Hurricane Sandy

Last weekend we flew to San Luis Obispo, California to meet with our daughter, Holly, and her boyfriend, Ryan, who drove down from San Francisco.  Our son, Jeff, and his girlfriend, Christine, also flew out from Massachusetts to meet us there.  We chose it as a vacation spot because of its reputed beauty and because none of us had ever been there before.  It was a great weekend with beautiful weather.  We rented a house in Oceano Beach within view of the ocean with a fire pit and grill.  Delightful!  On Friday, we took a dune buggy and ATVs out onto the miles of dramatic dunes along the coast.  What an experience!   You can't do this stuff anymore around here, so it was quite a thrill.

Gretchen and I planned to return to Boston Sunday night while the rest of them drove up to Holly and Ryan's one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco for a few more days, but because of Superstorm Sandy, our flight was cancelled.  After spending 3 hours on hold trying to contact United Airlines, I finally figured out that driving to the airport and talking to a real person might work. We eventually talked to a real agent in person and found that the first available flight to Boston was on Thursday, so we scheduled our return from SF and drove up to squeeze in with the others in Holly's apartment near Haight Ashbury.

We discovered that our house in West Newbury had escaped any damage, but the power was out for an undetermined duration.  In the mean time, we struggled through our ordeal by trying to make the best of it.  Here I am as we sampled the dungeness crabs on Fisherman's Wharf.  How tough is that?  I have to admit that I wasn't terribly distressed about the change in our travel plans.

If our flight hadn't been canceled, we could have been back here sitting in the dark with no TV and candles flickering around us.  Hmmm.  As it turns out, we had a great time with our family for those few days.  Here they are ready to go out partying on Halloween.  Since we had to get up at oh-dark-thirty for our flight, we decided to turn in early.  Oh to be young again!

When we finally got home last night, to our dismay the power was still out!  Fortunately, it came back on about 4:00 this morning, so everything is fine here now (except for all the perishables in the fridge and freezer that we had to throw out).  In retrospect, our timing couldn't have been any better.

On the down side, we hadn't planned for an extended stay away from home, so we didn't take any extra meds with us.  Gretchen was able to get a few days supply of her prescriptions, but I went without all of my mine for 4 days, which included my daily Revlimid doses, as well as my anti-viral (Valacyclovir) and antibiotic (Bactrim) pills.  So far, I don't seem to have suffered any ill effects, so I guess it's OK (I hope).  Next time I travel, I may plan a little better for unforeseen contingencies. 

Because of these travel delays, my video panel discussion has been postponed until Wednesday of next week.  I am really looking forward to participating in this.