Things I learned on our trip to Las Vegas and San Diego

Gary and Jackie (for those who don’t know Jackie is Jan’s twin sister and Gary is the brother in law/my cousin) invited us to go with them to San Diego to see BYU play San Diego State. On Friday Jan and I flew to Las Vegas where Gary and Jackie picked us up in their shiny new truck and drove to San Diego. After the weekend we flew back to Medford on Monday.

Allegiant Air flies very cheap flights out of Medford to Las Vegas. Part of this is to encourage flyers to stay at the casinos and lose their money. Allegiant cuts on expense waste by having the counter people also load baggage on the planes. The fares were cheap but I kept wondering if the counter people/baggage handlers were also the flight crew. I was a little scared wondering if the pilots were working for minimum wage.

We stayed on the fourteenth floor at the Omni in downtown San Diego next to the bay. A few blocks prior to getting to the hotel Friday evening we heard loud bass bumpity bump music and noticed girls walking around in little black dresses. We figured out that these were “clubbing” dresses. The short black dress must be mandatory. Seemed like guys could wear whatever they wanted. This should bring a feminist outrage. When we got into our room we looked out the window and noticed the club was on top of the Marriott a few blocks away. I wanted to join the rooftop party but Jan wouldn’t let me put on my little black dress.

I’ve always avoided valet parking. I didn’t know what was expected with the tipping ritual. I figured the joy of parking my ‘96 Corolla would be tip enough for any valet. There wasn’t much choice but to use the “tip takers.” We never did figure out where the cars were parked. Could’ve been at a McDonalds.

We had a great view of downtown San Diego from our hotel window. The room was comfortable but there were a few notable things about the hotel. San Diego must be the bottled water capitol. I believe some water company intentionally clouded the city water so all would need to drink bottled water. The shower would alternately give you hot water then quickly change to cold. This caused various screams and other utterances.

We were excited to see the room had a little snack bar with candy bars and drinks, alcoholic (we weren’t excited about that) and sodas. The snacks however were in a vending machine the size of a hotel room refrigerator. The vending machine was locked like a safe and I think special passwords and chants were needed to open. After reading the little hotel brochure we found why the machine was locked. Candy bars were $3.50 each, water bottles $3.00 and pop similarly expensive. This stuff had to be gold lined with diamonds replacing the nuts.

One more thing about the hotel: the bathroom had an opaque glass sliding door that, when closed, still had about an inch of openness on either side. We made secret pledges not to go to that portion of the room when someone was using the shower or for any other reason not to be mentioned here.

The hotel was located just across the street from PetCo Park. No, this wasn’t a huge dog park, but the stadium where the San Diego Padres play. No, not a Catholic mission. The Padres is the baseball team. As we walked around the stadium we came upon a formation of tourists on Segways, looking very much like a small flock of baby ducks closely following their mother. They were taking a tour of the bay front. I’ve always wanted to ride a Segway. When I’m old and can’t move, instead of a walker strap me onto one of those and I can zip around the nursing home with my one hair flapping in the air stream.

The USS Midway, an aircraft carrier, is parked in the harbor. The tour was interesting. Sailors lived in very cramped, hot, noisy, claustrophobic quarters. I imagined the air would also have been filled with cigarette smoke. I had more admiration for the sailors.

Next to the Midway is a 25 foot tall statue from a famous photo of a sailor kissing a young nurse in Times Square in August 1945. Couples stand beneath the behemoth statue and try to recreate the same pose while friends or relatives captured the moment on camera. I asked Gary if he wanted to try it. He looked at me funny and declined. I meant try it with our wives.

Along the wharf we ran into many visitors donning BYU paraphernalia, shirts, hats, tattoos. I was excited to see them at such a remote place. As we passed them I’d tip my Cougar cap and say, “Hey Cougar fan.” Most just grumbled and looked like I was an annoyance. I almost resorted to trading in Cougar Cap for a San Diego State lid.

We missed the opening kick off because our twin wives insisted on seeing one more room off the deck on the Midway. Jackie and Jan will do just fine in the next life because time seems to not exist in their world when together.

As we walked toward the stadium low flying jets roared overhead. I hoped this was part of the pregame activities and that the stadium was not on the air base landing approach. As the jets flew over, the sonic blast caused car alarms all over the lot to start honking in tribute.

Backpacks or other carry on items were allowed in the stadium if the packs fit with in the box by the entry. Gary’s back pack was rejected, even though it seemed to fit. We told Gary we’d get seated as he ran the pack back to his truck. Moments later we were surprised to see Gary standing next to us.

“How’d you get back here so fast?”

“I just tried a different gate and they thought the pack was fine.”

I learned an important lesson from Gary about trying all your options before giving up in defeat and taking the long walk back to the truck.

Whenever Gary and I get together we discuss the similarities of our wives. We feel better when we find out Jan and Jackie could be the same person split in two. Jan and Jackie always walk together in front of Gary and I. We’ve accepted that as part of the deal. It’s interesting to watch people’s reaction to the identicals. Older twins usually aren’t seen together, sort of like seeing a snow leopard in its natural Himalayan environment.

The San Diego temple is beautiful. With it’s spires scraping the sky, many believe this temple reminds them of Sleeping Beauty’s castle at Disneyland. Although closed Sunday afternoons there were several groups or families walking around the grounds. Grandparents reading a child’s point of view book about the temple to a grandson, a group of people from Europe strolling through the gardens and a crying infant who’d had enough. There were also families taking photos of each other with the temple in the background along with the customary young couple with spires in their eyes, holding hands and occasionally pausing to look at the temple then at each other.

After visiting the San Diego Temple we got back on the road heading to Las Vegas. Once back, the first thing Crime Scene Investigator Gary did was scan the newspaper. Most of us look for the comics, but Gary scans the pages to see what murders took place during his absence. He’d find a story and say, “Sure glad I missed that one.”

So, there’s a quick wrap up. Those were good days.