Day 1: Jacob's trip: Tampa to San Diego

May 31, 2019

In keeping with our tradition of taking grandkids on a solo trip with us the summer of the year they turn 13, Jacob chose to go San Diego.  His reason? He wanted to eat at an In & Out Burger! He chose San Diego specifically for the zoo. So off we went!

Our first glitch is that our flight was delayed almost an hour, but we knew it before leaving the house. However, we had my friend Cindy taking us, so we just went early. Jacob's last flight was less than leisurely so this would help him not worry so much.

Glitch #2 -- after we got through security, we sat down to put shoes on, etc. (no pre-check on this trip for some reason), Jacob realized he didn't have his boarding pass. We think he left it on the luggage belt when he picked up his back pack, shoes, and jacket past the X-ray machine. I went to one of the TSA workers and she told me to go to the gate and tell them, and they'd run another. So that's what we did and then all was calm. I told him there would never be a problem that we couldn't solve and not to worry if something went wrong.

We ate at Goody Goody, then had almost an hour until the flight came. Southwest has open seating and we were in the first 30 on board, so we got a good seat.

Jacob said he didn't like take offs so he held my hand during it, then he looked out the window, entranced. He looked around and saw a lot of people on their phones and remarked, "How are they not fascinated by all this?" indicating the view.

But it wasn't much later that he got on his phone. However, that didn't last long and the next thing I knew, he was asleep. Took about a 90 minute nap.

Our flight was 4 hours and 40 minutes long. We got into a van to take us to the car rental center.

Arrived @ San Diego airport.

Van ride to car rental.

We took the scenic route to our hotel (Embassy Suites, downtown San Diego). While Paul checked us in, I had Jacob check out the atrium. He was very impressed.  We ended up on the top floor (12) with a view of the bay.

The first order of business was to fulfill his premier wish -- to eat at an In - N - Out! We drove about 14 miles south and ended up at the busiest one because it's the closest to the border! There were about 50 cars in line for the drive thru -- two lanes merging into one.  We went inside and although it was busy, it wasn't chaotic.  The young people who worked there were so pleasant and efficient. Paul waited for our food while Jacob and I found a seat outside for us. The temperature was pleasant -- in the low 60s. We all got hamburgers, then we split two orders of fries and got drinks. 

Jacob is a picky, picky eater so we had our fingers crossed that he'd like the burger.  Here is his reaction. "I love it!"

So back to the hotel and a good night's sleep.

View of the bay and Coronado Bridge.

Coronado and Petco Park tomorrow!