Cross Country 5

When we woke up in Vegas, we decided to use our free $25 food credit (we got it when we booked the hotel) at the breakfast bar. No way could I eat $12 worth of food at that point, but we couldn't let the free money go to waste! After breakfast we packed up and checked out, heading for our final destination, San Diego. Our original plan was to explore La Jolla, but by the time we got there, I was not feeling well at all. We stayed at Erica's new apartment, the friend whose car we were driving, and rather than explore the city, we stayed in. Actually we did drive around to find a place to print our boarding passes, but that was the extent of our exploration. At the apartment we reorganized all of our stuff to fly it home, and I went to bed before 9.

Unfortunately in the middle of the night I found myself in the bathroom hanging over the toilet. Sorry Erica, I christened your toilet many times over. So my symptoms: sore throat, headache, congested head, body aches and barfing. Flu right? After that miserable night, I spend the next day doing little more than sitting on the couch. The Giraffe went out to find a Trader Joe's and stock up on all the treats he misses from his time in California a few years ago.

And because we didn't actually do anything in San Diego, the only other picture I have to show you is the one of this little guy that was hanging out on the side of the apartment building:

The flight home kind of sucked. It was a direct flight from San Diego to Chicago, which was nice (and cheap!), but when you don't feel good, flying blows. By the way, you know the Giraffe is quite tall, and so he really needs an exit row in order to even fit on a plane. Well, Southwest doesn't do assigned seating, it's basically a free-for-all. And we knew the coveted exit row seats would go fast. So he talked to the boarding agent pre-flight and she took one look at him and understood his plight. She let us be part of the pre-board group---you know, families and people who need special accommodations. Yes my freakishly tall fiance needs special accommodations when flying. So cute. Gotta say, I didn't mind the extra leg room myself.

Anyway, once we got to Chicago my sister and her fiance picked us up and drove us home. I felt ok for the first hour of the drive, but then I began to feel pukish. It was no fun. No fun at all trying to keep myself from vomiting all over everyone. When we finally pulled into our apartment complex after a few hours in the car, I didn't even say goodbye. I made a run for the bathroom. And I spent all that night and all Sunday in delirium. It's all a big blur to me. A blur of sleeping and throwing up and coughing and sleeping and blowing my nose and swallowing medicine and sleeping. I even had to take Monday off to continue recovering. Ugh, don't ever get the flu. It sucks.

So yeah, the trip was awesome. The car malfunction and the illness parts sucked, but I think what I'll remember is the stunning national parks and the beautiful countryside and the bonding time with my man. I'm so glad we did this trip.

Comments

[Kim]

You have a lot of amazing pictures and stories. Hopefully you'll feel better really soon and you can focus on all the good that came from this trip. Feel better!

[Anna]

Wait, where do you live? There are Trader Joe's all over the place these days. http://www.traderjoes.com/locations.asp

[Shannon]

I know, but the only one in MI is on the other side of the state. Maybe someday they'll work their way over here.

[Jess]

Oh how awful that you were so sick! Sounds like a completely awesome trip otherwise. You'd have been a great RTW partner. You're so organized and whatnot. If ya ever go back to San Diego to visit and need a trip buddy, you know who to call.

[willikat]

Maybe you should move to MN, we have like three TJ's in a 20-mile radius. :)

[Charm City Kim]

I am jealous of your adventure. (playing catchup now) Awesome photos and now I want to go to Zion and The Grand Canyon more than ever! I'm also jealous of your special accommodations!

Lastly - I'm with you on Vegas. I'm not a late-night party person so when I went a few years ago, my thought was, "I'm tired..."

[Clu]

As a 6'1 female I believe the freakishly tall should automatically be given the exit row seats :-)

[MonsteRawr]

You sure you won't remember the barfing most? I'm just saying, I totally loved seeing the city and the great restaurants we went to during our trip to Boston, but I will NEVER forget the monumental UTI that I got during the Sam Adams brewery tour that forced me to stop and check out every bathroom in the Meto Boston area. Memories like that don't exactly fade.