Oh not again, in Anaheim
part 3 of the Rick travel series
I was talking to a member and she suggested that I might be nice to write some travel stories. I certainly have a more than a few, so over the next few days I will tell the stories, as I remember them. I bet other onlookers have different impressions, but of course mine are correct. LOL
I love California and given the chance to go back after the earthquake, I said yes right away. This time I was on my way to Anaheim and after San Francisco, Anaheim is a great place to visit. I flew into Oranges County airport via LAX and we arrived in good shape and checked into the Holiday Inn across the street from the convention center. As I recall we (there were four of us) had a great convertible. Ahh California, the sun, beach, warm days, cool nights, it was perfect.
I was there to sell my city as a place to locate businesses related to the automotive or electronics industry. We had a great booth space in the Anaheim convention center. It was going to be a great week, work all day, nice dinners, even some fun as the convention attendees were going to Medieval Times for dinner entertainment one evening. I also planned a meal at the Claim Jumper restaurant across the street form Knott’s Berry Farms.
Upon our return from the Claim Jumper our party decided to separate. Two of use was going to retire for the evening and two were chasing additional night life. That is really when things went downhill fast. While in the parking lot I was sitting in the car with a co attendee discussing a business prospect, when the hotel manager approached the car to find out why we were there, a good precaution actually. The driver stepped out to discuss the matter with the hotel manager and after a while I stepped out as well. Without thinking I locked the doors. We were trapped. The car was running, and the keys were inside.
I called the rental car company, no help. We attempted to use a coat hanger to open the door. Two hours later the police came through to find two men attempting to break into the car. We explained our problem and they offered to help provided we could show we owned the car. Well that was difficult, since we did not own it. They chuckled and left. After three hours the hanger finally worked. Pop we were in. Of course I had ruined the night out, so we got in just in time to turn off the engine, and retire for the evening. Fun was fun but an evening ruined makes for hard feeling among the group.
The next morning we met for breakfast where I received a cool reception. We had a silent breakfast and caught the bus for the convention center. The day did not start well. Hopefully we would have a good day at the booth.
After a few hours it happened. I was away from our booth strolling through the convention center. That is when the earthquake occurred. Most of the 5,000+ people exited the convention center for the safety of outside. But being an experienced earthquake survivor, I sought something heavy to get under. That happened to be the nearest table. I dove underneath the table I found and snuggled with several boxes of brochures.
I hid there for about 30 minutes as the other people waited outside for the structure to collapse. Slowly people started to come back inside. First a trickle of attendees then a few more people until the place was full once again. Meanwhile I remained steadfast in my selected place. 45 minutes later the convention seemed back in full swing, but I was not coming out. I was a veteran; no way was I coming out.
Finally a fellow working the booth pulled the skirt back. He asked if I was going to come out anytime soon. I replied no and the table cloth fell closed again. Followed shortly by another fellow who pulled the table cloth back and said if I was going to hide under his table, could I at least hand him some the material. I handed him his material and when I saw the box lunches being delivered I decided it was time to leave before security showed up. Luckily the building did not collapse.
So what is the moral of this story, well we found first that locking the doors of a running car is a bad idea and second if you are going to hide under the table, you should probably bring a box lunch. LOL
-30-
Rick
Tomorrow, I am Trying To Reason With Hurricane Season.