Saturday, February 27, 2010

Trip Report - Day Three ~ Part Two

Well, I have absolutely no pictures for this segment (there really wasn't much that was photo worthy) but at least I have some video.

So when I left off, we were enroute to get our rental car in a taxi. We rented the car from Alamo, which was located near Union Square. It was the best price I could find for a one way rental, and I actually booked it online through Orbitz.

So the taxi dropped us off, and I dragged all our luggage inside and waited while Brian signed all the paperwork and got the GPS I had also rented. I thought about bringing ours from home, but across the country and a two week vacation seemed like too much trouble for one day. So decided it was worth $11. There was a little confusion as to where our car was, but we got pointed in the right direction. We had to go into another garage and find our red Chevy Aveo. (Yes, of course I had reserved the cheapest type of car!) The trunk was small, but we had all the backseat, and so we loaded everything into the car and I started to try and get the GPS to find us.

I don't know what it is with GPS', but they always seem to take forever to locate us! We knew we had to leave the garage in order to get a signal, so into the roads of San Francisco we went. Of course the roads around Union Square are pretty congested, unlike the rest of the city we had seen. It was kind of stressful, driving in one direction waiting for the GPS to catch up with us! (I had TOTALLY forgotten that I had written directions in my phone. Yeah. Way to fail.) Anyway, the GPS finally got with the program and we got on the highway and headed out of San Francisco to San Jose. The drive was rainy but fine and the roads weren't very crowded because it was before rush hour. I found a decent station on the radio and enjoyed the lovely CA scenery. Despite the rain.




We arrived at the DoubleTree San Jose about an hour later. It was still raining. We went to check in and our room was ready. We were also given two delicious chocolate chip cookies. I love those! Brian had a little confusion with the parking situation, but we got to our room and brought our stuff in. It was very nice! Big, and we had a small balcony, even if the view was of the parking lot and it was raining.

We just relaxed for awhile and discussed what we wanted to do next. We both wanted to see a movie - sherlock Holmes - so I researched where the nearest theater was and we decided to head over there (with the help of our GPS) to see the movie.

I forget what time the movie was, or what time we left, but it was dark when we got there. We didn't have any trouble finding the mall (Thank you, GPS) but the parking lot was crowded and it was still raining. We weren't really sure where we were going, so we just parked where we found a spot and went into the mall. This mall was technically in Milpitas and it was called Great Mall. I swear, that's what it was called. Anyway, this mall was one level and it was HUGE and full of great stores. There was actually outlet stores in the mall! Man, I wish our malls were that awesome out here. I saw some stores I wanted to stop in, but there wasn't a ton of time before the movie and we still had to find the theater, so we kept moving.

The theater ended up being at the total opposite end of where we were - and it was outside. And still raining. There was a bit of a line, so we hopped on it, and gawked at the prices. And we thought NY was expensive! It was almost $11 a ticket. But more than that, I was perplexed why they felt the need to post a sign stating that firearms were not allowed in the theater. We weren't in a bad area or anything! Very strange. But luckily we just made it in time to get the matinee price, which I think lasted until before 6.

Anyway, we grabbed some snacks and saw the movie, which we both enjoyed. I just love Robert Downey Jr. He's a very good actor. Afterwards there wasn't too much time before the mall closed. Brian wanted dinner, but I had eaten popcorn and I was good, so I went shopping while he headed to the food court and had a hot dog or something. I ended up buying this really cute dress. I don't remember the name of the store, but it wasn't a store we have out here. It was kind of like Forever 21, because the clothes were cute and inexpensive. It was called Love Culture actually. Afterwards we found our car, went back to the hotel, showered and went to bed. We had a big day ahead of us!

Here's a look at the weird street lights in San Jose and a brief review of the our night:





NEXT...

Winchester House...of Mystery!
An important lesson about rental cars
San Diego delays

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