Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Flying Free Trip #17: Long Beach CA

My life is awesome.

Friday was 111 degrees in Phoenix. Saturday was too. However, Friday I was hot; Saturday I was not. I was so hot that I posted a picture of ice on my blog.  It was so hot that even at 6am at 90 degrees I decided it was too hot to go for a bike ride (or maybe I was just lazy). Then I was even hotter after walking back from lunch at 1pm. Why did I move back to Phoenix? Yesterday, people kept asking me what my plans were for the weekend. "Nothing," I replied. I was sure I'd think of something interesting to do. Probably read my book and clean the house a little. Then I realized---why am I in Phoenix this weekend when I could be somewhere cooler? What about California? I could enjoy the beautiful 75 degree California weather AND read while in transit. So I looked up flights to California and decided to go to Long Beach. I found a nice park within walking distance from the airport with a nice long bicycle path. I might not be able to bring a bicycle on the plane, but I recently found a nice pair of used roller blades.

So, I went for it. I woke up early on Saturday morning and a short while later I was in Long Beach California walking down the tarmac to the airport. Yes, this airport is so small you have to walk down the tarmac to get to your airplane. It's so small that the baggage claim is outside. But it's also so small that I could walk to a park in just a few minutes. The park was beautiful. I felt like I was in a utopia. Many people were out enjoying the beautiful weather. One man was doing a fairly good job keeping up with me on my roller blades, but I eventually passed him for good.

Overall the trip was excellent. The sun makes me happy, and Saturday was no exception. I failed to bring sunscreen, so I'm a little red, but it's not too bad. My return flight was two hours delayed, so I went shopping at Kmart to pass the time and bought socks. I enjoyed a delicious smoothie for my afternoon snack. And finally, I returned to the airport and flew home.

Nice Day.

2 comments:

Jackijo said...

Sounds fun and adventurous!

Ben said...

I don't think I've ever thought an airport was within walking distance of anything