Crazy Vacation (1)

Our flight was cancelled because soon after we took off the windshield on the plane broke a huge track, so we had to make an emergency landing at LA. Nothing scary happened. It's just it's unsafe to continue flying. If the window really broke off in the air, we would be in serious trouble.

There were over 100 people on the flight. To make all of us get on other flights was quite a task. We were transported to John Wayne Airport in Orange County (nearly 1 hour bus ride) to catch other flights but only 20+ people could make the next flight. John and I were lucky enough to get on the next available flight at 3:40 pm). Some people had to stay over night in Orange County or LA, I believe.

We were supposed to arrive Portland at about 1pm but because of this delay, we didn't get there until 6:30 pm (06.26.2004). I guess it's not bad. But our 2.5 days vacation was shorten to 2 days.


Sat 06.26.2004

Picked up the rental car; drove to NW 21st Ken's Artisan Bakery for authentic French breads; hung out at NW 23rd for a little bit and ate at Pizzacato -- great gourmet pizzas that we were not able to find in San Diego.

If we weren't delayed, we would have gone berry picking with John's friend, Sam, in the afternoon.

We had been friends with Sam and his wife Yukiko since 2001. Yukiko was taking a tour group to Japan for 3 weeks the same morning we left for Portland (6-26-04). In other words, we'd not see her during this visit.

While we were in LAX waiting in line to see what flight the (Alaska) airline agent was going to assign us, Yukiko came up to us and said, "What are you doing here?" (about 12:30 pm)

I couldn't believe my eyes. All John could blur out was, "What are YOU doing here?"

Yukiko said, "I'm here to meet you."

"No way... This is like Twilight Zone." John seemed freaked.

We were not supposed to be at LAX and what the chances were for Yukiko be at that gate? Alaska ran who-knows-how-many boarding areas in LAX... We didn't even know what airline she's taking. There were so many routes to go to Japan from Portland.

Finally, she told us one person in her tour group was missing. The flight was about to take off in 20 minutes. She was looking all over for this person.

Due to a simple twist of fate, we met up with Yukiko, for 5 minutes, after 2 years.

The first night we didn't arrive at my friend's house (Jake's) until 8:30pm and then we talked until 2am.

Jake and Mina's first born, Peanut, was 14 months old. You bet that she was the center of attention of we 4 adults. Peanut wasn't shy at all. She came up to us right away even though that was the first time she saw John and I.

We flipped trough 3 albums of sure Peanut, each about 3 inches thick. Then we looked at some more photos of their trip to India.

Jake and Mina were very kind and almost insisted on us staying with them for the next 2 nights. But we knew it would be hard because we'd need to plan everything around Peanut's schedule. I wouldn't want them stay up late for us. So for the next 2 nights, we booked a hotel downtown.

Still, we tried to catch up for 2 years worth of stuff. Since they became parents, they hadn't had much time to write us. John and I finally gave in to sleep bug at about 2 am.