Tuesday, September 6, 2011

San Diego Experience

Yesterday we went to San Diego to re-connect with a friend that I worked with 28 years ago in Orlando Florida. We went there in 1983/84 when Dick went through mid-life crisis when he was in his 40's. His so called "best friend" that he went to college with decided to take advantage of getting the right to build British hovercraft, which is a pleasure boat seating two people, that rides on top of the water. He talked Dick into going into business with him and they truly started from scratch. They had to find a big plant where they could manufacture these boats, and all the things that go with starting a new business kept the two of them busy for quite a while. Unfortunately Dick only had a 10% interest so he didn't have a whole lot to say. The whole mess was a bad decision that I may blog about later, but it is a long story. I just wanted to explain why we were in Florida to begin with. We were there 11 months and during this time I was the sole bread winner. We bought a home thinking we would be there for a long time. Dick didn't take any salary, so it was up to me. We also had a daughter in college that we had to send money to each month.





I got a job working for a CPA company and Ivette Rivera was the girl I met in that office. She was from Puerto Rico. We really hit it off even though she was lots younger than I, having recently graduated from college with a degree in Accounting. I was 54 so there was at least 20 or 22 years difference in our ages. That didn't seem to matter though as we really got along well.





I got an Email from her recently telling me she was going to be in San Diego this week, starting on Sunday. She was here for a conference that her company sent her to. She is a CPA now and tomorrow she gets her certificate for financial planning. Since she has been living in Puerto Rico for the last 20 years, needless to say we haven't been able to see each other although she has invited us to come and see her for many of the last few years. That is why we were so eager to see her in San Diego. The convention was in downtown S.D. and neither Dick nor I had ever been there. We had been in Oldtown San Diego, but this was like a maiden journey to a place we had never been before. We were so happy to have our GPS. She was staying at the Hyatt Manchester, which is a beautiful hotel with two very high towers. She was on the 5th floor so we got a beautiful picture of the harbor from her window.










Ivette was staying in the Seaport Tower . The other tower is called Harbor Tower. These two towers are more than the length of a football field from one to the other, which gives you the idea of how far it was between the two towers. Unfortunately, I had to do so much walking. There wasn't any place I could sit between towers so just had to do it without so much as a minutes rest. When Ivette arrived on the airport shuttle, she went up to her room and then she came looking for us. It was so great to see her again. She took us up to her room and wouldn't you know, hers was the last room on the floor so we had to walk about 50 yards to get to her room. We visited until it was time to get something to eat. We decided that it would be best to eat in or near the hotel as we didn't want to take the car out of the garage. Dick had been looking the place over before Ivette got there and he found a village that had pretty much started out one of the doors to the Hotel, so we walked all the way through it. It would have been fun to browse, but my feet and legs were bothering me so much. I wished I had brought my wheel chair, because it was all cobble stone and it really made it harder for me to walk. Fortunately there were many places to sit down though so it was okay. We had dinner in a very nice restaurant. Then we bought warm cookies right out of the oven on our walk back to the hotel. We went up to Ivettes room and visited a bit more and left about 8:30p.m. so that we wouldn't get home so late and Ivette could get some sleep. We actually made pretty good time and got home about 11:00 so that wasn't too bad. The shocker was that for the six hours our car sat in the parking garage, it cost us $28.00

We figured with all the walking we did, I had walked the length of a football field 8 times plus the circle around the village. I'm so glad we did that circle though because on the other side was the harbor and there were a lot of ships and sail boats, such a pretty sight. I wish we had taken more pictures. Dick left the camera in the car so we had to take these with the I -phone, but I think they turned out better than the camera, so next time we go somewhere, I will definitely take more pictures. I did this earlier tonight because I really needed Dick to help me with the pictures. He let me do it, so maybe next time I can do it myself......just maybe though, because I still may need Dick.

8 comments:

  1. Isn't it great when you can connect with old friends! If you ever can, you should take her up on her offer to have you visit her in Puerto Rico. I'm so glad we were able to go twice when my daughter lived there. It's so beautiful and you would love Old Town San Juan. Go in January though - it's too hot and humid in the warmer months. But how great to visit in San Diego. It's such a nice place to go as well. You got some good pictures!

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  2. Congrats on the wonderful pics and blog tonight! You look wonderful in the photo...I'm glad you were able to reconnect with your friend. Oh, your jelly will be mailed out tomorrow! I didn't want you to think I forgot!

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  3. What a cute picture of you and Ivette. You both look as happy as can be!

    Can't believe you had to walk so much, and I'm hoping you get off without too many repercussions for all that activity. Sounds like it was worth it, though. Sometimes ya just gotta do what ya gotta do, right?

    Love you.
    =)

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  4. What an adventure you had!
    I have friends that are a lot younger, and I have some that are much older than me. Makes life interesting.

    Have you recovered from this trip yet? What a lot of walking, but how wonderful you got to connect again with your dear friend. The picture is wonderful!

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  5. There is nothing like re-connecting with an old friend. Sometimes it's like no time has passed and you just enjoy being together.
    Too bad you had to do so much walking but in the end, it may have been good for you. At least that's what I tell myself when I have painful legs after long walks.
    Amazing that your beautiful pics were taken with an i-phone!

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  6. Thrilled that you got to enjoy your visit with your friend. The picture of you both show the happiness in both of your faces. You really did do a lot of walking. I doubt if I could of done it but you did great.
    Where is our cameras when we want them. lol
    I always never have mine when I want it.
    Been bad about catching up with friends on here so I must read your other post that I might have missed.
    Just wanted to come by check on you and to send you special wishes for the weekend
    Love
    Maggie

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  7. The pictures were awesome and I enjoying reading about your trip. It is always so wonderful to meet with an old friend. I am happy you were able to do this. Loved your thoughts today. Keep on enjoying those moments.

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  8. How lovely to have kept up this friendship. Age is no barrier.
    We spent 3 days in San Diego when we did the house exchange with the LA family that I was telling you about. We stayed right on the beach, near Sea World - our children loved it, and it was such a happy part of our holiday - the whole thing was happy, but this was just that extra bit special, like a holiday within a holiday. At one moment I remember feeling as if I was American, rather than a tourist, and thinking that we might perhaps stay on. However, as you see, we came home to Scotland!

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