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Check-in time at most timeshares is 4pm. It's not exactly set in stone but pretty close. Even with our leisurely drive along the back roads between Palm Desert and Carlsbad, it's pretty difficult to use up more than 2 or 3 hours. We enjoyed the drive since it was all new territory to us but the back side of Palomar Observatory looks much like the front side and the fields of sheep and their little lambs are fun at first but after awhile they all look pretty much the same. It was a surprise to discover that there is so much open country down in Southern Calif. I'm sort of a No. Ca. snob. I always thought once you get past Bakersfield and over the Tejone Pass that everything is just one huge sea of housing developments and gigantic eight lane freeways with bumper to bumper gridlock. Boy was I wrong. There are miles & miles of rolling hills full of horses, cattle and sheep. Much of that open space is off limits to the developers since it is either Indian Reservation lands or owned by the military. There are a few bazillion dollar McMansions scattered along the ridge tops but there's not as much urban sprawl as I had expected until you get closer to the coast.
So, we stretched a 1 & 1/2 hour drive into close to 3, "ooohing" and "aaahing" our way past the little lakes and ranch lands dotted with early Spring wildflowers and arrived at the swanky Four Seasons Resort around 1pm.
We fully expected that we would have to hang around the pool until we could check into our condo which wouldn't be much of a hardship, believe me, but we were pleasantly surprised when informed by Mr. Bronzed Hunk at the reception desk that our rooms were ready. Yay! But upon inspection, although the location was fabulous, an end unit with a lovely view and it's own private little backyard filled with perfectly groomed flowers in full bloom, access involved a long schlep from the parking area and then down two flights of stairs. We are not exactly ready for the "home" just yet but we are old enough to qualify for Denny's senior breakfast special and the prospect of carting a car load of stuff down those stairs to set up housekeeping for the week was daunting so back to reception I trudged. Mr. Hunk was quite gracious and switched us to a unit with no stairs, only a few steps from a parking space, and never once mentioned how much I look like his dear grandmother. That Four Seasons outfit trains their personnel well.
Take a look at these digs.
Nice, huh! Keep in mind, I live in a barn decorated with stuff from Levitz and garage sale freebies so I'm easily impressed when the bedside lamps match. Once we had unloaded little Suzie Subaru and settled in, I took advantage of the complimentary computer in the poolside lounge to check my e-mail. A few months back, Odaddy & I had realized our stays would overlap by a day and we might be able to meet. Sure enough, he had left me a message that he & the Mrs. would be in the cocktail lounge after dinner. Honey and I walked on over and settled onto a comfy couch, ordered a drink and settled back to enjoy the live music while we waited for Mr & Mrs Odaddy. The band was some well known blues/jazz guy from So. Ca. I guess he's pretty good, but I wouldn't be a good judge since my taste runs more towards long dead folk singers from the 60's or classic rock and roll. We did eventually get to meet the Odaddys and had a fun but too short visit. Their friends who had come on the trip with them were waiting and it was their last evening to enjoy the resort. It's always fun to meet other forum members in person. Getting the bar tab wasn't so much fun, though. The martinis were good but not $15 apiece good.
We pretty much just vegged for the next couple of days. We've stayed here several times and done a lot of sight seeing in the area already. If we had been feeling more energetic we could have gone for a walk along Bataquitos Lagoon.
But it was kinda windy so we didn't. A drive down the coast to LaJolla is fun and the walk along the beach there is great.
But we did that the last time we were here so we skipped it this time.
We love San Diego and Coronado Island. A stroll around The Del and a drink out on the patio at the bar sounded good.
But we did that last time, too, so we just strolled around the 4 Seasons Hotel instead.
Interesting statuary doncha think?
The floral arrangements in the lobby are pretty impressive.
We did go to Laguna Beach, though. We had a lunch date with Emmy (iconnections) and her hubby Peter who were staying at their timeshare right on the beach. We haven't spent much time exploring Laguna on previous visits and now I know why. There is no place to park! We went to dinner there last fall but we just handed the keys to the valet at the restaurant so parking wasn't a problem. This time we drove around for awhile just trying to find a public lot where we then fed a handful of dollar bills into the machine to get a ticket for our dash so we wouldn't get a humongous fine or return from lunch to find our little Suzie towed away to jail. What ever happened to parking meters that took pennies and nickles? No wonder Laguna Beach is such a prosperous city. They make a ton of money from all the parking fees. Other cities should take note. To heck with government stimulus handouts...just put in a bunch of parking meters and watch the money roll in.
Lunch with Emmy and Peter was a blast.
Emmy put out a great spread. Very European with olives and cheeses and sliced meats and fresh fruits. And good wine, too. It was Emmy's birthday and Dear Mom had made a lovely lemon cake as our contribution. I mentioned before that we take along our "camp" box with various supplies that we like to have along that are rarely included in timeshare kitchens. We always take a baking dish for pie but this time we forgot the bundt pan for cake. A call to housekeeping was in order. Mr. Pleasant Voice assured me he would find me one. He called back a few minutes later to ask if an angel food cake pan would work because if not, they would have a bundt pan for me by 2pm. I assured him that the angel food cake pan would suffice and thanked him very much. I'm telling you, those folks at Four Seasons sure know how to do the customer service thing. No wonder the maintenence fees there are astronomical. The daily maid service is a bit over the top for me and actually a bit of an inconvenience at times but I do love how accomodating the staff is there. And the daily paper at your door and those fancy bath products are nice touches, too.
The view from Emmy's condo is fabulous. Really, really windy but very pretty. We could have stayed all day yakking away while trying to spot whales but we ran out of dollar bills to feed the parking meter! Thanks again for the lovely lunch, Emmy. Next time we'll bring more cash for the parking and stay all day!
Tuesday was another highlight for me. My quilting buddy, Libby, and I had made a date to go quilt shop hopping together. I got to know Libby through my blog and met her in person on my last Carlsbad vacation. She picked me up about nine-ish and we headed out to do our part to stimulate the economy. We did a darn fine job, too. I found a bunch of fabric that needed to come home with me and a pattern to add to my collection of quilts I may or may not ever get around to making.
I don't buy many patterns but I'm a sucker for Christmasy stuff. And even though I'm about as good at applique as I am at, say, pole vaulting, I'm confident that I can master it someday. Unlike pole vaulting which I probably am not going to become any better at in my lifetime even though I would like to believe I could if I really wanted to.
That evening, Libby and her cute hubby joined us for dinner. Mr. Barn made his seafood crepes and Dear Mom made an apple pie for dessert. We spent the evening chatting away while enjoying the lovely wine they brought (along with some of Libby's homemade jam which I'll be enjoying later.) I hated to see the day come to an end but Mr. Libby had to report to work in the morning, unlike us retired folk. We said our goodbyes with plans to get together again soon.
The rest of our week was rather boring after all that visiting. I managed to sew a little on the quilt project I brought along in between refreshing my cocktail and trips to the pool. Mr. Barn knitted a few more rows on The Blanket he's making for our new grandbaby due in May (the knitting project is a whole nother story.) Dear Mom read a lot. I think she was worn out from all that pie & cake making. It's tough being retired but we do what we must.
Next, we head for Arizona for some warmer temperatures and, hopefully, less wind.
So, we stretched a 1 & 1/2 hour drive into close to 3, "ooohing" and "aaahing" our way past the little lakes and ranch lands dotted with early Spring wildflowers and arrived at the swanky Four Seasons Resort around 1pm.
We fully expected that we would have to hang around the pool until we could check into our condo which wouldn't be much of a hardship, believe me, but we were pleasantly surprised when informed by Mr. Bronzed Hunk at the reception desk that our rooms were ready. Yay! But upon inspection, although the location was fabulous, an end unit with a lovely view and it's own private little backyard filled with perfectly groomed flowers in full bloom, access involved a long schlep from the parking area and then down two flights of stairs. We are not exactly ready for the "home" just yet but we are old enough to qualify for Denny's senior breakfast special and the prospect of carting a car load of stuff down those stairs to set up housekeeping for the week was daunting so back to reception I trudged. Mr. Hunk was quite gracious and switched us to a unit with no stairs, only a few steps from a parking space, and never once mentioned how much I look like his dear grandmother. That Four Seasons outfit trains their personnel well.
Take a look at these digs.
Nice, huh! Keep in mind, I live in a barn decorated with stuff from Levitz and garage sale freebies so I'm easily impressed when the bedside lamps match. Once we had unloaded little Suzie Subaru and settled in, I took advantage of the complimentary computer in the poolside lounge to check my e-mail. A few months back, Odaddy & I had realized our stays would overlap by a day and we might be able to meet. Sure enough, he had left me a message that he & the Mrs. would be in the cocktail lounge after dinner. Honey and I walked on over and settled onto a comfy couch, ordered a drink and settled back to enjoy the live music while we waited for Mr & Mrs Odaddy. The band was some well known blues/jazz guy from So. Ca. I guess he's pretty good, but I wouldn't be a good judge since my taste runs more towards long dead folk singers from the 60's or classic rock and roll. We did eventually get to meet the Odaddys and had a fun but too short visit. Their friends who had come on the trip with them were waiting and it was their last evening to enjoy the resort. It's always fun to meet other forum members in person. Getting the bar tab wasn't so much fun, though. The martinis were good but not $15 apiece good.
We pretty much just vegged for the next couple of days. We've stayed here several times and done a lot of sight seeing in the area already. If we had been feeling more energetic we could have gone for a walk along Bataquitos Lagoon.
But it was kinda windy so we didn't. A drive down the coast to LaJolla is fun and the walk along the beach there is great.
But we did that the last time we were here so we skipped it this time.
We love San Diego and Coronado Island. A stroll around The Del and a drink out on the patio at the bar sounded good.
But we did that last time, too, so we just strolled around the 4 Seasons Hotel instead.
Interesting statuary doncha think?
The floral arrangements in the lobby are pretty impressive.
We did go to Laguna Beach, though. We had a lunch date with Emmy (iconnections) and her hubby Peter who were staying at their timeshare right on the beach. We haven't spent much time exploring Laguna on previous visits and now I know why. There is no place to park! We went to dinner there last fall but we just handed the keys to the valet at the restaurant so parking wasn't a problem. This time we drove around for awhile just trying to find a public lot where we then fed a handful of dollar bills into the machine to get a ticket for our dash so we wouldn't get a humongous fine or return from lunch to find our little Suzie towed away to jail. What ever happened to parking meters that took pennies and nickles? No wonder Laguna Beach is such a prosperous city. They make a ton of money from all the parking fees. Other cities should take note. To heck with government stimulus handouts...just put in a bunch of parking meters and watch the money roll in.
Lunch with Emmy and Peter was a blast.
Emmy put out a great spread. Very European with olives and cheeses and sliced meats and fresh fruits. And good wine, too. It was Emmy's birthday and Dear Mom had made a lovely lemon cake as our contribution. I mentioned before that we take along our "camp" box with various supplies that we like to have along that are rarely included in timeshare kitchens. We always take a baking dish for pie but this time we forgot the bundt pan for cake. A call to housekeeping was in order. Mr. Pleasant Voice assured me he would find me one. He called back a few minutes later to ask if an angel food cake pan would work because if not, they would have a bundt pan for me by 2pm. I assured him that the angel food cake pan would suffice and thanked him very much. I'm telling you, those folks at Four Seasons sure know how to do the customer service thing. No wonder the maintenence fees there are astronomical. The daily maid service is a bit over the top for me and actually a bit of an inconvenience at times but I do love how accomodating the staff is there. And the daily paper at your door and those fancy bath products are nice touches, too.
The view from Emmy's condo is fabulous. Really, really windy but very pretty. We could have stayed all day yakking away while trying to spot whales but we ran out of dollar bills to feed the parking meter! Thanks again for the lovely lunch, Emmy. Next time we'll bring more cash for the parking and stay all day!
Tuesday was another highlight for me. My quilting buddy, Libby, and I had made a date to go quilt shop hopping together. I got to know Libby through my blog and met her in person on my last Carlsbad vacation. She picked me up about nine-ish and we headed out to do our part to stimulate the economy. We did a darn fine job, too. I found a bunch of fabric that needed to come home with me and a pattern to add to my collection of quilts I may or may not ever get around to making.
I don't buy many patterns but I'm a sucker for Christmasy stuff. And even though I'm about as good at applique as I am at, say, pole vaulting, I'm confident that I can master it someday. Unlike pole vaulting which I probably am not going to become any better at in my lifetime even though I would like to believe I could if I really wanted to.
That evening, Libby and her cute hubby joined us for dinner. Mr. Barn made his seafood crepes and Dear Mom made an apple pie for dessert. We spent the evening chatting away while enjoying the lovely wine they brought (along with some of Libby's homemade jam which I'll be enjoying later.) I hated to see the day come to an end but Mr. Libby had to report to work in the morning, unlike us retired folk. We said our goodbyes with plans to get together again soon.
The rest of our week was rather boring after all that visiting. I managed to sew a little on the quilt project I brought along in between refreshing my cocktail and trips to the pool. Mr. Barn knitted a few more rows on The Blanket he's making for our new grandbaby due in May (the knitting project is a whole nother story.) Dear Mom read a lot. I think she was worn out from all that pie & cake making. It's tough being retired but we do what we must.
Next, we head for Arizona for some warmer temperatures and, hopefully, less wind.
but where was this picture taken? I don't recognize it at all?
I am looking forward to your reports of visiting Arizona. 
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