Here are some highlights:
I don't travel well because of my food allergies and I especially don't travel well to places without running potable water. And/or Mexico.
However, I avoided the water and even used bottled water to brush my teeth and I ate so carefully, with the help of some waiters that knew enough English to tell me how they prepared the food, that I managed to survive with just some mild pain and shakes. Nothing big.
It was even enjoyable. Which is pretty great, considering a trip to Mexico 15 years ago seemed to alter how my body processes food and so I try to avoid eating in the country as much as possible. But I managed to stay functioning and we had fun.
We went swimming in the Sea of Cortez, got a couples massage, saw some wildlife, did not get bitten by a shark (which would have made me a God in Riley's eyes), and cruised the ocean on a wave runner. It turned out pretty fantastic.
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Husband has a huge soft spot for Virgin Strawberry Daiquiris. I lost count but he must have had close to twenty. I was always a Virgin Strawberry Margarita girl. But his daiquiris did look pretty tasty.
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Husband got notified of a promotion at work and he celebrated his birthday. Pretty good couple of days for him.
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About two years ago, I started work on a story. There are several weeks where the main character is in Baja California, especially Cabo. So I took the partially completed story that I set aside when Baby came and took it to go through it and make notes about the area from the ground. You can only get so much from google maps, an atlas, and info on the web. It was a great opportunity to actually see the stomping grounds for Emmaline.
This story is completely mapped out and outlined in detail but I just haven't had dedicated time to write the scenes out. But this renewed my drive to finish this particular project. Emmaline has been pretty patient with me. It is probably time to get moving on it.
It has only ever had one reader and while I usually don't send work that is partially finished out to readers, I was doing something different with the story structure and I wanted feedback on whether it worked or not. I ran across this critique when I was preparing a copy to edit and work on. This reader wrote that she loved, loved, loved this story and wanted the rest when I finished.
I know it is a weird hobby. I write like a madwoman, driven to write, do the best edits I can, send out to readers, I reedit from their help, and then I put the book on a shelf. Seems pointless. But I cannot help it. The process makes me happy. And, maybe, sometimes, I manage to create something that a reader enjoys. Even if it is only ever seen by one or two people.
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Flying into Cabo reminded me of flying into Salt Lake. Super bumpy.
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Flying back to LAX was surreal. It was bumpy almost the whole way. Which was fine. They seemed to be flying way lower than normal (we were in the clouds a lot) and we began our descent way early. Captain said it was to try to avoid some turbulence ahead. Fine again.
However, as we came into land, there is the part where you sort of power toward the airport and as soon as you get above the strip, they cut the engine power and you sort of float into touchdown. Well we powered into land, came over the landing strip, got ready to do the float and all of a sudden the plane was thrown into high gear. I have never felt a plane go into high gear so fast. It was more thrust than I normally feel on take off. Essentially we were about twenty feet off the ground and the plane floored up, up, up into the clouds again.
We waited. All the passengers were worried. Except Husband. He was completely unfazed. As usual.
Then the flight attendant came over the loudspeaker and said that we should be hearing from the captain shortly. Well I should hope so. But he could go ahead and finish getting us up again. First things first.
About two minutes later the captain came on and said, "The tower had us a little close to another plane. This is on the tower, not us. We will circle back around and be down in ten minutes or so."
I'm sorry. Did you just admit that we almost plowed into another plane?!
He didn't say something like. "The approach was off," or "the tower gave us new directions," or "there was a strip issue". No. He essentially told us that we narrowly avoided a collision that the tower was responsible for.
We came in on a second attempt and this time we powered in, came over the landing, did the float, and touched down. The captain got a round of applause. I was still processing his statement.
As we got ready to deplane, some of the older gentleman several rows back were talking about the other plane. Apparently we were very close. "It was right there," they kept saying. "That was close."
Well. I am grateful for a quick thinking, immediate thrust, and a powerful engine today.
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