Sunday 20 April 2008

San Diego (Arrival)

We didn't go away one Kerri's last week off so we were itching to get out traveling again. With Canada and the northern parts of the US still being ravaged by the last throws of winter, San Diego seemed to make sense.

The Friday night before we left for San Diego bought a driving snow and by the time we left for Calgary airport on Saturday morning, the roads were a mess. We'd been trying to call a cab since Friday evening but we couldn't even get through. I ended up driving to the airport through driving snow and parked at a long term car park. It was awful! -8 C and snowing like nothing I've seen here all winter. The predictions were for the snow to continue until Tuesday at least.
Our plane had to be de-iced, and after the anti-freeze was hosed on, the plane was fluro green.
We were lucky to get away because they grounded a few flights later that day.
We made it to San Diego without further incident. Stepping off the flight I was immediately aware of heavier air. I've become used to the rarefied atmosphere in Calgary and the change in air pressure at sea level was quite noticeable.
We checked into the hotel which was really nice and the view was excellent (above). San Diego was having an uncharacteristically cold and overcast morning, but we were just happy to be away from the horrible weather of Calgary. The cold weather didn't last. We had a bit of a look around for the afternoon. I didn't realize how much I had been missing the ocean until we took a walk along Pacific Beach in front of the hotel.