It stuck with me, partly because Mom and Dad had done the same thing with Jerry, David and me in the early 1970s. They woke us up on a Sunday morning and, instead of going to church, we headed to the airport, hopped on a PSA flight to San Francisco, and drove to the cabin. It was a stormy winter day and Dad said he wanted us kids to see up close the power of the water and how treacherous and different the river was from when we visited on summer vacation. I remember the brown, swirling water, and how high it was on the path. But I remember more the thrill of the entire trip -- how unexpected, how decadent to fly somewhere and back in a single day, and what a fun family outing it was.
So in July, when Southwest airlines offered a special for half-priced tickets on a few random days in October, I jumped on it. Believe me, it was nearly impossible to keep the secret from Katie, who rarely goes a day without a plea to go to Disneyland, Walt Disney World, or another Disney cruise.
Emi designed t-shirts for us. Katie's said "Playing Hookey" with an image of Captain Hook. Lisa's said "Malingering" (a medical term for fabricating symptoms for a variety of 'secondary gain' motives) with characters from Tangled, and mine said "I'm a Bad Influence" with the witch from Snow White.
We flew from SMF at dawn and were in the park by 8:30am. Took the last plane home and were in bed by 11pm. And in between, had a great and hopefully memorable day.
