Calling in the Marines

Yes, you read that title right. Me, my blistered feet, my mother, and my friends had to be rescued from the clutches of the idiotic Siri. No joke. It was humiliating. I blush to think about what happened yesterday. But I'm getting ahead of myself. You haven't heard about it yet. After you hear about what happened, you will be embarrassed for me, too.

The setup: two of my dear friends came down from TAC to share Thanksgiving with my family. It was so much fun. On Thursday we had a big, fun photo shoot while the turkey cooked, we watched movies and had Karen over for leftovers and games on Friday, and for Saturday I had planned a good old touristy day in downtown for the Ohio natives.

As we were driving down the freeway, we passed by MCAS Miramar. I remembered that Liz had mentioned that her brother was a Marine stationed in San Diego. I asked where he was stationed. She said she didn't know. That kind of startled me, but then I guess I've grown up down here and realize the variety of places he could be stationed within the county. Mum offered to bring Liz to see her brother, but she declined the offer, stating that he was up in the desert visiting his brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. She did text him, however, to ask where he was stationed (just to satisfy my curiosity, I think). He texted her back and said he was at MCRD and he was back in town. We were driving down there anyway, so we thought it would be silly not to have Liz meet up with her brother. We arranged to meet for lunch at Liberty Station.

We arrived at our destination somewhat earlier than our appointed lunch time, so we walked around to explore for a while. Chris (Liz's brother) told us to meet him at Tender Greens. Mum wanted to ask directions from the lady in the store that we were in, but being the man I am... I mean, the really stubborn, confident, independent girl that I am... did not want to ask someone for directions. I just searched for Tender Greens near our destination on my iPhone. It pinned it, gave an address, and we started walking. It looked like it was about a mile away, but we had 30 minutes to get there. The sun was out, but there was a beautifully cool breeze coming off the bay. We had a pleasant chat as we walked. We hit the condo part of Liberty Station, fully expecting to come to a more "foodish" area with shops and restaurants and things. We continued to approach the red dot on the map. Then we passed it. We walked back and forth, up and down side streets. There was nothing in sight except condos. Upon close inspection, it appeared as though the restaurant was in someone's backyard.

Uh. Oh.

I was absolutely flummoxed. I guess Siri took "tender greens" to mean garden plants? I have no idea. I called the restaurant, asking for directions. The lady just said to keep walking on the road we were on and we'd find it. So we kept walking... all the way to the edge of Liberty Station. I called again and I got some garbled directions about being across the street from a parking structure (which is not even in Liberty Station) and next to a Postal Annex (great landmark, right?) and behind (yes, behind, as in where it cannot be seen) the Vons. Great.

So we turned around and started walking the other way. I was very embarrassed. Siri had disappointed me. Made me walk miles in the wrong direction. That is the last time I trust that mean, nasty lady.

All this time, Liz had been texting her brother, giving him updates on our progress. When she told him where we were he responded with a "LOL, that's far." Way to make me feel better. I was so, so, so embarrassed. I am the sense-of-direction, get-us-where-we-need-to-go member of my family. I failed.

So I gave up. I sat on the corner and Liz called in the Marines. Technically, one Marine. Chris came and rescued us in his car and drove us to the restaurant, which was on a completely different street than the one the lady told us to walk along. And here's the kicker:

It was fifty feet from where we had started.

No joke. Right down the corridor hung a sign "Tender Greens."

I led a two mile excursion in the absolutely wrong direction, just trying to get almost exactly where we had started.

Oh.

My.

Goodness.

I went from failure to EPIC failure.

The girls weren't mad, and Mum and Chris thought it was hilarious. We had a delicious lunch and enjoyed a fabulous conversation. We sat and talked for a solid three hours. By the time we left the restaurant, got in the car, and made it to Cabrillo, it was all fogged in. Not exactly the view I was trying to show the girls, but it was still pretty and they seemed to enjoy it :)

On a lighter note, here's some of the pictures from our photo adventure :)

Hope your Thanksgiving was just as fun and less embarrassing than mine! :)

Military Love

Crickey. It's been a while.

In the past couple of weeks my life was turned upside-down, shaken violently, and then put back. Kind of like a snow globe. My brain kind of resembled that blizzard. The little fluttery pieces are falling back into place, though. They move slowly, suspended as they are in some sort of watery substance, but gravity wins out in the end.

Geez. I got excited about that metaphor. Moving on.

I would love to show you a new layout... but I ran out of adhesive. I know. TRAGEDY.  I was in the middle of a layout and POW, no more adhesive. Tears were shed.

So what I will do is tell you about the MCAS Miramar Airshow. It was on Saturday. It was fantabulous. There were loud, fast airplanes, big guns and explosions, paratroopers falling from thousands of feet up in the air...

... and cute men.

EVERYWHERE.

The last time I went to an airshow, I was 17. For some reason, the fact that there were cute, young, in-shape, uniformed men every five feet didn't make an impression. But it did this year. Oh man. Talk about a target-rich environment. I was so besottedly happy.

I spent most of the day flirting with talking to them. There was the Osprey pilot from Sacramento and the helicopter crew captain from Indiana. Then there were all of the men from the local battalions and squadrons selling stuff to raise money for their events. I may or may not have bought not one, but two, hoodies. One of which is an XL... it's huge. But I couldn't say no. How could I? The Death Rattlers are cool!

I should, however, consider more carefully the relative lengths of my hoodies and dresses before I combine them. Ha!

One of my favorite moments of the day was right at the beginning. The guy who was manning the metal detector at the gate asked me, "You want to go to Sea World? Six Flags? We can go anywhere you want, girl."

I love Marines.