Vacation Sweet Vacation

by Dessa Rodeffer
Quill Editor/Publisher

24 March1999

The person who coined the phrase: "Home Sweet Home", certainly wasn't on vacation when he said it.

More likely he was away in the army, on a work detail or some sort of unenjoyable task.

My annual trip to Las Vegas to visit my daughter over our March birthdays ended up in a three-day adventure to San Diego, California.

I spent one evening with a former Henderson County girl, Laura (Louden) Ball, who just retired from working at a Credit Union there. Laura and husband Rick raised three daughters in San Diego while Rick worked border control between Mexico and the United States. He also retired this past year but is now working back in the immigration offices.

They have a swimming pool in their back yard and are fortunate to live in a city that enjoys 60 and 70 degree weather almost daily, year-around.

All flights to Las Vegas was booked and I was forced to fly into San Diego to get to Las Vegas. And as you can imagine, I didn't mind a bit. Laura picked me up at the airport in one of the few rains San Diego has. They average 7 inches a year and were shy by a couple of inches.

Whale watching was cancelled but we enjoyed lunch in a restaurant on the wharf at Seaport Village. A variety of fresh fish is available daily and I feasted on baked Salmon on a bed of chopped Avocado, Tomato, and white sauce that was fabulous.

Watching the harbor boats from the windows, as it rained seemed wonderful to me. One of the Navy's aircraft carriers was docked along Coronada Island across the harbor. By the time we had finished lunch, the sun began to shine.

We shopped the popular Seaport Village shops with its old fashion street lights, brick walkways, beautiful flowers and wonderful ocean sounds and smells. Strollers, joggers, and bikers are seen here.

Laura and I went up in the Hyatt, San Diego's tallest building, and enjoyed a cup of Cappuccino on the 40th floor as we watched the sail boats, viewed the yachts, and ships in the harbor, and enjoyed the spectacular view of San Diego and the Coronada bridge.

We enjoyed several meals out and she and her family enjoyed the sack of Sterzing potato chips I managed to carry on the airplane without crushing or eating.

The next day, after eating at the famous Fish Market on the harbor, Laura drove me the 20 minutes to LaJolla where I was met my daughter and her roommates, one, a delightful six year old girl, Adrienne.

They arrived at 6:30 p.m. and unpacked in our suite at The Grande Colonial Hotel in the heart of downtown LaJolla, two blocks from the ocean. It was around 55 at night and 60s-70s during the days. Of course, shop after shop including wonderful art galleries and restaurants, fresh flower stands, and especially coffee stands draw many to this up-scale community.

The girls enjoyed jogging each morning along the beach and watching the sea lions along the shore. Darci and I took Adrienne swimming in the 80 degree pool one evening. Saturday we attended the LaJolla Presbyterian Church for their casual evening service. It was held in their smaller chapel next to the church. On the other side of the church is one of the most beautiful bed and breakfast hotels with walkways of flowers and upstairs rooms that can see the ocean from a distance.

This church was once pastored by a Stewart who was my friend Beverly (Stewart) George's first cousin.

We were surprised to find the church had a guest speaker that evening whom all of us had heard before at The Women of Faith Conferences, Marge Melberg. She was terrific, as usual, and said she is speaking at the "Outrageous Joy `99" Conferences. They are listed on the Internet under the web address of www.WomenOfFaith.com.

Darci, Deena Schmidt, Amy and Adrienne Briggs and I spent our last day in San Diego at Horton Plaza and Sea Port Village. We finished by taking a short carriage ride along the ocean at Adrienne's request. We took a quick trip to the 40th floor of the Hyatt for the view before leaving. (The elevator travels at 100 mph).

In Las Vegas, temperatures had dropped to 66, the same as they were in Stronghurst, but warmed each day. We lit the fireplace each morning to take the chill out of the house.

We had lettuce wraps at a popular Chinese restaurant, shopped at Cesars's Palace and several other malls, went to the movie "Out of The Deep" at the Orleans huge theater.

We visited the University of Las Vegas which has 22,000 students with the biggest enrollment in "Hotel Management" and "Dance" classes.

We grocery shopped, fixed dinner at home one evening, and spent one evening looking at books and reading at Barnes and Nobles.

Wednesday evening was a praise service at the Las Vegas Christian Church for the music pastor who was leaving to take a pastorate in Indiana. He was great and the evening was mostly lively and moving songs.

I returned home on the only flight available out of Vegas last week, the 1:30 a.m. red eye.

After losing two hours crossing time zones, going through the Rockies during a snow storm, and landing in St. Louis as daylight began to break, I see why it was named the red-eye. I arrived in Burlington at 9:24 a.m.

Finally, my body has adjusted, but memories are always so sweet. It should be mandatory... a history lesson a health lesson, or a be good to yourself session.

It's that sense of adventure that I enjoy, and the relaxing with family and friends. If you haven't done it yet, plan a vacation. It need not be far, just away.