Friday, Day 139 - May 25 - 7am, Los Angeles, California, USA Disembark

When we wake we are docked in San Pedro, Pier 93. Doesn’t seem possible the cruise is over!!! But we are ready to move on. We are going to spend the night in LA so as not to have to rush this morning to catch our flight. There are afternoon flights, but we still have a two plus hour drive when we get to Houston and we have no desire to drive after dark on a long travel day.

Breakfast is 7:30AM to 9AM and we are scheduled to get off in the last group at 9AM. We are up at 7AM and get the last of the bags closed and locked before heading to breakfast about 8AM,  but they have not started off-loading the luggage yet so there may be some delay getting off. We have a nice breakfast and say goodby to our wait staff. As we leave the dining room at 8:45AM everyone is jammed up around the gangway exit on Deck 6. No one is getting off yet.

We left our little bit of luggage in the room so we go to get it. The girls are not working anywhere near us so we just wait in the room until they start calling people and the log jam at the elevators clears a bit. They soon start calling tag colors. When they get to Black #1 we gather our stuff and head out. By the time we get to the end of the hall they call our Black #2 and we head off for the last time.

If we ever do a trip like this again we will need to rethink the luggage situation as we can no longer handle the two carry-on cases, the camera and computer bag on the multi-layer, tilted ramps used to get on and off cruise ships. The weight is just too much for us to haul anymore. 

Since we are already cleared there is no line to get through the terminal. Dick had checked with Enterprise yesterday to confirm our car reservation and pick up details. They have a shuttle that takes us to the office from the port. The pick up point is just down from where the ships buses are loading. When we get to the pick up point there is a couple off the Bliss there also. They say they have been there about 20 minutes with no shuttle so Dick calls and is told they will be there shortly. About 10 minutes later a shuttle shows up and we are on our way.

It is a clear, beautiful, cool day, so is a great day for our plan to drive along the coast up to Santa Monica. With the 4,000 passenger Bliss in today there is a parade of people picking up cars at both Enterprise and Hertz across the street. We wind up with an upgrade to a truck, since the type of car reserved wasn’t ready and we are eager to get on the road. 

We don’t have an area map or GPS so Carolyn figures out how to get to maps on her phone and we get over to the mouth of the bay. From there we drive north through the beach communities of Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Marina del Rey and Venice stopping for lunch on the pier in Hermosa. It is really a beautiful area, not at all what we think of as LA. The homes have stunning views and the yards are in full bloom. 

We check into the Hilton Doubletree about 4PM; just four blocks from the Santa Monica Pier. There is a free shuttle to the pier until 9PM, so we call for it and head to the pier. Our plan is to find a margarita and maybe some snacks. Since it is a holiday, Saturday afternoon, the pier is full of families out for the afternoon. We walk to the end of the pier enjoying all the activity and find Mariasol Cocina where we grab a table and have margaritas, guacamole made table side and some tacos. After a pleasant visit we head back to the hotel. It has been a nice way to get back to reality after 137 days in a wonderful cocoon, but tomorrow we go back to the real world!