The long-awaited trip to San Diego got off to a rocky start when illness struck 2 days before I was supposed to leave. So, I was a bit shaky when the car arrived to take me to the airport at 3:30 on a Wednesday morning. For some reason, a 6 AM flight didn’t seem like a ridiculous idea back in January when I booked it. So, feeling a little queasy, I boarded the plane heading to Denver. Which also seemed like a good idea back on the cold January day.
After landing in Denver, the connecting flight to San Diego was close enough that I got off one plane and got right on the other. Another quick 2 1/2 hour jaunt and we landed in beautiful San Diego around 10 AM. A quick bus ride later and we arrived at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. While we checked in to the hotel and got all of our conference information, our luggage was supposed to be delivered to our rooms. So imagine my surprise when later that morning, I got a call from someone in the other tower of the hotel saying my luggage had made it to her room. Not a huge deal, but issue #1 of the trip.
After getting the luggage situation worked out, I ventured out to reacquaint myself with the city. It had been almost 10 years since my last visit, so I tried to retrace some of the steps from my previous visits. First was a walk past the convention center, where I had attended a comic con or 3. Next stop was PETCO Park, which is just up the street from the convention center. When I first found out the dates of this trip, the first thing I checked was the Padres schedule. Unfortunately, a game wasn’t in the cards this time, but I did get a look in to the stadium thanks to their open center field concourse. From there, I headed off to Horton Plaza, looking to try and grab something for lunch. This is where I ran into a little trouble because, for the life of me, I couldn’t find it. I eventually had to resort to looking it up on my phone to see how to get there. I guess 10 years really is a long time.
Wednesday night was the big gala event on the USS Midway. Due to the chilly (for southern California) weather, we were moved from the flight deck down below, but still had access to roam the retired aircraft carrier. Both before and after dinner, groups of the winners were called up to shake hands and get their picture taken with Suren and their AVP. It was a nice way to wind down the first day in San Diego.