Day 1 - Off to California

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We’re off! The time has come again for another wonderful trip. The suitcases have been carefully packed, everything is as prepared as possible to leave the house, and our friends Ken and Terri Schmalbeck have taken us to the Airport. Elizabeth will be watching things at home so we can have a worry-free vacation. So let the good times begin!



Janet stayed up late last night to print boarding passes, and we were in Group-2 on both American Airlines flight. We arrived in plenty of time for our flight from St Louis to Dallas, which actually arrived 10 minutes early in Dallas. We connected to our flight to San Francisco without any problems, The first flight was only about 2/3 full but the second one was packed. So the main event today was simply getting to California, but it occurred smoothly and the luggage was here too. And the best part is that it cost 50$ for two suitcases, but the tickets were using frequent flyer miles instead of cash.



We had a Toyota Corolla reserved from Hertz and it was waiting for us with our name in lights above the car (we joined the Hertz #1 Gold Club). It is fine for these few days, but would be too small on a permanent basis. But it handled us and our luggage and we got to the hotel without any problems (just some California Rush Hour traffic).



The hotel is nice enough. We have stayed at Fairfield Inns before and it is pretty much what we expected. However they were having a Manager’s Reception this evening, so we got a glass or two of wine before going to dinner. Oh yeah, it is also using Marriott Rewards Points so it doesn’t cost any cash either.



We tried to find a Mexican Steakhouse for dinner, but when we got to the address it had changed to an Indian Restaurant. So we picked an alternate of Olive Garden which we knew what to expect. Janet had the Lobster Cannelloni and David had a steak. It was good and comparatively safe for the first night – we didn’t want to try anything too unusual and risk getting sick at the beginning of our vacation.



Now we are back in the hotel and the clock is actually 2 hours earlier than our sleepy heads. So this is about all for today..... sorry but we did not take any pictures today.

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