compass and great ability to mimic any route, I simply could not eat crow and admit I was completely turned around.

Thank God for MapQuest.

And once I got on the main freeway and realized I could get home simply that way (albeit a few miles out of the way), I relaxed and got the grandkids and me home safely.

RUNNING AWAY... AGAIN

I like vacations, but not like most people enjoy vacations.

At least to me, most vacations seem to be packing up a lot of your own stuff, dragging this stuff to a hotel or resort or cruise liner or someplace near a body of water.


You then unpack all of it, become involved with complete strangers over games of chance, stand in long lines waiting for entertainment, purchase expensive tokens, souvenirs, and fast food.


Then you pack everything back up and return home to unload your dirty laundry plus a whole lot of sand from the beach.

My main considerations for a vacation?

Where am I going to sleep, and how comfortable is the bed, and what books am I going to read as I lounge in aforementioned resting place.

Forget going anywhere; I'm just happy to hang.

Of course, everything about this upcoming vacation is (fortunately) turning into somewhat of a normal-what-everyone-else-does vacation.

I am planning on going to Disneyland.

I am going to insist I get my toes at least wet in the Pacific Ocean - I have been landlocked too many years now in Arizona.



And I am going to stand in as long a line as necessary for as long as necessary to see the "Star Trek: Into Darkness" premier (and yes, it is to see Benedict Cumberbatch).



But hopefully the rest of it will simply be hanging with my daughter and grand-kids at home.