Monday, July 30, 2007

• The nice thing about being home...

  ....thinking....hmmmmmm....oh, here's one:  sleeping in our own bed.  Other than that, we are not ready for vacation to be over.  I did take one more day off to catch up, but realistically, it will be weeks before that happens.  If ever.  Vacation almost made me forget--my "to do" list was long before I even went way.  Anyway, thank goodness Mike came and stayed at the house.  By his own admission, Aaron said if it was up to him, all the plants would have been dead.  Thank you, Mike! 
  
  At least I didn't have to bother unpacking today, since our luggage has not yet caught up with us.  Kinda funny how an airshow in Dayton, Ohio, affected three travelers going from Asheville, North Carolina to Sacramento, California.  Specifically:
  
  Asheville->Charlotte
  Charlotte->Las Vegas
  Las Vegas->Sacramento
  
  The plane that was to take us to Charlotte had originated in Ohio, and for several hours during the show, no planes could take off or land.  Our one-hour layover in Charlotte dwindled to ten minutes, leaving no time for the planned dinner there.  We raced through the terminal--not easy to do after my sister took us on not one but TWO hikes that day, the latter being a three mile hike with a 700' climb in elevation.  Anyway, we arrived at gate B3 but the sign was for a flight to Maryland.  Even the departure board no longer showed a flight leaving for Las Vegas.  Todd checked with the gate agent and found that the plane at gate B3 was going to Vegas, and they were boarding.  Whew!  However, we ended up sitting there over 30 minutes more, waiting for other passengers who were delayed from flights affected by bad weather on the east coast.  We only had a 30 minute layover in Vegas, but our luck held; our flight took 30 minutes less than planned, and our next connection was delayed, too.  Of course, we didn't know that until we'd sprinted through that airport, too.  That trip home was the least amount of time I'd ever spent in airports, despite three plane changes. 
  
  Thankfully the beginning did not set the tone for the trip...
  
  That adventure was nothing compared to how our vacation started.  I forgot my cell phone--and hence the only way to contact several people I'd need to call during the trip--including the friend who was to pick us up in Washington, DC.  We'd flown all through the night.  We were tired.  We waited at the curb for well over an hour, plenty of time for Todd to share with me his wise and superior ways of planning for a trip.  Who knew those convenient and sometimes annoying little devices had become so essential? I had already called my voice mail and changed my greeting, hoping Sue would call me, even though we'd already agreed that I'd call her when we landed. 
  
  Finally, I called home, hoping Aaron would pick up.  It can take 20 calls before he picks up.  I used Zane's phone and started calling, alternating between the home phone and his cell phone. 
  
  It gets worse. 
  
  Aaron picked up surprisingly quick. It was 6 am California time; he'd gotten off work at 3 am, after working a 13-hour shift.  The other problem with Aaron is that when he's tired, it's very difficult to communicate with him.  Bless his heart, he got up and searched for my cell phone to find the number...except Sue's numbers weren't listed in my phone.  As dumb as I was to forget my phone, I forgot to program in Sue's numbers.  I had gotten a new cell phone two weeks before.  Poor Aaron, he was so sweet and helpful.  We ended up on the phone over 30 minutes as he located my old cell phone, found it was dead, and searched all the places I could think of for the wall charger, and finally found the car charger...he had to go out into his car to power up my phone to give me Sue's phone numbers.  
  
  But wait!  There's more...
  
  Sue answered her phone immediately. 
  
  "Hi Sue, it's Debi..."
  
  "Hey Deb!  You guys still coming?" 
  
  "Yes, we are--we are here now!"
  
  "Here?  In Washington, DC?  At the airport?"
  
  "Yes, we are here at Reagan International!"
  
  "I thought you were coming tomorrow!"
  
  We came up with a plan B.  To give her time for her "unexpected," early guests, I suggested we take the Metro.  We were sitting near a stop, and I thought it would be better if the three of us got moving, and Todd had somethng to do other than to continue to share his techniques for being better prepared.  Sue gave us directions to a stop near her house, and we were on our way.  That's life, isn't it?  You hit some bumps but you figure it out.  And later, much later, you have a great story. 
  
  We only had one other snag in the plans, and that was not being able to meet up with MarkLupton.  I guess he's just going to have to come to California.   Although I can't wait to go back.  I'm watching for cheap seats and try to get back for a long weekend.  (Mark:  JetBlue flights direct to Sacramento! No changing planes three times.) What a fantastic place, Washington, DC!  There's something special about seeing in person the monuments we know so well from history books and movies.  All the museums on the mall (near the capitol) have been taken over by the Smithsonian and admission is free.  Several were closed for remodeling, but there's no way we could have seen them all anyway.  Better to save things for a return trip.  Soon. 
  
  But not until I catch up with some overdue posts.  I still haven't finished posting pics from my first vacation--to Oregon!  I've missed you all.  It was a great vacation, except that I did not get to meet up with Mark  :( ... I hope to catch up with you all shortly. 
  
  
  

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