Living with MCL

Well, I would have to say there was near perfect weather in Santa Barbara this past weekend for the California Wine Festival. The skies were clear, and the temperatures ranged from the mid 60′s to low 70′s. It doesn’t get much better than that, and it’s the main reason we love southern [and central] CA so much.

Of course, I can always find something to complain about. It’s just this time, it won’t be the weather.

My biggest complaint was I didn’t ride my bike for 3 days, and watching all the other cyclists riding along the beach, heading out for what was likely a brisk morning ride into the foothills, made me envious.

Then there was the fact, the hotel we stayed in wasn’t what I had expected. It was nice [sorta], and the price was right, but it just didn’t have the class nor the ambiance of the Fess Parker Doubletree Resort, or even the Hotel Mar Monte, both of which were on either side of us.

Oh, but so what! We didn’t go there for the room, or the ocean view. We went there for the wine, and there was lots of it. Three days worth. Most of which was pretty good. We even came across two wineries I think deserve mention. The first one being Cynthus, and the other Tercero.  I particularly liked the concept of Tercero. There are 4 different wine makers (who also work at some pretty prestigious wineries), who produce their own version of wine from the same grapes. It was fun comparing the different styles. And Cynthus, I thought made a good Cabernet Sauvignon.

Another problem, was while the event was billed as the California Wine Festival, it was mainly wineries from the central coast participating, and most of the wines were of the Rhone varietal. Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing (and had I read the website a little more closely, I would have known that), as I do enjoy Rhone wines, and Edie and I do need to expand our horizons from just Pinot Noir’s. Plus there was the token participation from wineries around the state.

All in all a good time was had, and I did get my share of much needed Vitamin D. Especially on my head. I probably should have worn a hat.

At last, a day that went off without a hitch.

Arrived at the airport at 6 AM in plenty of time for our 7:35 AM flight, which even managed to leave on time. The best part was Delta had sent our bags ahead last evening, and they were waiting for us at baggage claim at LAX when we arrived.

No waiting or fighting everyone to grab our bags. Delta finally got it right this time.

It feels so good to be home! Especially since we were out of green tea.

How difficult can it be to get an aircraft off the ground, on time, when the aircraft arrives the night before?

Well, leave it to Delta Airlines to accomplish the near impossible. Not only did the aircraft leave late from Roatan, but it left so late, we missed our connecting flight in Atlanta, which had a 2 hour cushion.

So here we are in the Atlanta airport Double Tree hotel (courtesy of Delta Airlines) spending yet one more night away from home, awaiting our 7:35 AM flight home tomorrow morning.

Hopefully by around 10:00 AM tomorrow, we’ll finally be able to put this ordeal behind us.

As it turned out Delta Airlines (the airline we are flying) was the only airline not flying in or out of Roatan today, so we’re stuck here [Roatan] for one more day.

At least they decided to fly in an additional, and bigger, aircraft tomorrow morning to relieve the situation, and fly everyone out of here. 

Unfortunately they didn’t give Edie and me, and one other in our group of 8, our business class tickets for the Atlanta to LA leg, despite having paid for them. Everyone else in our group got their business class tickets, but for some reason Delta decided the two sickest people on the airplane didn’t need theirs. Go figure.

Anyways, I complained, and of course played the sympathy card, and I think I remedied the situation. At least I’m hoping that’s the case.

I didn’t get a 100% written confirmation, but the Delta customer rep (Jenna) assured me it was fixed. I’ll know tomorrow for sure when we check in. I’m not sure what I’ll do if it isn’t fixed.

So in the mean time here I sit in our room drinking a cup of green tea, posting to my blog, and surfing the internet. Fortunately we still have our luggage, and they haven’t cut off my internet connection yet, but I am almost out of green tea.