Flying South

The landscape of Arizona over the engine of our plane.
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Like good Canadian snowbirds, we like to fly south when the weather turns nasty. So we knew we had made the right decision as our plane taxied out to the runway at Toronto International Airport. As we looked down at the taxi strip, we could see big thick patches of ice.

Get us out of here!

Oh the joys of snowbirds in the sun!

It took an hour to go through the line up of planes being sprayed with deicing fluid, which prevents ice from building up on the wings of airplanes and bringing them back down, once they are airborne. We found out later that all inbound flights had been cancelled. Who wants to land on an icy runway and skid? Not a lot of fun, travelling at over a hundred, whether you are measuring in miles or kilometers.

Ken and Daphne
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We left an hour after we were scheduled to depart and already knew, by the time we were in the air, that we would miss our connecting flight in Chicago. But the airport in Chicago was pleasant, United Airlines gave us excellent seats on the next leg of our journey to San Diego and, as we passed near the Grand Canyon and the incredible landscapes of Arizona, our binoculars allowed us a peek at the startling geography below us. We were already over warmer terrain.

Ken and Daphne met us at the airport in San Diego and we all squeezed into a PT Cruiser, a roomy enough car if a surfboard hasn't gotten there first. Ken made the mistake of asking me to be the navigator, but fortunately Daphne was there to get us on the right road to our rented condo. Nancy Parinello, a rental agent for a number of condos on Sail Bay in San Diego, had rented us a superb place she calls Joey's Condo. I have described this outstanding property in more detail in a separate review that you will see on the left side of this journal. For further information about Nancy's rental properties, go to www.nancysvacationrentals.com

The USS Nimitz, an active carrier, seen from the hanger deck of the Midway. The photo gives an idea of the size of the deck of the Midway, framing the picture.
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Once we had settled in, we drove to Mission Beach for some food. As we were going into a restaurant by the pedestrian walkway close to the beach, a couple of kids, about nine or ten, were running their skateboards along the sidewalk. One of them lost control and slammed into a lamp post. "I'm okay," he said and jumped up from the ground. But his friend roared, "You ate it, dude! You ate it!" What struck us is that the kid who had crashed was more concerned about his skateboarding reputation than any injury to his body, even though he had really slammed the light post.

Vietnam era fighter with the "island" of the Midway in the background.
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While we ate, a young man about nineteen or twenty performed a series of  yoga-like exercises on a stretch of grass beside the pathway, and impressed my wife with his flexibility, especially the way he flexed his toes while balancing upside down on his hands.  "People like to put on a performance here," Ken said.

One man is able to in-line skate in and out on a crowded sidewalk while pretending he is in a slow-motion movie. When people in the know see him  approaching, they shout, "Hey, Slo Mo!" and he'll smile and wave, in slow motion. Soon after Ken described the man, he went by, in slow motion on fast in-line skates, weaving on the crowded sidewalk among numerous pedestrians.

Korean War and Vietnam-era aircraft on the deck of the Midway.
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We toured the USS Midway, an aircraft carrier launched at the end of the Second World War. It served in Korea and Vietnam and has been retired as a static display in San Diego Harbour, across from the naval base where active aircraft carriers and other vessels dock between tours of duty. The tour guides on the Midway are veterans, many of whom served on the ship. One man in particular recalled 1975 and the evacuation of Saigon. As more and more helicopters landed on the carrier, which was anchored offshore, the deck became dangerously crowded and the crew had to throw the choppers overboard to clear the way for more evacuees. One pilot, a veteran of the Vietnamese airforce, approached the deck of the pitching carrier in a Cessna, a small private aircraft. He was refused permission to land but announced that his family was on board and he was coming in anyway. He made it, in a remarkable feat of airmanship, in a plane that was never intended to land on a carrier at sea.

Amtrak trains in front of the old Sante Fe station in downtown San Diego
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The greatest and most enjoyable part of our vacation was visiting with Ken and Daphne. After they left, we visited the San Diego Zoo (see separate review), the Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego, and the Fashion Valley Mall. It was wonderful to relax on our balcony enjoying the sunshine and watching the sailboats, the joggers and in-line skaters. The sunsets were stunning, especially one in particular that went on, through several changes and marvellous displays of color, for perhaps half an hour.

The station was built in Spanish mission style as part of the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915.
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To enjoy ourselves even more, from time to time we checked the weather in Toronto and chuckled at reports of snow and freezing rain and awful driving conditions. Then we would get a beer or a glass of wine, go to our balcony, absorb the sun, look at the sandy beach, and watch sailboats sliding by.

Oh the joys of snowbirds in the sun!