Sometimes it's nice to get away, but........

   Sometimes it's nice to get away, do a bit of traveling and see other parts of the country and how others live. When that opportunity arises for me, however, it often serves more as a reality check.

   Last week I spent a few days on the West Coast. That's what the natives call it. They don't call it California. It wasn't a pleasure trip, though, so I didn't have a lot of time to see the local sights, although there were a few "local sights" moving around in LAX.

   I have been to Los Angeles before, so I was somewhat familiar with the area and where I was headed. The City of Angels? Let me think about that for a moment. I am not sure I saw too many angels.

   The trip West can often be a bear and this trip was to be one of those times. I am not sure how long the flight time normally is, especially with all the time changes and stuff, but when the airplane pilot says its going to be a bit of a bumpy ride in spots and a bit longer in time than usual, that should be a hint.

   For me, when heading west, sometimes it seems you  get there before you leave and even when you are warned the trip may take a bit longer, often that still happens and this trip was no exception. It was a long time on the plane. But the good news......even with the added flight time,  I still arrived at a reasonable hour in the late afternoon. The bad news..... they ran out of food on the plane at row 21. I was in row 29 and there were still at least 5 more  rows  behind me. Several passengers behind me were not happy, especially since they had paid for lunch in advance. Oh well! Good time to start dieting before the holiday food rush.

   The trip from the airport to the hotel can be an adventure in itself  and I have a lot a respect for those who drive the shuttles hour after hour, day after day. The traffic in Los Angeles, the City of Angels, is frightening. When we stopped it took several minutes for the lady next to me to unwrap her fingers from the seat back in front of her where she had gripped so tightly. Those were not 'angels' driving cars. Six lane highways and high rates of speed  is a far cry from the 'one traffic light' town where I live, where our local police officer  sits in the parking lot of the local grocery store, attempting to catch speeders doing 5 mph over the speed limit down Somerset Ave.

   This was a working trip, so there was not time to get out and sight see, especially as someone my age attempts to adjust to the time changes. The clock on the night stand said its only 3:30 AM, but my internal clock kept telling me its 6:30. Should I get up and go exercise in the fitness center? Are you crazy? Why would I do that? I don't even work out at the local fitness center at home! OK. Maybe I can roll over and go back to sleep for a few minutes. And that's what it was, a few minutes! The new time on the clock was now 4:10 AM.

   The hotel was only a few brief steps from the Staple Center, the home of the Lakers, the Kings, and who knows who else. The enthusiasm for sports teams and entertainment in the area is displayed everywhere.

   And food? I will bet within a stones throw of the hotel, and not including the hotel restaurants, there were 20-25 restaurants, all shape, all sizes, and cuisines.

   After three days of hard work and jammed packed training, it was time to return home.

   The nice thing about coming home from anywhere west of Maine are the tail winds. The travel time not only seems much shorter but it usually is. See what a stiff breeze from behind will do?    
   But as with life in general and a strong breeze at your back, there are always trade offs. Sixty to seventy degree temperatures would give way to twenty to thirty degrees and chances are, upon arrival, it would be dark and much later, and I was just beginning to get used to the time change. And about the snow on my car in the parking lot due to the mid-week storm? I thought the airport staff might at least have cleaned off the windshield! Silly me.

   It's been a couple of days now and I am still trying to catch up on lost sleep, jet lag, and doing the laundry. It is nice to get away every once and awhile and see how the rest of the world lives, beyond the pine trees.  
   But traveling and seeing other places also serves to remind me of the choices I  made to live where I live, far away from the large cities and metropolitan areas, away from speeding traffic and crowded highways, and the long lines of people waiting to get into the movie theaters,  to live in town with only one traffic light and a police officer who sits mostly unnoticed behind the trees in the parking lot of the local shopping area, drinking a cup of coffee, eyes peeled to catch the next speeding vehicle on Somerset Avenue.  It is nice to get away every once and a while, but it's really nice to get back home too.  

  ( Christmas at the Staples Center (Is it the tree or Christmas that is sponsored by Coke?)