California trip – Day 1

Good morning from California! My wife and I are here for a wedding and it has been so much fun. If you didn’t see my recent post (can’t remember which one – it’s early!), an old friend of mine from high school is getting married today, and it’s a destination wedding in California!

Timeline of Events

My day started at four in the morning yesterday (Lea’s started at 3:45). We each hopped in the shower, got dressed, and packed the last of our things before heading out.

Thankfully we have lots of family around. We met one of my aunts at my moms house around 5:30am and she drove us to the airport. It was a quick and easy drive. I think it only took 30 minutes!

Around 6:15ish we arrived at Chicago Midway International airport. It wasn’t as busy as I thought it would be. We only had one big suitcase to check. I’m always nervous our suitcase is going to be over the weight limit (for those that don’t know, the limit is 50lbs). It’s happened before and we had to sit there on the floor rearranging all of our things. It’s the worst! Luckily, our suitcase was only 45lbs! Barely made it. Lol.

About 10 minutes later we hopped on the escalator and walked over to the security checkpoint. If you’re not familiar with going through security at airports, consider yourself lucky. From my past experiences, it is the worst! The TSA employees are always so rude and have horrible attitudes. However, this time was much more pleasant, as they were very polite. Anyways, we took of our shoes and hoodies and placed them in bins and put them on the table so they can move through the machine to be scanned. As we were waiting on the other end, security stopped the machine and started questioning my carry-on suitcase among themselves. Typical. Of course I would be the one holding things up! I heard the woman say “Tripod right?” to her colleague. I laughed and Lea rolled her eyes. Hey, you never know if we might need it for a video or some pictures!

A minute or two later they let it through and we were on our way. California here we come! We stopped at Dunkin Donuts on the way to our gate. I ordered a bacon and egg sandwich on an English muffin. It was delicious. Lea ordered a chocolate sprinkled donut and a different kind of egg sandwich, I don’t know what was on it, I didn’t hear what she ordered besides the donut lol.

A few minutes after picking up our food, we finally arrived at our gate. Unfortunately we had to sit and wait for our plane to arrive for 30 minutes. So besides eating there wasn’t much to do. I wanted to save my podcasts for the long plane ride, and I didn’t feel like reading the book I brought. So what better thing to do at an airport than people-watch?

One person we took interest in was this mother of a one-year-old who was by herself. She was bringing her child on the flight. Lea and I watched how she took care of him and all the things she did for him before the flight, because we wanted to learn how to do it. Next year we’re taking Oliver on his first flight to Florida and have no idea what to expect.

Anyways, the child was comical. As he was being fed his face was getting messier and messier. He then decided he wanted to lay on the floor. Gross, but funny lol. We didn’t learn much.

20 minutes later we finally boarded the plane. Lea took the window seat which left me in the middle once again. As the other passengers boarded I hoped for someone smaller to sit on the other side of me. I don’t mean to be rude, but as most people know it’s very cramped on airplanes. Not much space in your seats. However, my hope quickly faded as this huge man sat down next to me. Now, he wasn’t huge in an overweight way, he was just a big man. He definitely lifted weights back in his day. He was very wide and his forearms were huge. His body one-hundred-percent spilled over into my space. But what could I do? He can’t help that he’s a big dude and the plane seats are so tiny. It worked out a bit though. Lea leaned against the window so I just sat towards her most of the flight. It was still uncomfortable.

Our flight had one stop in Denver, Colorado but we didn’t have to get off the plane. We ended up moving towards the front and sat with an old friend of mine who was also on our flight. Yes, he was going to the wedding too. He is a groomsman. I was excited because I knew I would have a bit more room in the middle seat up there lol. As we departed Denver I could not help but look out the window at the beautiful mountains.

I had never been to Denver or flown over the state before so it was mesmerizing to me.

After we landed in California we hopped in my friends rental car and made our way to the hotel. Once we arrived, he went to get tacos with some of the other guys who were there, while Lea and I wanted to check in and chill for a bit. Being on a plane for so long is tiring.

After we checked into our room and laid down for a few minutes, we headed to the Poolside Grill, which was on the other side of the hotel, and yep, it was indeed poolside. We ordered some lunch and a couple adult beverages and had a good time. It was beautiful outside and the food was delicious! Although, I cannot believe how expensive it was. The prices are insane out here.

A few hours later, around 6pm, we went over to the rehearsal dinner. It was also located in the hotel. It was in a beautiful room with an outside patio and a bar. It was so much fun catching up with so many old friends I had grown up with. We all had a blast! We had a few more adult beverages and hung out until the room was closing and we had to leave. Lucky for us there was a hotel bar, so we all went there.

After a few minutes of being in there I couldn’t take the noise. So I took my beer and went outside to sit poolside by the fire pit. It was relaxing. After about 10 minutes I retired to my bedroom and went to sleep. It was a long day!

Can’t wait for day 2 of our trip!

Peter