Colin's First Big Trip

We recently embarked on our first big journey with Colin to the grand old state of NY.  We tried to pack like we were still going to be in civilization and I think we did ok.  We used pretty much everything and I don't think there was anything were we said, "DOH! Why didn't we bring that?"  And the bonus, everything and everyone fit pretty comfortably in the Prius for this trip. 

The reason for this trip was Rob's grandfather's burial ceremony so not the happiest of occasions, but we were still able to introduce Colin to a fair amount of relatives and friends.  This includes his Uncle Bill who was so excited to meet him, I am pretty sure he hopped out of the car as it pulled in to park.

There was a good amount of traveling even when we got to NY, but Colin did really well with being in his car seat.  He didn't sleep the whole time and nor did we want him to, but he did doze on and off like a normal day.  Over the course of the long weekend we did manage to do some tummy time, although by the time mommy grabbed the camera he was getting upset about it.

 We also managed to get to the diner where my parents eat every Friday night.  Everyone there ooed and aahhed over him (as is appropriate with such a cute baby :P). Rob was trying to keep the little man entertained while we waited for a table.

On Saturday we had a small picnic for immediately family and two of my past co-workers/friends from Syracuse and their little ones. 

We even got a couple of family photos of everyone together at the same time.

On Sunday we packed it up and headed back home.  The trip took longer coming back than it did going, but we made it.  I don't think I ever really appreciated how much stability a routine can bring with an infant.  But the take away is that we survived and we now know we can travel with him and it won't be the end of the world. 

My Hit List Revisited

As our time here comes to an end in Atlanta, I like to look back on my overly ambitious self with My Hit List. It was a list of all the places I wanted to travel to while we were down here. Little did I know how much time Rob would be spending with school work and how my vacation time would be taken up by visiting family and weddings. Needless to say, the hit list remains unhit.

We did however manage to visit Chattanooga, TN and that by far was one of my favorite vacations of all time. It was simple, fun, and close. But that has been our only real adventure down here. I guess now with the economy the way it is and our need to save up for the wedding (vacation time included), we will probably be limited in what we do before we go.

We have at least two trips we would like to attempt. One is we are still hoping for that weekend in Savannah, but the timing may get very tricky. Rob will be doing school work until April and May is just silly with traveling for work and the beach so that leaves June. Let's hope June is a good month. The other is a trip to the Outer Banks on the pre-anniversary of our wedding. We want to see how the weather is and meet with some photographers and floral people. Try and do some of it before having to deal with it while we are at the beach for real vacation at the end of May.

The Florida Keys, New Orleans, Orlando, and The Biltmore Estate are almost certainly out of the picture for now. Maybe some other time. :)

Travels Bring Surprises

Most of the time, this means, "Surprise! We lost your bag", "Surprise! You are now delayed 3 hours", "Surprise! Bad weather at your destination". However on the rare occasion, something neat happens and you get to tell everyone about it and they also think, Neat!

I had to travel for work Wednesday afternoon for a day trip to Dayton, OH (hopping Metropolis it is). This means heading to the famous overly busy Atlanta airport. My boss and I car pooled together (go environment) and proceeded through security without too much trouble. This was my first time giving carry-on only luggage a go. Thankfully I succeeded, but that's not where the story is.

In the security line, I was about 3 people behind a man that I thought looked rather out of place for airport travel. He had about 3 plastic bags full of stuff. And stuff exactly. I could tell he had disposable pie tins and some other odd assortments. He was an older man, blading, with hair sticking out like Einstein, and I just wrote him off as kind of odd.

Later my boss and I are on the tram heading to our terminal on the other side of the airport and after the first stop, he says to me, "Do you know who that is?" and points to the odd man I described above. I say no, to which he replies, "Do you know who Gallagher is?" "Oh the man who smashes stuff?" "Yup, that's him."

Admittedly I got a little star struck, here I am sharing a tram with a somewhat famous person. It's no Johnny Deep, but hey, I take what I can get. We got off at the same stop and head to the escalator. He steps on right before me and now I am about a foot away from him. He looks around and tells me "You go on up the ladies department" and turns back down the escalator to continue some joke with the guy from the tram which my boss is standing next to.

We get off and head towards the gate and he sees my boss walking with me and says "Oh she's with you, I didn't want to be telling inappropriate things in front of the lady." My boss continued to have a conversation with him as we walked and at his terminal stop he said, "Ok this is me, bye."

So that's my neat news. There was also the "Surprise! Your flight has been delayed 5 hours" fun too, but this was better of a story to share. :)

Fort Worth, Texas

I went to Fort Worth, Texas this week for business travel. I have been there only once before and the state and I had various ideas about what would get me lost and what wouldn't. Fortunately this time, I made it to all locations without getting lost. Kind of nice actually.

I arrived on Wednesday and stayed at a hotel downtown. It was pretty convenient because I could just walk to dinner from there given all the restaurants in the area. So I checked in and headed out to grab a burger and a beer I was craving. A few blocks away I walked into Billy Miners. I thought it was a nice enough place and the food was decent. The people there helped me out with ordering and such. (You have to walk around the back to order and then they call your name). I watched the ever stupid, Deal or No Deal? game show and by the time I got ready to head back, it was POURING outside. I thankfully had brought a jacket, but it only helped some. Walking back the 3 blocks or so to the hotel was enough to completely saturate me from the jacket line down. I couldn't help but laugh. I brought a second pair or shoes to wear to work the next day, so no harm there. Just the most ridiculous rain I have ever seen.

I don't know if this is true for all of Texas or just that area, but the water smells and tastes funny. Even fountain sodas have that taste in the background. When I get out of the shower, I have a hard time getting rid of the stink. Yuck!

When I was heading back to the airport on Friday, I remembered how terribly they inform you which exit to get off for the airport. The let you know there are two and they are a few miles apart, but they tell you nothing further. Thank god for the gianormous Starbucks sign that tipped me off the heading in the right direction. I made it back and was happy to get out of that state once again.

Texas just has zero appeal to me. And the times I have been there, (total of 4 now, Houston, Ft. Worth, and San Antonio) nothing has impressed me. Oh well. I only have to visit every now and then. Not every state can be a winner.

Hanging Out in The Airport

I am flying home today. I hope. Currently I am parked in the Syracuse International Airport. I have been here since 2:30ish. When I came here today I had two flights to take. One leaving here at 4:15pm then transfer in NYC and take the 7pm flight back to Atlanta. I got as far as telling the lady at the check in counter this and she picks up a phone and asks if there is room for me on another flight. She told me I can take a flight non-stop to Atlanta at 5:55 out of Syracuse. Neat.

I walk over to the Delta counter get my ticket, call appropriate parties about my early arrival time and think things are going pretty well. My dad has decided to wait with me until I have to go through the gate. The security check at Syracuse doesn't take that long because it's not a busy airport. So we hang out and in that time Rob calls to tell me he sees that my flight isn't leaving until 8:50 and not due into Atlanta until 11:30. How odd. I walk down to the counter to verify this is actual fact and it turns out it is. My dad waited with me until almost 6pm and then I went through the gate.

I now have 2.5 hours to kill before my plane is supposedly ready. I guess things might get better, but I am still going to be quite delayed. I got to the airport today at 2:30pm for an 8:50pm flight. Nice. At least I had some company for a while.

Cruising but no controlling

This latest blog has been inspired by our trip (or race if you will) back to Atlanta from the DC metro area. The Pennocks took one route and Rob and I dared to go out on a limb and try another new route. In the end, both got us back in about the same time, so it still takes forever to get from there to here. No magic fairy dust to sprinkle and go. :(

In all that forever time it takes to get from there to here, one must drive. Well unless you are do the rich people thing and fly, which would not take you forever and thus would imply you did not drive.

Driving on highways can be a crap shoot. Is the weather going to be nice? Will everyone play nice on the highway and there will be no accidents? Did DOT decide that section or road really needed a make-over? You just never know what you are in for. Rob and I had a compilation of a 2-hour sit on 85-N from a dump truck spill closing all northbound traffic for a few hours, a horrible thunderstorm slowing traffic to 30 mph with blinkers on, and heavy fog.

However I find the one of the more annoying things about driving on the highways is dealing with the people who refuse to use their cruise control. I am willing to say some cars still may not come with it, but the ones I have encountered ought to have it standard given the make and model. Now there are three reasons I have come up with for why someone would not use this fantabulous feature on their car.
1. Ignorance - completely unaware of their inability to hold a constant speed and or the fact they have such a device in their car.
2. Stubbornness - cruise control is for lazy people who don't know how to drive. I know how to drive and therefore don't need it.
3. THAT car - the one that can't stand being passed. If they are passed they pass you in return and eventually slow back down to where they were so that you pass them again, but not this time because they decided to speed up just enough... for a little while at least. Oie...

Pick any combination of those reasons above and you can play leap frog with a person for many many many miles on the road and you don't need to do a thing! Just set the cruise control and go. If I am on the highway for any length of time over 20 miles, you better bet that I will be using it. For one, my leg gets tired. Two - I know I can't hold a constant speed, I will start thinking about my grocery list or something and get distracted. Three - I don't want to be "that car". So remember! As part of highway safety - Be kind, use cruise control!

On the Road Again

Ok, so keeping with my promise of many blogish things to write about I continue. Last weekend Bonnie and Alex got married in DC. Rob was in the wedding party so we got there Friday night for the rehearsal dinner and of course the ceremony on Saturday. It was a beautiful event and it was a good time getting to see everyone again.

What this blog entry is about though is more the journey there. It started leaving the complex the evening of Thursday the 12th. On our way out we got to see the famed, "place the trash on the hood of your car blocking your view while trying" trash removal technique. Too bad my camera wasn't at the ready because it was a sight. On our way to the highway, we also saw the most highly acclaimed driving move of a left on red. Meaning, the light had turned red, the driver stopped, then went. Not ran an orange light. I really don't understand how that is ok, but whatever.

We went onwards to Holly and Wade's without too much trouble aside from not knowing the exact exit to get off. Rob knew where he was going which was all that mattered because he was driving. We had a very enjoyable visit with them over cookie dough and the next morning we were off and running again. About 10am or so we decided to stop for gas and stretch our legs somewhere around NC/SC border. As far as memory served me anyway. Well where ever it was we stopped had to have been deep in the heart of freaksville. It was a true truckers stop with a dinner and chapel that was open for services. The bathrooms were just gross, however I found two things amusing while in there. One - they had a scent machine you put a quarter into to get a blast of a scent on you. How odd. Two - the womens bathroom had a door that lead to a shower but said, "CO-ED" on it. How creepy. Rob and I left rather quickly and feeling icky. Lunch was at a combo KFC and Taco Bell which was a little weird, but delicious as only Taco Bell can be. Or, I supposed as a KFC can be, but we got tacos so I can't say for certain.

We made it the rest of the way with only one accident in Richmond. I was flustered because I was driving. "Have your accidents on your own time! I have a wedding practice to get to!" Anywho, got there right on time. Whew! It's not exactly what I would call the journey that makes movies, but it was amusing.