Well, here I am again, back at New Horizons in Anaheim, exactly a year to the date that I was here before!
The flight down yesterday was uneventful. The plane was a Southwest 737, in AZ Grand Canyon colors, with a *swoosh!* wing tip. The airport was uncrowded and unrushed (is the post 9/11 fever dying out, have all the passengers fled, or was it just a slow time?). Kids in the back of the plane made a lot of noise counting down the takeoff roll. I would have fallen asleep just before landing, but the kids started up again, counting down the landing touchdown.
The rent-a-car drive from the airport was weird. My eyesight is so bad now (I have an optometrist appointment for about a week from now), and it's impacting my driving: I can't read the signs. Plus, I have a totally unwarranted confidence in my ability to negotiate the streets of unfamiliar cities (which got me in trouble at Christmas in Las Vegas). Plus, I rarely plan ahead and don't look at maps. Unsurprisingly, I ended up on the wrong road, instead of taking Highway 55 to Tustin, I took the 405 to Long Beach. I drove all over Orange County, transitioning eventually to the 605. All these city names - Westminster, Artesia, Cerritos, Hawaiian Gardens - and I don't know where the freak I am! But after a while, I figured it out. Finally stopped and looked at a map. Drove two to three times as far as I had to to find the hotel. The Marriott Towne Suites are exactly the same as last year. I am a "Platinum Guest," whatever the hell that is. I get two free Milano wafers and a bottle of Dasani purified water. Sweet!
Met a fellow student named Austin Kerr, who lives in Davis and works at EDAW, just two blocks away from Sierra, directly across J street from the Subway Restaurant (my most famous rut of all: where I've eaten lunch almost every day since 1997). Sometimes you have to travel far to meet your neighbors!
I like this tree just outside New Horizons (a picture of the same tree a year ago is on the blog)
A picture of the Metrolink train (similar picture as a year ago).
Springtime in Anaheim - a "Painted Lady" butterfly?
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