It was the first time that we had been away from the kids for more then one night since Natalie was born (i.e. it was a bit traumatic at points...especially for Gina). But, it was definitely healthy for us to get away for a few days.
Mostly so I don't forget pieces of the trip that I want to remember later on, I have decided to document the highlights from the getaway while they are still fresh in my mind.
Thursday:
- Before we left the house on Thursday morning, Gina said she felt like we forgot to pack something. I told her not to worry about it. We had two suitcases to check in and one carry on and as long as we remembered the carry on (my suit, her dress) everything else was replaceable. I then promptly proceeded to forget the carry on at the security checkpoint. A half an hour later I realize this. However, I was fortunate that they still had the bag at the checkpoint and after a short interrogation were willing to allow me to take it.
- Departure time: 9am, Arrival time: 11:30am
- After checking in at 3pm, Gina and I crashed for three hours before the meet and greet everyone was asked to attend at 7pm. It was a well needed catch up on sleep for both of us.
- It was a nice opening event, as I pretty much knew no one (outside of the names of some of the attendees) and it gave us a chance to make some friends.
- After a motivational speaker in the morning, we all went off to do one of four company sponsored events. Gina and I choose a winery tour in Temecula (other options were golf, kayaking and the resort's spa).
- We toured Callaway Vineyard and Winery and then did a wine tasting seminar / luncheon there. We then went to Wilson Creek Winery and Vineyard and did a wine tasting there as well. I learned quite a bit and was able to try a lot of good wine. Gina and I both liked Wilson Creek more of the two and Gina bought a sweatshirt there. Gina also got her swerve on and potentially found a new customer for Rick's drop stop business as Bill WIlson (who Gina discussed things with) sounded sincerely interested.
- The picture below shows the stainless steel containers where the wine ferments for weeks before moving to barrels (red wine) or smaller steel containers (white wine).
- It rained during most of the wine tour, even though almost no rain had fallen for weeks in the area before Friday.
- After returning to La Costa, it had stopped raining so Gina and I went into the hot tub for a while before the evening event. We ended up talking to two gentlemen in the hot tub who were there to golf (the resort hosted the PGA tour's Accenture Match Play Championship from 1999-2006). They were from the San Jose area and were pretty funny guys who told us a lot of California stories from back in the day.
- The weirdest moment of the weekend had to be when we saw that after it rains, snails (not worms) come out and are all over the sidewalks.
- The evening event was a trip to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. The park was closed (except for our group) and I was surprised how far off the beaten path we had to go to get there. Also, the trial they had us take once we got there to our scheduled tram tour was ridiculous and for a few moments I think Gina thought we were going to die with how narrow/steep/etc. the roads were considering they brought us back to the trams on the luxury buses.
- The tram tour was fun, but very cold. The temperature was consistently warmer in Minnesota then California all weekend.
- It was very interesting to see an environment where rhinos, giraffes, zerbas, antelopes, gazelles, etc. all were co-habitating with one another in the same common area. We were also able to see Ivan, the giraffe in many of the park's advertisements.
- After we returned, Gina and I found our way back to the hot tub before heading off to bed.
- The group was given free time until the formal awards ceremony at 6pm (i.e. suits and dresses).
- Over the course of the weekend we enjoyed looking at the cars parked on site. About nine of every ten cars in our specific parking area of interest was either a BMW, Jaguar, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz or Hummer.
- We spent the afternoon in La Jolla, an upscale area along the ocean within greater San Diego. The town is home to Torrey Pines Golf Course (home the 2008 U.S. Open) and a high end outdoor shopping area.
- Waiting for the bus to leave from La Jolla, Gina and I were talking to the events coordinator for the weekend and he told us a story about his son-in-law working on the 72nd floor of the second twin tower on 9/11. Needless to say, the story warrants its own blog entry sometime in the near future.
- Walking around the stores we ran across the following items: Cal Ripken signing his new book at Warwicks (Gina had to pull me away because the line was literally around the block), a store called Morrison Hotel (which I have decided is the coolest store name ever) and sea lions hanging out in their natural environment along the ocean.
- Saturday night we attended the awards ceremony and it was a lot of fun getting dressed up. Gina looked incredible. The 75 of us were presented with awards for being winners, etc. We were also entertained by magicians at the end of the night, though one was very good and one was pretty bad.
- The dinner was amazing. It was steak and shrimp (both cooked perfectly) and the dessert was lemon creme brulee. It was literally the best dessert I have ever had and I am not a huge lemon (usually too strong) or creme brulee (usually a little boring) fan. The lemon taste was subtle and topped with a coffee truffle, a hazelnut truffle, three blueberries, two raspberries, a blackberry and whip cream.
- We learned of a few stories at the awards banquet from earlier in the day, such as a guy from our group who golfed at the resort in the morning and ended up being placed in Morgan Freeman's tee time. Another couple ended up eating lunch at the resort next to Danny Glover and Harry Belafonte.
- Our wake up call came at 4:45am. Yuck!!!
- At checkout, the bill for the room for the three days was >$1000. However, the amount we owed was $0.00.
- We were able to see the USS Ronald Reagan on our way to the airport. It has returned to its home port over the weekend. It was particularly interesting to me because when my dad was in the Navy ('69-'71) he was stationed in San Diego on the USS Oriskany.
- We ended up standing next to the guy who golfed with Morgan while we were waiting to get our plane tickets and he said that Mr. Freeman was a very nice guy (except for when a large bird swooped down and stole the breakfast bar in his cart while he was putting on one of the holes. I guess he chased the bird for a while but unsuccessfully recovered the bar).
- Departure time: 8:45am, Arrival time: 2:30pm
- We made it home to see the kids around 3:30pm. We had a lot of fun but we were also happy to be home.
