San Jose - first few days

I booked a hotel for a couple of days in San Jose. It seemed pretty cool and was close to the airport. I didn't know when Fred and our paths would cross so this was saved as a buffer to get caught up. Turned out (as you read from yesterday's post) that Fred arrived a few hours before Zac and I did.


The weather in San Jose was something to get used to. It was amazing, sunny but cool. The sun seemed...brighter and clearer. I was trying to imagine it most of the year...enjoyable but it could get boring (did I say that?).


The hotel room was a little small but it provided us a place to stay. Next door was I-Hop so that's where we had breakfast. Zac was very happy! I-Hop does offer some lighter dishes with fruit so that made Fred happy! I got something middle of the road...an omelet with added veggies and a fruit dish on the side.

We spent Thursday afternoon touring the Winchester Mystery House (photo from internet). Amazing tour guide that told about Mrs. Winchester and the house that she added on to year after year after year. Very cool house and story. I knew if my parents were there, my Mother would have taken the garden tour for sure!


Lunch was awesome in Santana Row at The Counter! This place was really cool! It was a neighborhood of restaurants and shops over a few blocks. Of course, because of the amazing weather, most of the restaurants had seating outside. The Counter http://www.thecounterburger.com/menu/ is a place where you custom build your burger! We each got handed clipboards with different sections on them. We chose the size of our burger, what it was made from, cheese, assorted toppings and bread. It's one of those places you would have to go back to many times to try different combinations :-) There is one in West Hartford, CT too!!

The pool at the hotel was way cool...actually it was way warm! Something I didn't expect but totally made sense. The outdoor pool was heated! With the air so cool, it was nice to swim in a pool that was warm! Zac and I enjoyed our swim in the pool.

On Friday, Fred and Zac went to California's Great Adventure. This is an amuzement park in Santa Clara. They left me the car in case I wanted to go somewhere. They took the hotel shuttle to the park. Zac's favorite ride was the Grizzly. This photo is from the internet. I don't think the boys took any pictures at the park. They came back earlier than I expected - I guess this park doesn't have anything on Six Flags back home :-(


I spent my morning/early afternoon alone...vacation-like pace getting ready. I spent a little time by the pool...talking to my sister Gayle...it was lovely! There wasn't anyone around, the sun was shining and it wasn't hot!


Made plans to head to Pacifica for the next couple of days.

Flight to San Jose...sounds simple enough...

My parents brought us to the Providence airport. I factored in WAY too much time...it was a long time to wait until our flight but it was nice to hang with Zachary :-) Note to self...be reasonable on the wait time.

We started with no problems with checking our luggage and getting through security. First thing...get something to eat. Zac spotted Johnny Rockets and was sold! Burgers were good! Starbucks was close by too :-)

We continued to wait, read and watch people. He said "Wouldn't that be funny if we saw someone we knew?" Well, funny enough, we DID see someone we knew. We saw our good friend Ivy from church! Her flight was delayed. She was tickled to see us too! We chatted briefly and then continued to walk around and wait for our flight.

Zac was lucky enough to catch the end of the US team at the World Cup match. It was neat to see so many people congregate at the bar/TV and route for the US team and then all cheer when Donavan scored the winning goal during stoppage time!!

Once we were on the plane, we listened to a little bit of music then we enjoyed a couple of movies. They started off light with Monsters, Inc (that was my choice) and then finished with Black Hawk Down (his choice). We landed in Phoenix fine. The next plane was delayed (from Chicago) so we stopped in a few shops. Turns out our flight was delayed about an hour and was overbooked by 6 people! So after finally getting 6 people to take the SW deal and not take that flight, we were off to Ontario...California that is. It was just a stop (we didn't need to get off). That was a full flight too. It was short and sweet to San Jose.

Do you know how big of an airport San Jose is?? Okay, getting our luggage was no problem but finding the shuttle to the rental cars was a bit of a challenge. I was tired, hungry, wanted to see Fred in the worst way and I couldn't find how to get to the rental car place :-( After talking to a few people, we found it. This huge shuttle bus stops at all the rental places and makes a loop. We picked out our car and we were on our way...so I thought. Getting out of the airport complex was easier said than done. Yes, we had GPS! But with roads closed and needing to reroute, I was now beyond frustrated. We finally got on the road to the hotel and I felt so much better.

Fred had checked into the hotel a few hours ahead of us. His ride across the US along the southern states was long, interesting and hot! He kept texting us to ask us when we would arrive! It was around 11 PM local time when we got to the hotel - our bodies thought it was 2 AM!!! We were all so happy to see each other after being apart for a week and a half! We chatted a little, hugged a lot and went right to sleep!

Too overwhelmed to write - experience before vacation

We all agreed we were going to spend some money on a family vacation...to California! We hadn't been there before and we were all looking forward to it for different reasons.

My husband was going to ride his motorcycle across the southern states and then my son and I would fly out after school got out. Fred had to do his own planning for his solo trip. He was busy looking at maps, talking to other bikers who ride distances and buying cool things for his trip. Zac was finishing up school taking final exams. We all talked about places to see in California and got some great input from other people. So much information!!!

Fred planned to leave on a date that gave him enough time to get to California somewhere around the same time that Zac and I would get there. Flights were booked along with a hotel for the first couple of days.
After that...we were going to go where the road took us...

In past vacations/adventures, I write about things that are going on and how I am feeling. But this time was very different! Work had kicked notches past overdrive and other things were busy too. I felt like all I could do was to get the next thing done. After Fred left, I was acting as a single parent. I have done this before but for very short periods of time - not a week and a half! I have so much respect for those single parents who have to make all the decisions about their kids and be the only parent present. This is a lot of responsiblity! It has made me more aware of how grateful I am (#1) to be in a happy, funtioning marriage and (#2) to have another adult to discuss family life and make decisions together! There were also moments where I enjoyed being alone with Zac. He is such a great kid!

I did get intentional on what was important to get done. I felt like I made good decisions to let "extra" tasks either slip or ask someone else to do them. I had over a week to practice letting things go that weren't priority and keeping focused on things that were important. I was pleasantly surprised at how focused and productive I was! I think the thing that kept me going was that it was temporary and at the end was seeing Fred on our family vacation...

This picture is one I pulled off the Internet...it reminded me of what I was working for...