Slept better (but than, ANYTHING would beat the "pseudo-sleep" of the train). Shared a bed with Tim. The tap water was absolutely VILE! (Tasted putridly of chlorine.) Made me want to barf. Mary called my cell early - we're on for Sunday. Megan called Hal - on for Saturday.
Charged the cell a little. Brushed teeth - doing it twice a day to try to get rid of sore front tooth. Last bathroom break. The others stopped at Taco Bell. I just had a bar (I think I'm still losing). Tim is having trouble with his jaw. Megan's water cup broke and doused her. I had a nice chat with the custodian cleaning the men's room.
Tim said a prayer for us. We got on 405 and were off to San Diego. Passed Rosecrans and Manhatten Beach. Megan showed off her memorizing abilities. Miranda "That's crazy!". Megan and Miranda would not let Tim and me tell Cheezer stories. We played "20 Questions Unlimited". Words were "Rainbow" (me); "Jail" (Tim); "Dragonfly" (Megan); "Animal Cage" (Miranda).
I napped and all of a sudden we were in San Diego. Steve called, wants to take us to exclusive Club 33 at Dizzy; has to lock in our reservations: is it real? Nice houses in San Diego; Tim wants to live here. Found our hotel; has elevator to 2nd floor. Room nicer and bigger, but not nearly as many features.
We went shopping at WalMart and Food4Less for mouthwash, kleenex, spring water, et. al. Our toilet wasn't flushing well, so the hotel moved us to another room 4 doors down. The air conditioner wasn't working well in that one, but we let it slide. Miranda and I went for a 30 minute walk. I got back and crashed (slept) until Ginger arrived.
EVENING WITH GINGER
Ginger came to our apartment at 6:00 pm. We visited for awhile and then all got in our car to go to dinner. We went to TGIFriday's. I had the fish & chips with baked beans. Everybody like their food and stuffed.
After dinner, Ginger directed us to the beach. We went to the waterfront, where kids were partying by the firepits. Tim took off his shoes and walked out into the water. Megan joined him, as she didn't want him to be alone. Miranda and I stayed back on the strand and talked to Ginger. She wanted us all to go out in the water, but I was cold and didn't want wet or sandy feet (usual wuss mode).
"Blob - 1" (Tim) and "Blob - 2" (Megan) came back. Miranda and Megan sat on a bench while Ginger, Tim and I got up close to the firepits. Before we left, Megan and Tim used the outdoor water sprays to get the sand off. Everybody loved the tall-trunked palm trees.
Ginger started teaching Tim French: "Il fait froid, aujourdhui". She told Miranda and me not to worry about his grades; "Maybe he'll invent something everybody wants, if not, you can be happy without money."
On the way back we were stopped by a policeman, but he was nice and let us off with a warning.
My Comments:
Because she gets car-sick easily, Miranda sat up front next to me for the whole trip. This put Bill and Tim in the back seat together, which wasn't entirely wise. Bill tended to revert to teenage humor and behavior. Not only did the two of them try to tell Cheezer stories (rude, revolting things), but they regaled each other with bathroom humor and Dad started throwing little bits of paper at Miranda, which irritated her highly once she noticed it. You think he'd know better!
I got back in touch with Meg, and Saturday was not on after all. They had a dinner appointment, so we just stuck with our Monday night plans. Visiting with Ginger was great. She has such a Pollyannish attitude and sees the best about everything. This rather annoyed Miranda because she was trying to tell Ginger about Tory's bad points, and Ginger kept twisting them around into good points.
I loved the beach. I was great to feel the waves wash over my feet, and Tim was very glad to have somebody out there with him. Bill explained to me that the terms "Blob-1" and "Blob-2" came from Ginger who was peering through the darkness trying to identify us while we were standing on the shore. I had forgotten how hard it is to walk on sand. It shifts under you with each step, and I was really a bit worried that I'd fall. Crawling through the sand to get to something that I could use to help me stand up was NOT something I wanted to go through.
The policeman just turned up out of nowhere. We were near a college campus of some sort, and Ginger had told me to turn right, which I did. The light was red, but there was no traffic at all. However, I didn't see the sign that said "no right turn on red", and that's what the policeman pulled me over for. Ginger apologized more than I did, and told the policeman it was entirely her fault (which it really wasn't). The policeman did the routine check to make sure my driver's license was legit, and then let me off with a warning and a bit of humor ("you're making me work too hard"). The rest of the trip back to the hotel was listening to Ginger talk about how absolutely wonderful that policeman was and that he was now her most favorite person in the world.
I forgot to take a picture of Ginger while we were together, so here is a picture of Ginger and her sister Carol that I took a few years ago. Ginger hasn't changed at all.
1 comment:
I love how I made the post even though I wasn't there. Apparently I was there in spirit, or Dad is seeing things in his old age.
That is hilarious about the paper pieces at Miranda. Dad is just a big kid at heart, and I could totally see Tyler doing the same thing. After all, you have to get creative when you are stuck in a car for a long time.
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