Day 1 - Sunday at Saddleback (updated)
We made it to Palm Springs at 8:30 local time (10:30 Missouri time). I'm sitting in the resort lounge, listening to some bad piano bar music played on a keyboard, with vocals by some Oriental guy trying to sing love songs ("When I Fall in Love"). I walked in for a second to look it over. Most people are talking, a few are drinking, not many are paying attention to the music. I'll keep you posted on the repertoire. They apparently have live music every night and this is the only place to get Internet, so I'm in for a treat. Oh, now a guy is playing saxophone, too. He's a bit better than the vocalist, not quite as good as the pianist.
A short rundown of the day and a few pictures, then I'm off to bed. I'll do more reflecting on Saddleback tomorrow and post more about it later.
A fascinating day all around. A few strange things happened, but we coped well.
1. Up at 5:30 and on the road by 7:00 am. Truly amazing. The kids did great. We stopped at both rest stops on I-70 between Columbia and KC, but we planned on that. I followed the suggested directions to the airport, but found out that the I-29 bridge over the Missouri river is CLOSED for renovations. Nice to find out one exit before you have to turn. I proved not to be the typical male, and I immediately stopped for directions, provided by a hotel employee smoking a cigarette on her break. Back on the road, we made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare.
2. (The band is finishing up "The Shadow of Your Smile") My first time flying Midwest Airlines proved to be a mixed bag, but mostly good. Very few people were working the counter or baggage security. Therefore, the lines were long. Thankfully in KCI, the security line is very short, and it isn't far to walk to the gates. We made it through security with 30 minutes to spare.
Funny story . . . Adam brought scissors in his bag to do some art project. We had told him he needed to put them in a suitcase, but he forgot. So right before we are to walk through security, he gets the guilty conscience and tells us he's got the scissors. I asked the lady at security what she thought (they're CHILDREN'S scissors), and she said they might need to be thrown away. While she wasn't looking, I took them and shoved them deep in my computer bag. I told Adam if they saw the scissors, we would throw them away, if not, we wouldn't get them out. Either way, no one would get hurt.
The security scanner was manned by a 65 year old guy, who apparently didn't see them or didn't think they posed much of a risk. And so, we kept the scissors. I'm not sure what lesson Adam learned from it . . . Dad is a criminal or airport security is inept. Maybe both.
The plane was nicely furnished with leather seats, only seating 88 passengers. This enables two flight attendants to serve people well. Every seat was full for the non-stop to LA. KC is a hub for Midwest Airlines, and they serve about a dozen cities nonstop out of KCI. Not bad service for a budget airline. I would rate it above Southwest or American Airlines, but not quite up to EVA air.
3. (The band is boogieing to "Hallelujah, I Love Her So".) Another LAX nightmare. First of all, it's 45 minutes until the luggage arrives in the carousel. Then, it's another 40 minutes until the rental car shuttle shows up. (This time we went with Budget after our bad service with Alamo last month.) Ironically, we saw a half-dozen Alamo shuttles in the amount of time that we waited for ONE Budget shuttle. But the people at Budget were nice to work with, and they even let me choose the van I wanted, a Chevy Uplander. It was the same model we got last time. A quick drive through Burger King for lunch (supper) at 3:30 p.m. We had 1 hour till church at Saddleback, and that's what Google predicted it would take us to drive there.
4. No traffic problems, an easy drive to Lake Forest, California. Very helpful parking lot attendants and it was easy to find a space on their HUGE campus. We took several pictures, which I'll post later. Short report on the service: Rick Warren wasn't preaching (Lance Witt was the speaker of the day). Rick Muchow was leading worship and the band was incredible. (Watch them sing "Shout to the Lord" by clicking here.) Anna and Alex loved the kids programming. Adam wasn't impressed because they never used the Bible and didn't have the words to the songs on the screen. The campus was beautiful and was more like a resort than a church.
Here we are there:
5. It was a two hour drive to Palm Springs, through some pretty mountains, Corona, Riverside, and Beaumont. Alex fell asleep and the kids alternated between watching Hunchback of Notre Dame and being amazed at the mountains around us. It was 72 degrees when we left LA, an absolutely gorgeous summer afternoon. As we drove towards Palm Springs, it stayed in the mid seventies. When we hit the city limits, it started climbing and got up to 92 by the time we pulled into the parking lot at the resort. I guess that's why they call it the DESERT!
6. The band is getting ready to sing the last song, covering a Ray Charles - Willie Nelson song, "Seven Spanish Angels"(?). That means I'm just about done. Plus the battery is almost dead. So we'll add more tomorrow.
A short rundown of the day and a few pictures, then I'm off to bed. I'll do more reflecting on Saddleback tomorrow and post more about it later.
A fascinating day all around. A few strange things happened, but we coped well.
1. Up at 5:30 and on the road by 7:00 am. Truly amazing. The kids did great. We stopped at both rest stops on I-70 between Columbia and KC, but we planned on that. I followed the suggested directions to the airport, but found out that the I-29 bridge over the Missouri river is CLOSED for renovations. Nice to find out one exit before you have to turn. I proved not to be the typical male, and I immediately stopped for directions, provided by a hotel employee smoking a cigarette on her break. Back on the road, we made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare.
2. (The band is finishing up "The Shadow of Your Smile") My first time flying Midwest Airlines proved to be a mixed bag, but mostly good. Very few people were working the counter or baggage security. Therefore, the lines were long. Thankfully in KCI, the security line is very short, and it isn't far to walk to the gates. We made it through security with 30 minutes to spare.
Funny story . . . Adam brought scissors in his bag to do some art project. We had told him he needed to put them in a suitcase, but he forgot. So right before we are to walk through security, he gets the guilty conscience and tells us he's got the scissors. I asked the lady at security what she thought (they're CHILDREN'S scissors), and she said they might need to be thrown away. While she wasn't looking, I took them and shoved them deep in my computer bag. I told Adam if they saw the scissors, we would throw them away, if not, we wouldn't get them out. Either way, no one would get hurt.
The security scanner was manned by a 65 year old guy, who apparently didn't see them or didn't think they posed much of a risk. And so, we kept the scissors. I'm not sure what lesson Adam learned from it . . . Dad is a criminal or airport security is inept. Maybe both.
The plane was nicely furnished with leather seats, only seating 88 passengers. This enables two flight attendants to serve people well. Every seat was full for the non-stop to LA. KC is a hub for Midwest Airlines, and they serve about a dozen cities nonstop out of KCI. Not bad service for a budget airline. I would rate it above Southwest or American Airlines, but not quite up to EVA air.
3. (The band is boogieing to "Hallelujah, I Love Her So".) Another LAX nightmare. First of all, it's 45 minutes until the luggage arrives in the carousel. Then, it's another 40 minutes until the rental car shuttle shows up. (This time we went with Budget after our bad service with Alamo last month.) Ironically, we saw a half-dozen Alamo shuttles in the amount of time that we waited for ONE Budget shuttle. But the people at Budget were nice to work with, and they even let me choose the van I wanted, a Chevy Uplander. It was the same model we got last time. A quick drive through Burger King for lunch (supper) at 3:30 p.m. We had 1 hour till church at Saddleback, and that's what Google predicted it would take us to drive there.
4. No traffic problems, an easy drive to Lake Forest, California. Very helpful parking lot attendants and it was easy to find a space on their HUGE campus. We took several pictures, which I'll post later. Short report on the service: Rick Warren wasn't preaching (Lance Witt was the speaker of the day). Rick Muchow was leading worship and the band was incredible. (Watch them sing "Shout to the Lord" by clicking here.) Anna and Alex loved the kids programming. Adam wasn't impressed because they never used the Bible and didn't have the words to the songs on the screen. The campus was beautiful and was more like a resort than a church.
Here we are there:
5. It was a two hour drive to Palm Springs, through some pretty mountains, Corona, Riverside, and Beaumont. Alex fell asleep and the kids alternated between watching Hunchback of Notre Dame and being amazed at the mountains around us. It was 72 degrees when we left LA, an absolutely gorgeous summer afternoon. As we drove towards Palm Springs, it stayed in the mid seventies. When we hit the city limits, it started climbing and got up to 92 by the time we pulled into the parking lot at the resort. I guess that's why they call it the DESERT!
6. The band is getting ready to sing the last song, covering a Ray Charles - Willie Nelson song, "Seven Spanish Angels"(?). That means I'm just about done. Plus the battery is almost dead. So we'll add more tomorrow.
posted by Central Christian College of the Bible at
12:37 AM
