Vacation - Part I

The last week before I left for vacation was kind of a drag.  Seriously, I swear each day took at least two.

Anyway, Thursday night, I did my laundry, and then after my games at the Haven on Friday, I packed--with a little help from Anna.

Saturday morning, I took a shower, then brought my luggage downstairs.  Anna came home between classes, and then we went to FCC so that she could catch a half-hour of her Biology lecture before taking me to the airport.  I went to the computer lab while she was in class and checked my e-mail.

We got to the airport, and Anna showed me how to get my boarding pass and check my large bag.  Then she showed me where the security checkpoint was and gave me a few last tips before saying goodbye for the week.

On my way to the gate, I bought a pretzel and lemonade from Auntie Anne's, and ate it while I waited for boarding time.

The flight to Atlanta was uneventful, and I got quite a bit of White Jenna read.  After the first chapter or two, I took a bit of a cat nap, and then we landed.

In Atlanta, I bought a late lunch/early dinner--a cheese steak sandwich and some fries with cheese, ranch and bacon on them.  Then I went to my next gate and read.

Just before we were to be boarding, the gate attendants made an announcement that they were still waiting on the pilots for my next flight to get there from Dayton, Ohio, and that unless they could find some new pilots before then, my flight to Phoenix would not take off until 8:15.  Luckily, they did find other pilots, so my flight took off at 7:30--only 20 minutes later than it should have.

That flight was just over four hours long.  I was a bit confused though, because my itinerary said that, while it was a four-hour flight, the departure time was 7:10 and the arrival time was supposedly 8:17.  Turns out, it was almost 9pm in Phoenix when we landed--almost midnight in Frederick.  It's kind of annoying that they show the arrival times in the same time zone as you've just landed, instead of in the time zone that you've just left--it'd be much less confusing that way.

My bag took a while to come onto the carousel from the plane, but I got it eventually.  Then, I caught the shuttle to the car rental center.  It'd been a long day, so I was kind of out of it as I talked to the guy at the counter.  He asked me questions about insurance and such, but I thought I'd already determined all that when I booked the flight and the car online--I'll have to look at that contract later when I get a chance to go out to the car (a Saturn Sky convertible), since I left it in there.

I started on my way to Heather and Stephen's house, but, silly me, I forgot to read the directions before I left the parking deck, and I couldn't read them in the dark.  So, not only did I get turned around trying to get out of the airport area, but I also didn't know where to go from there.  I called Heather on my cell phone, and between the two of us, we managed to figure it out--although I did miss an exit or two and end up driving past the Gila River.

I finally made it to their place, and by then it was 2am my time--11pm their time.  There were much hugs from Heather--Stephen was still at work--and Heather and I talked.  Oddly enough, I was still wide awake, since I'd had a rather refreshing nap on the second plane as well, and I had a headache from being cramped into the seat and from the pressurized air.

The apartment is huge!  Even the guest bedroom is larger than Jason's room at home.  It's got to have at least half of the square-footage space of the townhouse on Wheyfield.  The guest bathroom is huge too, with two sink basins.  I didn't bring my camera, because I don't think I'd have been able to find it before I left, and I don't remember what I did with the cable to hook it up to my computer.  But Heather has a camera, so we'll try and take at least a few pictures while I'm here, so she can e-mail them to me and I'll post them when I get back.

Eventually, we decided to watch Angel season five, since I hadn't seen more than the first 7-9 episodes.  We watched the first disc, and then finally decided to go to sleep, since Stephen showed up after the third episode.

Sunday morning--well, it was noon, actually--we all woke up and got ready to go to Stephen's parents' house for his dad's birthday party.  I met some of Heather's in-laws (they were really nice) and then we went back to the apartment.  I watched the second disc of Angel in their car, Kermit, on their portable DVD player.

When we got back, we watched a few more episodes, then Heather decided to go to bed.  I took the season box into the guest room, and had decided to watch until Illyria killed Fred (I'd been well and truly spoiled about certain events in the season, even though I hadn't seen them) but after that happened, I just really, really, really wanted to know what happened next, so I kept watching "just one more episode," thinking that the next would be the last before I went to sleep.

I finished the series at seven o'clock this morning.  Then I crashed.

Heather finally woke me up about an hour and forty-five minutes ago, and I had chocolate cake and milk for "breakfast."  It was really a bit of a snack to tie me over until dinner, since Stephen was due to come home from work soon anyway.

After cake, I took a shower, and Heather and I watched the end of an episode of Charmed that was on TV before she asked if I wanted to see a movie and go out to dinner.  We checked playing times and showings on her computer--we're probably going to see City of Ember--and then she said I could check my e-mail and post this entry.

It's been a busy few days, but it's a different kind of busy, so I'm more refreshed than I've been in ages.  I'm looking forward to the rest of my vacation.