A New Day; A New Adventure!

 Monday, April 1, 2024

It’s not an April Fool’s Day joke!  I’m really at the airport waiting for my flight to Atlanta.  I’ll meet Ginger there and we’ll fly on to Guadalajara to begin this Solar Eclipse Adventure! I was up at 2:45 and on the road by 4:00.  Amazingly enough it only takes thirty minutes to get to Betsy’s when you’re the only one on the road!  And, marvelous friend that she is, Betsy was out of her door before I was even out of my car!

At the airport there was a huge line for baggage drop off, and another for security.  Sure glad I’ve got TSA pre-check!!  A stop for a chai latte and I’m all settled at the gate by 5:45 for my 7:10 flight. Now it’s just time to sit and wait…

We leave on time but have to wait for a chance to get into the air.  I only have a small window to change planes in Atlanta so I'm a bit antsy.  But I've got faith in Delta, so we'll see!  The movie is "A Haunting in Venice" with Kenneth Branagh directing and starring as Hercule Poirot.  Too bad I drifted in and out and didn't really watch it! I even missed the water and chips delivery! The real concern, though, is that we land only to find that there is still another plane at our gate!  At first they say it will be twenty or twenty-five minutes before it's our turn!  No bueno!  But they find us another gate and I hot-foot it to the plane train for terminal E.  Ginger and I have been texting so I know what gate without stopping at a display, which saves a bit of time, and when I get there they are already boarding first class.  But there are a lot of people and I have time for a pit stop!  Yay!

In case it gets lost, it's good to have a photo !

Bye-bye TPA flamingo

I sent this to Ginger so she's know exactly where I was!

We are in different rows, but that's fine.  I get to watch "Anatomy of a Fall" the Palme d'Or winner in 2023 and almost all of "American Fiction" which I will definitely finish on the way home.

We land and breeze through immigration but I trigger something at customs and the young man goes through everything in my suitcase! Ah, well.  That's done and we exit to find Juan and Lisa, Ginger's forever friend, waiting for us.  There's time for a rest stop and then it's into a taxi and off to Hotel de Mendoza, about forty-five minutes away.

Mandatory airport welcome sign!

The Mexican eagle

Cool lamppost base

We're here!

There must be a story behind this old adding machine!

Views from my balcony

Lots of beautiful glass everywhere

Spacious dining room

Tacos dorado de pollo

Interesting artwork wherever you look, and lots of hand-carved wood.

It's a lovely hotel and walking distance from the historical center of Guadalajara.  We are the advanced guard, with the rest of the group arriving in stages tomorrow, so for tonight I have the room to myself!  We all disperse to our rooms to get settled in and regroup downstairs for a late lunch.  Ginger's old friend from college days, Norm Dodge, is going to meet us and Ginger explains that he and Dan's family went to high school together!  He was the only one of their friends to actually made the trek to their wedding but she hasn't seen him since she was pregnant with Ben!

Norm is a trip!  He's lived in Guadalajara for decades and is so very proud of his city.  He regales us with stories of his life and extolls the virtues of the city for a couple of hours and we discuss plans for the rest of the time we will be here.  We agree to have a bit of a rest and meet him again at 6:40 for sunset.

After a too-short lie down Ginger, Juan, and I go up to the terrace on the fifth floor and discover the marelous view of the city.  Soon Lisa finds us and Ginger goes down to the lobby to retrieve Norm.  It's a beautiful sunset - even without an ocean to eat that golden ball!

Note the owl

Thank goodness we don't have to buy film any more!

When it's finally too dark to keep us tethered to the terrace, Norm takes us on a walking tour of his city and, eventually, to dinner.  We try the DoubleTree because the view is lovely but they can't accommodate us, so we go to La Antigua alta cocina Mexicana, a popular spot with a view of the cathedral.  I order the cathedral salad and hope I haven't made a mistake.  Norm assures me that it will be fine!

The plaza is the evening gathering place for families.

The DoubleTree has interesting art.

Those are screws!

About half way down, check out the bullfighting chiles!

Views from the restaurant.

We closed the place down.  Norm barely stopped talking long enough to eat!

We've changed time zones and my body thinks it's nearly midnight and that I've walked about 9,000 steps, so it's time to head home and crash, even though it's nearly ten, local time. Straight to bed!  tomorrow is another day and I don't have to be downstairs until nine!!