So long to San Diego and...

eventually hello to San Francisco.  Not much to record for Friday.  It was the last day of the conference but it was a full day meaning that they were finished around 5:00 p.m.  Heather managed to get our check-out time pushed back to 2:00 p.m. instead of the posted 11:00 a.m. so that was nice for me that I didn't have to be out and all my stuff packed away quite so early.

I had a really nice breakfast at Buster's (something) on the boardwalk.  Every time I had walked past it on the other days, they were always busy so I figured it was a pretty good bet.  And I was right - I ordered 2 scrambled eggs and a toasted English muffin and when she brought it, the eggs were actually steaming hot and weren't on a cold plate!  And the English muffin was actually toasted - not just heated but still soft.  So 5 stars for them! :)

I went back to the room and got myself all packed up and then a embroidered for a little while sitting out on the balcony in what was yet another gorgeous day.  I called and had them come get all our luggage around 1:45 and then left the room for good.  I kept my flight bag with me and that was probably a mistake because it was very heavy - had my i-Pad, a book, my toiletries bag, etc., and so I wasn't inspired to do any more wandering.  So I sat out by the pool for a while, sat inside for a while. Time moved very slowly.

But finally it was time to call the bell desk and get our luggage brought to the lobby, give Heather's parking ticket to the valet and have them bring her rental car around, and get ourselves out of Dodge.  We got to the airport probably around 6:00 (it's only like 3 miles from the hotel!).  Heather had already received notification that her flight was delayed till 8:20.  They had been scheduled for 7:15 and I was scheduled for 7:45 takeoffs.  Got to the airport and on the board, mine was delayed until 10:05 p.m.  Then it was delayed until 11:30 and Southwest told us that they were going to start out boarding at 11 and gave us a big pep talk on getting in the plane, packing away overhead stuff and "SIT DOWN IN YOUR SEAT!!!"  Apparently at the San Diego airport, there are no flights allowed to leave after 11:30.  We did real well and got away with a few minutes to spare.  The girl sitting beside me in the airport and I struck up a nice conversation while we waited and I was glad of that.  At the end when it was time to start boarding, they played that "Final Breakdown" theme which had everyone smiling at each other.  I was real impressed with Southwest actually and if I fly much more in the States or even on overseas trips, I will try to remember to see if any leg of the journey could be on Southwest.  They allow TWO checked bags and their overhead storage size restrictions are more generous that all the other airlines.  Go, Southwest!!

Here's a shot of the gate area shortly after I got there -

it's a huge round circle with eateries, etc., in the center and probably 8 or so gates around the perimeter.  When I got there it was literally wall to wall people because so many of the flights were delayed.  Slowly as time marched on, it got less and less crowded and, of course we were one of the last to go.

We all ended up getting to the San Francisco and by one a.m. were on the road to Napa.  Heather did a stellar job of getting us there and we were all just real happy that we had made it and were together ready to have a great time.