Business Trip Turned Chocolate Trip: Dana Point

My employer unleashed me on the outside world again this week. This time, it's a meeting in Dana Point, CA.

That's the view from my hotel room. It's not all fun and games, though, because I had to give two 15-minute talks today. In front of 250+ people, including super-important federal officials. But that's all done, so I can sit back for the rest of the meeting, and spend off-times enjoying my private balcony instead of preparing for another talk.

So what does this have to do with chocolate? Before this trip, I would have guessed nothing, save a possible excursion to a local chocolate shop on the way back to LAX. Luckily, I was wrong.

First, before I even left, a friend who knew I was running around like crazy on the day of departure gave me this right before I went to catch my flight.

While I haven't eaten it yet, it is somehow comforting to travel with good dark chocolate in tow. As insurance of sorts.

After the long journey to Dana Point, which included a 60+ mile drive from LAX, I found that the Marriott folks had this waiting for me in my room.

This tells me a two things: (1) I have too many Marriott points and (2) Marriott knows too much about me. That being said, the Toblerone didn't last long.

Just when I thought that the unplanned chocolate-related events for the meeting were done, I wandered into the vendor area and saw this display.
It's just amazing. Business trip turned chocolate trip. My luck is never-ending.