California Dreaming: On the Ground and At the Catamaran

Tuesday, October 13

(Photos: Night View from the Room- SJS/2009, and Catamaran Resort- LCS/2009)

We arrived at the airport around 1p.m. California time. Woo Hoo! We gained three hours! We gathered our suitcase and headed to The Catamaran. Our journey started out a bit like a National Lampoon's California Vacation. Our first hotel room was crappy; small and directly facing the parking lot. We dropped our luggage in the crappy hotel room and went to the restaurant for a bite to eat. Unfortunately, the restaurant just closed. Hmm... We managed to eat at the bar but the view was not as good. After we had lunch, we went back to the room. All I wanted to do was take a shower and a quick nap before we ventured out. Well, I go to take my shower and at the bottom of the drain was hair. Hair that did not belong to us. GAH!

Okay, that was it. I dressed, called the manager, asserted myself, gave them the details of what happened, and insisted on an upgrade. We got it. The kindly bellhop took our belongings and gave us a much better room on the 11th floor overlooking the ocean and the city. Much better.

We thanked the bellhop and gave him a tip. After we settled in, I attempted to take a shower.

Again, I saw hair in the shower drain that was not ours! This is like what a hair episode of the Twilight Zone would be. I asked Steve to call because my patience had just ended. He called and housekeeping came up and cleaned the tub and scrubbed the bathroom. The housekeeping manager apologized. (I eventually took the damn shower). And took a long nap. In the evening, we texted our friend L., and he took us to a charming surfer bar within walking distance. It was cool. After chatting for a few hours, Steve and I walked back to the room and crashed for the night.