Hello Community Southwest:
Here's a Photo Trip Report (SAN-SMF) w/ a same day return flight on the Friday before Tropical Storm Hilary came into Southern California, August 18. This was the second of three trips that was booked during Southwest's June 40% off sale.
Hilary was still far off which meant Friday was nearly business-as-usual in California but with busier crowds as it appeared many folks were trying to beat the storm. A few Southwest flights were exactly eight minutes tardy out of the gate from SAN but no major delays so far for Southwest. Frontier's departure to LAS on the other hand was...We'll let the flight status monitor do the describing.
At SAN at 0-dark-hundred for an on time 7am departure.
Crews wake up the sleeping bird, the 737-700.
A rare treat at SAN: Taking off from Runway 9 facing east. The marine layer was so low that the plane passed through the clouds before it passed the downtown skyline.
SAN's New T1 Construction continues along...
Two for One: Marine Layer and Monsoon clouds in one shot. Flying above San Clemente facing toward Temecula. The two lakes are Lake Skinner to the left and Vail Lake to the right.
Yeah! Remy's Grahams comes aboard for the ride! Packed these treats for later...
The final descent into SMF...
Took a public transit bus into downtown and took care of some business. Afterwards, a quick stop to the Capitol Rose Garden before heading back to SMF.
And then the Travel Advisory came in...
...and yes, I had a flight booked the following Monday 9/21 from ONT-LAS!
Retreating to a vacant gate to get the last of the work done for the week, deciding what to do with the upcoming LAS flight, and checking this message board before board time.
Flight status overall still looks good for SMF and SoCal destinations. Though I could have tried to Standby onto the 2pm return flight, I elected not to as I had an A6 Upgraded Boarding spot for the 3pm departure and had no plans to sacrifice a front window seat on the left side of the plane which had...
...priceless views of Yosemite Valley and more.
Got the classic Snack Mix for the return flight with my saved Remy's Grahams from the inbound flight. Still full from lunch; so saved both for another time.
Looking South: No sign of Hilary...yet...during final descent to SAN. Descending a few miles north of the Otay Mesa border crossing into Mexico.
...And the downtown skyline finale before landing...
Up next: My Monday 9/21 photo flight report from ONT-LAS. Was it impacted by Tropical Storm Hilary? Stay tuned...
