John Williams, E.T., and a SpaceX Rocket Over San Diego

I really wish I could tell you that I planned this. I didn't. In fact, if I had tried to plan it, I don't think I could have pulled it off.

Last week, Mr. Whaldo and I went to the Rady Shell for a concert featuring the music of John Williams, played by the San Diego Symphony. It was an amazing evening of music, as you might expect when an orchestra is playing the scores that have been part of our lives for decades. There is something pretty special about sitting outside under the San Diego sky while hearing music from movies like Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and Harry Potter performed live.

Then they played E.T.

As the music reached the part where E.T. is going home, the gentleman sitting next to me pointed and told me to look. At almost exactly that moment, a SpaceX rocket was streaking across the sky. The orchestra was playing that incredibly emotional John Williams score and, overhead, an actual rocket was taking off into space.

Of course, I grabbed my phone and started recording. I managed to capture the rocket climbing into the night sky while the orchestra played E.T. behind it. It was one of those moments where you sit there thinking, “Seriously? This is happening right now?”

And that, really, is the story of our San Diego summer so far.

It's been a pretty quiet one around here. The heat is real this year, just like it seems to be everywhere else, and Jax and George are shedding at a rate that I am convinced must violate some law of nature. I have vacuumed enough fur to create two more animals, and I'm entirely sure they would both still have plenty left.

I've also been busy getting my UGC business off the ground, which has been a fun new adventure and has taken up quite a bit of my time. Mr. Whaldo has been busy taking care of everything around here and helping take care of his parents, so neither of us has had a whole lot of time for big adventures. Sometimes life gets busy, and that's okay.

Which is probably why this evening at the Rady Shell felt even more special. We weren't setting out to create some great San Diego memory. We were simply going to a concert. We were going to sit outside, listen to some incredible music, and enjoy an evening together.

Instead, we got a rocket launch timed perfectly to the music from E.T.

You really can't plan that.

I've written before about how much I enjoy exploring our own backyard and finding the unexpected moments that make living in San Diego feel like an adventure. This was definitely one of those moments. We didn't have to travel anywhere, book anything special, or create an elaborate itinerary. We just had to be there and get lucky.

So this isn't really another San Diego Staycation guide or a list of things you should put on your summer itinerary. It's simply a little piece of our summer that I wanted to share with you.

Because, as I’ve said many times, sometimes the best travel stories aren't the ones you plan.

Sometimes they happen while you're sitting at a concert, listening to John Williams' masterpieces, when a rocket suddenly crosses the sky.

-J.S. Whaldo