June 23: LA Zoo, then travel snafu
Dear Friends and Relatives,
Sylvia beaming in with one last word on the subject of the California trip I was supposed to have ended yesterday, but which had an unexpected glitch which tested the patience and forced me to be a bit more flexible!
Yesterday—Sunday, June 23, Alexandra and I woke up late (for us!) at 9:00 a.m. and had a leisurely breakfast of blueberry pancakes on her balcony. Afterwards, she straightened her apartment, using the new roomba I had given her as an early birthday present (she will be 30 on August 17!!!!!). It very nicely and methodically parses up a room and cleans floors. As Alexandra has a shedding cat (Major Tom), dusting has been an almost daily chore—until now, when she revs up the roomba and it takes over all the sweeping. Major Tom is getting used to it, and Alexandra is delighted with it!
Meanwhile, I was packing. By 10:00 a.m. we were ready to do a bit more sightseeing, and since the zoo was close to Burbank Airport, we chose it. My flight was not until 4:00 p.m., then updated to 4:30–I should have known that would set the stage for the entire travel scenario of the day!
At the zoo, every animal of any intelligence decided to stay in the shade or make itself obtuse enough not to be detected by the “madding crowd.” We actually saw, closeup and personal, some meerkats, a cerval, giraffes, rhinos, and some very lazy lions. Temperature: 80 degrees (though it felt hotter!) and not a cloud in the sky. Alexandra then dropped me off at the airport at 2:30, and my 4:30 flight left as promised for Phoenix. All connections were going to be honored, and mine, though tight and involving a change in terminal, was negotiable. The next flight, from Phoenix to Dallas, was to leave at 7:00, then at 7:30, then 8:00, and finally 8:30, when it was canceled completely due to rather vicious thunderstorms in the Dallas area.
How do you accommodate all those passengers? You do so gingerly, as most of those people were not fit to be toyed with. I sighed and joined the crowd of about 250 people waiting to be rescheduled on a subsequent flight. My piece of luggage was down in Baggage Claim, so that worried me, but scheduling was of even greater consequence. I waited in line for about an hour until I was finally rescheduled to leave not on Monday, June 24, but on Tuesday, June 25, when I am scheduled on a 5:00 a.m. flight to Houston and from there to Dallas, arriving a bit after noon. Since I had no wish to spend two days at the airport, I retrieved my luggage and took a shuttle from the airport to Sleep Inn, located about 2 miles away, where I was overjoyed to see a good bed and a place to rejuvenate.
So what do you do when such a 21st century snafu takes place?? Resilience is the name of this game, and I can play it once I know the rules and do not allow my emotions to run rampant. Being free as a bird to explore on my own a city I really don’t know at all, I have decided to visit a museum that looks very promising. I wasn’t sure the Heard Museum in Phoenix would be open today (it is a Monday, after all, and museums are usually closed), but it is and I am going to use Uber to get there and visit it. It is a museum of the various tribes of Plains Indians, who have always been of great interest to me. As the museum has a cafe, I will have lunch there. I also plan to join two tours, one of highlights of the collection, the other concerning native peoples of the Southwest.
As I write, I have not as yet left for the museum. After I return this evening, I will talk about my impressions there. I will also, then, post photos on Facebook concerning my visit at the LA Zoo and the Heard Museum. Stay tuned. Hopefully, this travel saga will end without any more unexpected instances. Until then, I shall make the best of the situation and learn something in the process as well. I am glad I did not schedule the California trip any closer to the European trip starting this Friday. That would have spelled disaster!
Meanwhile, 107 degrees is the projected high for Phoenix today!!!!! As ever, SV
Sylvia beaming in with one last word on the subject of the California trip I was supposed to have ended yesterday, but which had an unexpected glitch which tested the patience and forced me to be a bit more flexible!
Yesterday—Sunday, June 23, Alexandra and I woke up late (for us!) at 9:00 a.m. and had a leisurely breakfast of blueberry pancakes on her balcony. Afterwards, she straightened her apartment, using the new roomba I had given her as an early birthday present (she will be 30 on August 17!!!!!). It very nicely and methodically parses up a room and cleans floors. As Alexandra has a shedding cat (Major Tom), dusting has been an almost daily chore—until now, when she revs up the roomba and it takes over all the sweeping. Major Tom is getting used to it, and Alexandra is delighted with it!
Meanwhile, I was packing. By 10:00 a.m. we were ready to do a bit more sightseeing, and since the zoo was close to Burbank Airport, we chose it. My flight was not until 4:00 p.m., then updated to 4:30–I should have known that would set the stage for the entire travel scenario of the day!
At the zoo, every animal of any intelligence decided to stay in the shade or make itself obtuse enough not to be detected by the “madding crowd.” We actually saw, closeup and personal, some meerkats, a cerval, giraffes, rhinos, and some very lazy lions. Temperature: 80 degrees (though it felt hotter!) and not a cloud in the sky. Alexandra then dropped me off at the airport at 2:30, and my 4:30 flight left as promised for Phoenix. All connections were going to be honored, and mine, though tight and involving a change in terminal, was negotiable. The next flight, from Phoenix to Dallas, was to leave at 7:00, then at 7:30, then 8:00, and finally 8:30, when it was canceled completely due to rather vicious thunderstorms in the Dallas area.
How do you accommodate all those passengers? You do so gingerly, as most of those people were not fit to be toyed with. I sighed and joined the crowd of about 250 people waiting to be rescheduled on a subsequent flight. My piece of luggage was down in Baggage Claim, so that worried me, but scheduling was of even greater consequence. I waited in line for about an hour until I was finally rescheduled to leave not on Monday, June 24, but on Tuesday, June 25, when I am scheduled on a 5:00 a.m. flight to Houston and from there to Dallas, arriving a bit after noon. Since I had no wish to spend two days at the airport, I retrieved my luggage and took a shuttle from the airport to Sleep Inn, located about 2 miles away, where I was overjoyed to see a good bed and a place to rejuvenate.
So what do you do when such a 21st century snafu takes place?? Resilience is the name of this game, and I can play it once I know the rules and do not allow my emotions to run rampant. Being free as a bird to explore on my own a city I really don’t know at all, I have decided to visit a museum that looks very promising. I wasn’t sure the Heard Museum in Phoenix would be open today (it is a Monday, after all, and museums are usually closed), but it is and I am going to use Uber to get there and visit it. It is a museum of the various tribes of Plains Indians, who have always been of great interest to me. As the museum has a cafe, I will have lunch there. I also plan to join two tours, one of highlights of the collection, the other concerning native peoples of the Southwest.
As I write, I have not as yet left for the museum. After I return this evening, I will talk about my impressions there. I will also, then, post photos on Facebook concerning my visit at the LA Zoo and the Heard Museum. Stay tuned. Hopefully, this travel saga will end without any more unexpected instances. Until then, I shall make the best of the situation and learn something in the process as well. I am glad I did not schedule the California trip any closer to the European trip starting this Friday. That would have spelled disaster!
Meanwhile, 107 degrees is the projected high for Phoenix today!!!!! As ever, SV
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