Bordeaux to Britain, Days 6-8

Day 6, 4/28/16

After coming back to the ship from Guernsey, getting cleaned up and eating dinner, Mom & I skipped the reception line for our distinguished guest and spent a quiet evening reading, writing notes on the day (Mom) and downloading photos (me).  Thursday, April 28 was a day at sea as we moved from Guernsey to Normandy, France.

Mom and I had our usual breakfast, hung around for a bit afterwards and talked to people, and then went back to the room to get ready to face the day.  Dressed and made up and all that jazz, we headed up to the little theater to listen to a talk from our guest lecturer, David Eisenhower.  I'm sorry that link doesn't have a current picture, because he does look very much like his grandfather.  His wife, who is equally recognizable, is Julie Nixon Eisenhower.

The lecture was good, mostly about Normandy, both the history and then the events of WWII, culminating of course in D-Day.  After the lecture, we had lunch, then spent a quiet afternoon, including a nap for me.

Bordeaux to Britain Days 4-5

Day 4, 4/26

Day 4 was St. Malo, France, where there is a medieval abbey, Mont St. Michel.  Our daily info sheet warned us the walk was pretty rugged, and my ankle still hurt, so I opted to stay on the ship.  There were only 2 other wimps, but we had a nice lunch and I read a lot, put my foot up and took a long nap.  The only thing missing was a hot bath!

Day 5, 4/27

On day 5, we got an extra hour, due to being on British time rather than French, and so we got to see the ship approach Guernsey, one of Britain's Channel Islands.

More words and pictures after the jump!

Bordeaux to Britain, Days 1-3

Day 1, 4/23/16

Mom and I both had milestone birthdays last year, so this year we celebrated with our first Smithsonian trip.  From Bordeaux to Britain was a 7 night cruise about the French ship L'Austral.  Of course, first we had to get to Bordeaux.

Mom and Dad picked me up at 3:00 Saturday afternoon and Dad dropped us off at the airport to catch a 5:30 flight to Detroit.  I stopped at an airport newsstand to pick up a bottle of water and a granola bar, and caught up with Mom, only to find her at the bar on the way to our gate, chatting with the county executive and a local mayor on their way to Hanover, Germany for a trade conference.  They were on our flight to Detroit.  The flight was short, only 25 minutes, and we had plenty of time to eat overpriced caprese sandwiches near the gate before our 8 p.m. flight to Amsterdam.

On board the big-ass Delta Airbus, we met another mother-daughter duo who were going on the same cruise but with a different group, the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  B and her mom W are from Columbus, and the daughter and widow respectively of a WWII veteran who participated in the landing at Omaha Beach on D-Day.  W is 90, which is not something I would ordinarily mention, but which became important later.  We got all settled in the plane and then sat on the runway for a hour while they replaced the radio.  Delta wouldn't move us to another plane because it was "not a safety issue".

Once we were in the air and the cabin crew started serving drinks, they apparently got enough questions about potential missed connections that the captain came on and said don't pester the cabin crew, they can't do anything.  Then he said, "We are aware that some of you have tight connections.  Delta is aware our flight is late, staff on the ground is late, and we will do everything we can to see that you make your connections" (emphasis mine).  So I tried some of the pasta that smelled wonderful and wasn't, enjoyed the brownie, drank a boatload of water and napped fitfully while one of my seatmates watched The Revenant.

Eventually we landed, at 11:45 a.m. Amsterdam time, which was 5:45 a.m. Akron time.  Delta's idea of doing everything they could to make sure we made our connection was to have an employee meet us at the gate, look at our boarding passes and tell the 4 of us to go to gate B-36.  No one offered to call the gate and have them keep the doors open, no one offered transportation to the departure gate, and no one seemed to care that they were telling a 90 year old woman to walk from one end of the A terminal to the opposite end of the B terminal in under 10 minutes when it was a minimum of a 20 minute walk for an average adult.  A non-Delta airport employee helped us whisk through Customs but to no avail, by the time we made the gate they'd closed the doors of the plane.

After we walked all the way back to the A terminal, we got to stand for another 45 minutes while KLM agents tried to book us on the next day's flight and tried to call the ship to tell them not to expect us until Monday.  Then it was downstairs all the way through cavernous baggage claim to get our hotel and meal vouchers, then back upstairs and out of the damn airport to wait for the bus to our hotel.  It was 2:30 p.m. Amsterdam time when we got to the hotel and grabbed some lunch.  That's 8:30 a.m. Akron time and we'd basically been up for 26 hours and traveling for 19 hours.

Short digression:  the dog knocked me over about a week before we left and I was so concerned with the giant bruises that I didn't really notice I had a sprained ankle.  I very much noticed it by the time we'd walked all over Hell's high acre, aka the Amsterdam airport.  I'd also forgotten to pack any ibuprofen.  Because our hotel was in a freeway service plaza, after lunch Mom and I walked over to the gas station to see if they had any ibuprofen or aspirin.  Unfortunately, all they had was paracetemol, aka Tylenol, which does zip for me.  However, the flowers at the gas station were exquisite and heart-lifting.  After we walked back to the hotel, I took a nap, and then Mom and i had coffee in the lounge, then read for a bit, then had dinner.  After dinner, we both took the showers we desperately needed and washed our socks and such and then left a wake-up call and went to bed.

The next morning we were on the bus headed for the airport at 8:20, managed to catch the 12:30 flight to Bordeaux with no problems.  As dog is my witness, I will never willingly fly Delta again.

Days 2 and 3 with lots of pictures after the jump!

What HAVE I forgotten?

Mom and Dad are picking me up between 3 and 3:15.  Dad is taking us to the airport, where we will board a 5:30 flight to Detroit, where we change planes for Amsterdam, where we change planes for Bordeaux.  Mom and I are going on a 7-night Smithsonian cruise from Bordeaux to Britain!

I have packed:

2 skirts
4 pairs of pants
1 pair of capris
4 collared shirts
1 jacket
1 cardigan
9 pairs underwear
8 pairs socks
3 bras
2 pairs tennis shoes
1 pair sandals
shampoo
conditioner
body butter
perfume
makeup
3 inhalers
1 bottle vitamins
3 ponytail holders
4 bottles medication
toothbrush
toothpaste
mouthwash
camera
netbook
sunscreen
cash

and I still feel as if I'm forgetting something!  :headdesk:

Ya'll be good while I'm gone, and no raucous parties!

Universal Studios Day Two: Friday, March 18

I woke up at 6:30 and was out of the room and looking for coffee by 6:40.  Unfortunately the food court/diner didn't open until 7:00 and there was a line, so I went to Starbucks and paid $3 for a non-refillable cup of mediocre coffee and drank it outside.  I then wandered back to the room and saw that Mom was awake, but she told me she was going to go back to sleep if she could, so read quietly for a while.  Eventually, I got my sunscreen and makeup on, pulled my hair into a ponytail and grabbed my phone and my camera.  I sent a quick text to my brother, and found out that he and the girls were headed down for breakfast, so I met them there.

Both girls had chocolate chip pancakes, since they'd had waffles for breakfast every day since Sunday.  I had scrambled eggs, potatoes and sausage gravy, and Captain Crossword had an omelet.  After breakfast we walked to the end of the parking lot and caught the shuttle to the park.  The ride was about 5 minutes, and then we walked about a mile to get to security.  After that we had to walk through the City Center section of the park, which does not require admission and is probably about another half mile long.

Finally we were in the park!  I loved the Minion recruiting posters:

And then the Minions ride, which started at Gru's house:

Many more pictures after the jump!

Universal Studios Day One: Thursday, March 17

Last Wednesday, I came home from work, threw the dog in the car and took her to the kennel.  Then I went to bed early so I could get up at 5:30 Thursday morning, drink my coffee, get dressed, and get to the airport in time for a 9:30 flight.  At this point, my caloric intake for the day consisted of two cups of coffee with milk & sweetener.

The flight to Philly was on time leaving and on time landing, but I still had fewer than 30 minutes to get from the terminal in which I arrived to the one from which my plane was departing.  I made it and boarded, only to run out of battery life on my netbook.  So I tried to nap until we landed in Orlando.

After a difficult experience picking up my brother and nieces at the airport, Mom and Dad asked me to find my own way from the airport to the hotel.  Unlike Disney World, Universal Studios does not have a shuttle from the airport to their hotels, but I went with the one they recommended and had a decent ride for less than the cost of a taxi.  We were staying at the Cabana Bay Beach Resort at Universal.

When I got to the hotel at 3ish, they told me that since Mom and I forgot to change my initial reservation from starting on 3/16 to starting on 3/17, they rented the room to someone else.  Then, they wouldn't let me stay in one of the remaining rooms unless I paid off the balance on both rooms for 3 nights.  So I called Mom and had a meltdown on the phone, then went to the restaurant and had an overpriced and misspelled lunch.  Ceasar salad, anyone? :-p

By the time the family pulled into the hotel parking lot, overheated and exhausted, I was more or less over my fit of pique, and after we'd all checked in and hauled luggage to our rooms (I shared with Mom & Dad), Dad took a nap and Mom and I went to the pool with Captain Crossword and the princesses.  The hotel pools were both very fancy, and the girls had a few rides on the slide before they decided they'd rather play Hop on Pop and try to drown my brother. :-D

After we were all cooled off and calmed down, we went and had dinner at the "diner" in the hotel.  It's much too big to be a diner, but it had the decor, there were hamburgers available at the food court, and the four giant TV screens on the walls showed a loop of NBC and Universal logos and TV commercials from the 1950s and 1960s.  Mom and I split a Margherita pizza and then my niece and I both had the lemon tart for dessert.  Princess STEM loves lemon and lemon flavored things as much as I do (or maybe even more).  I had a quick shower and plugged in the netbook and my phone for charging and was out like a light by 10.

NYC Day 5, Monday, October 12

Sunday night I was in bed and asleep by 10, only to wake up at 3 because I was coughing so hard.  Trying to avoid waking Mom (ha!) I got up and made a bed on the sofa where I could sleep upright.  Well, I managed the upright, but not the sleeping.  Mom slept a bit, but mostly didn't because I was noisy and she was worried about me.  When it got light, she got dressed and went to two different drugstores looking for an expectorant.  All of my effort was going to getting oxygen into my body.  At this point I was pretty sure that the chest cold had deepened into bronchitis, and all I wanted to do was get home.

What I experienced was a combination of asthma attack and panic attack.  I was gasping for air and not getting it and my brain was doing panicked little rodent dashes in every direction.  Not something I want to experience again.

After some discussion between all four of us, we decided to leave for the airport in time to put the early flyers (both Bookworm and Anabel) on their planes, since Mom and I would have to move very slowly.  However, that plan went out the window when I lost all my breath walking the ten or so steps from our room door to the elevator.  I told Mom I was going downstairs and have the clerk call 911, which I did.

After a short wait time, during which my sisters-in-law agreed to go to the airport so they didn't miss their planes, an ambulance and two nice EMTs arrived.  They asked some questions, listened to my lungs and my heart and told me they needed to take me to ER.  So we left my carry-on and both of our suitcases at the hotel and got in the ambulance.  The EMTs gave me a breathing treatment in the ambulance, and somehow it was vanilla-scented.

Everyone at Mount Sinai Roosevelt was very nice.  I saw a nurse, the attending physician, the X-ray tech and two residents and they all worked very hard to help me get home.  I had an additional two breathing treatments and an order to see my primary physician (who I don't have) and got the news that although the ER docs did not want to make an official diagnosis, all three are pretty sure I have COPD.  A warning--that link has a very unpretty picture right at the top of the page.  The hospital discharged me in time to take a cab back to the hotel for our bags and out to the airport.  Fortunately, the line for security was very light and the gate was close-ish to security.

Getting out of the airplane at Cleveland turned out to be more of a task.  Climbing up the ramp exhausted me to the point where all I could do was collapse into a chair.  Fortunately, Cleveland Hopkins has some exceptional special employees who help customers who need assistance, and one of them got me into a wheelchair and all the way down to baggage and then to the park and fly shuttle.  I know Mom tipped her, but I really wish I could remember her name.

Anyway, yes, the elephant in the blog--am I going to quit smoking?  I already have, thanks to Monday, the only question is whether or not I can make it stick.

NYC Day 4, Sunday October 11

Once again, there was a possibility of sleeping in but none actually occurred, at least not for Mom & I.  Mom and Margo and Bookworm were planning a day of walking around the city and trying different nibbles, and I had a brunch date with my friend Abigail, recently returned from Dublin to live and work in NYC.

Abigail was surprised to find me waiting for her and hoped she hadn't gotten the time wrong, but I told her quite honestly that I tend to be early anyway, plus I was so excited to see her that I was ready early.  I bought a subway pass and we took a short ride to Gramercy park and had a swoon-worthy brunch at Friend of a Farmer.  Abigail had pumpkin pancakes, I had Eggs Benedict with corned beef instead of ham, and we both had some complimentary applesauce.  Everything was amazingly good.

After brunch, we stopped at a drugstore so I could buy nail polish (cue chorus of "Of course!") and then went to Strand Books, which is of course a New York landmark.  We talked a bit about independent bookstores which have lost faith in the differences which make them special, which includes both Strand Books and The Book Loft in Columbus.

I was feeling a bit tired and after a phone call to Mom, we agreed to walk only as far as Union Square to meet them.  I will be honest and say that I spent most of the walk complaining that I was fine and that my family was cosseting me, and Abigail was good enough to listen to me vent and to go back to the restaurant when I realized I left my glasses on the table.  She was also worried that she was making me sicker by getting me to come out and walk around in the fresh air!  I told her then and am reiterating now that our brunch and walk could not possibly have made me sick.

Abigail was prepared to spend an afternoon with my family, but by the time we reached them and I made introductions, I discovered that Margo had blisters on her blisters and was ready to go back to the hotel.  Since by then I was coughing, I said I'd go with her, so Abigail headed home, Margo and I headed for the subway, and Mom and Bookworm went walking.  I did finally get a pretzel on the way home, and gave my subway card with a little bit of money left to a young lady who was either coming from or going to a yoga class, and absolutely collapsed on the bed when I got back to the room.

Mom woke me when it was time to get dressed and go to dinner.  By then I was coughing pretty hard and didn't have much appetite.  Still, the four of us had a nice dinner at Cellini, and I was sure that a good night's sleep would make things better.  When we got back to the room, Mom turned on the tv, and we watched the last hour or so of Pitch Perfect.  It amused me no end that the woman who is incredibly squeamish about blood had no problems with the barfing scene, but while I can read horror novels and not think anything of it, I had to close my eyes and put my fingers in my ears!

I was in bed by 9:30, sad that the weekend in NYC was almost over but looking forward to going home.

NYC Day 3, Saturday October 10

This was, at least theoretically, a day where we all got to sleep in, because we had no firm plans for the morning.  Mom and I, of course, were both awake by 7, and I'm afraid I may have growled at the desk clerk when he told me the coffee shop didn't open until 8.  Nevertheless, I managed to use the time to shower and get dressed so I could get my caffeine.

After Friday's free coffee and pastry for breakfast, Bookworm pointed out that she needed some actual protein in the morning, so she found an "unpretentious diner" for us on a street behind the hotel.  Mom is never ready to eat until mid-morning, so Bookworm, Anabel and I walked over to the diner.  Anabel's fresh-squeezed orange juice was so good that Bookworm and I wound up ordering a glass, and I had an omelet with terrible tomatoes, yummy basil and really really good mozzarella.

After breakfast, the four of us rode the subway up to Museum Mile.  We stopped first at the Neue Galerie, where I had wanted to go to see the portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer (The Woman in Gold) and the multi-media exhibit on Weimar Berlin.  Unfortunately, it was 10:25 when we got there, and the museum didn't open until 11:00.  My lovely family would have been willing to stand in line with me, but it was chilly enough to be good walking weather and too chilly to stand still for 35 minutes.  Clearly, I'll just have to go back. :-)

The four of us walked over to the Guggenheim, where we took the elevator to the top floor and then walked down.  I was not that impressed with the Burri or Salcedo exhibits, but really enjoyed the Kandinsky.  The last made me think "This is exactly the type of 'degenerate art' Hitler wanted to eradicate."  I admit that I am not educated in art at all, so all of my reactions are emotional rather than reasoned.

We finished at the Guggenheim around 11:30, and then started walking around by Central Park.  The street vendors were out in force, and Bookworm and I both bought prints from one artist.  I loved the gates to the children's garden!

Anabel headed off to meet her nephew for lunch, and I took a cab to my lunch date.  I arrived early, and was having a cigarette outside when I looked at the license plate of the car parked at the curb.  Not only was it an Ohio plate, the plate-holder was from a car-dealer in Elyria, the place where both of my parents grew up!  I had a mad desire to leave a note saying, "Hi stranger!  EHS Class of '58, Woo-Hoo!" but refrained.

I met my Goodreads friend Jonathan at the bar of Cafe Luxembourg, and had to laugh at the thought that just like in a WWII spy movie, he could recognize me because I was carrying a copy of his book.  I really need to get my head out of WWII (and the American Civil War for that matter) and onto some other subjects!  At any rate, Jonathan did sign his book for me, and we had a lovely lunch full of conversation and opinionating and fun.  It might have gone on longer if the bus boy hadn't knocked over a glass of red wine at the table next to us!  I have to admit that I totally forgot that my camera was in my purse and so I didn't get a picture of the two of us.

I took a taxi back to the hotel and rested for a bit before Mom came in and told me it was time to get dressed for the evening.  We had dinner at Sardi's like good tourists, people-watched a bit in Times Square, and then went to the Eugene O'Neill Theatre for Book of Mormon.  Looking around, I thought that it reminded me of the Akron Civic Theatre and wondered if it also started life as a movie theater.  It hadn't, but since the Civic was built four years later, it makes sense that the latter would have been modeled after fancy theaters of the time.

The four of us had a lot of fun with the fact that Anabel's wine came in a sippy cup, and then we settled down to watch the play.

I'm not a theater critic, so I probably won't do it justice, but Book of Mormon is blasphemous, true, shocking, sweet and hilarious all at the same time.  Go see it if you can.

NYC Day 2, Friday, October 9

Friday was our tourist day, wherein we were scheduled for a 6 hour tour by bus and by boat.  We got up early and stopped at the coffee shop espresso bar in the hotel for our complimentary coffee and pastries and then started walking.  I had a tougher time than I thought I would walking 30 minutes at a smart pace and I was realizing that although my water walking is exercise it is not the best practice for city walking.  A. I don't sweat in the water and B. my body is partially supported.  But with the patience of my family and one stop to rest, I made it and we all got to the tour departure on time.

There was standing in line, and then I spotted a penny stretcher machine, so I paid my 51¢ for one with the Statue of Liberty on it, then it was time to get in the bus and leave.  The "bus" was in fact a pretty nice 14-passenger job, and there was a four-passenger seat across the back that was just right for us as long as two someones were willing to sit with their feet up over the wheels (we took turns).  We had a tour-by-bus of Times Square, then drove along the Hudson to the Riverside Church.

The Riverside Church was intended to be non-denominational, but as I said to Bookworm, I don't imagine it was particularly appealing to old-school Scots Presbyterians of the time what with all the Gothic details and fancy touches like a wood revolving door.  The guide made a point of mentioning the stained-glass windows, and of course Mom and I have been reading about Clara Driscoll of the Tiffany Co., so we wondered if the windows were Tiffany.  Nope, some of them were from a contemporary, Harry Wright Goodhue, and many were 16th century Flemish windows brought over by Rockefeller.

Across the street is Grant's Tomb, and I did not climb the stairs, but stayed outside and watched a woman walk a cinnamon-colored chow-shepherd mix who reminded me of Littlefoot and told my sisters-in-law that it was Julia Grant's insistence on leaving-right-now-thank-you-I'm-sick-of-Washington that saved her husband from dying with the president.

We got back on the bus and resumed the tour, stopping for lunch in (what's left of) Little Italy, where I had some very yummy penne alla vodka followed by a beeeeeg cup of coffee from the place across the street.  Margo grabbed some gifts for her boys and I got a pretty scarf and then we went on to the part of the tour I didn't want to do, the World Trade Center.

The pools are beautiful, the atmosphere is reflective and reverential and the whole thing is too damn raw for me to handle, even after 14 years.

Afterwards we walked to the Winter Garden Atrium (big fancy shopping mall) and then got on a ferry/tour boat with an obnoxious, probably sloshed announcer/guide who inspired my new mantra, "Please just shut up and let me look".  We did see the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the Brooklyn Bridge.  I am especially proud of my picture of the cables of the bridge after reading the incredible story in The Great Bridge.

Unfortunately, what was supposed to be a six-hour tour actually took seven hours, which meant that none of us had time for a shower before we dressed up for dinner and went to Carnegie Hall.  Dinner at Etcetera Etcetera was lovely, and all kudos to Anabel for making three great reservations for our dinners in NYC.  After dinner we went to Carnegie Hall for a New York Pops concert of Rogers & Hammerstein music.  I wish they hadn't ended with songs from The Sound of Music, because I loathe the whole thing, but the conductor was a blast.  Mom is fairly convinced that Mr. Reineke was trained by Erich Kunzel, because he was up there dancing while conducting.  After that, we headed back to the hotel and I think all of us were asleep pretty quickly.

NYC Day 1, Thursday, October 8

NYC was wonderful.  Mom and I arrived at 8:30 and had coffee and a bagel while we waited for Bookworm Mathgeek and Lady Margo. LaGuardia airport has the cutest fences made of apples!

After waiting for American Airlines personnel to figure out how to open the cargo door on Bookworm's plane, we all had our luggage and grabbed a cab to the hotel.  The Lombardy was quite lovely, and I don't think any of us had any complaints.

After we'd stowed our bags in the one of our rooms that was open, we left the hotel and had lunch at a deli, where I had a mozzarella, tomato and spinach sandwich on the best bread I had on the trip.  It was a dark bread loaded with sesame seeds, and absolutely the star of the sandwich.  Then we walked to the library.  I was tired, having gotten up at 4 that morning and sweaty thanks to the walking, so although I wanted to take the tour, I elected to sit outside and wait for my family.  I felt bad about missing the tour, so I called Mallie and after she cheered me up, I had an enjoyable hour people-watching.  I was especially pleased by the number of people who took advantage of the free art supplies.  When the tour was done, Mom offered to buy me a coffee, and then we looked at the library store.  Mom didn't buy anything, but I got two tote bags and a gorgeous black and white scarf.

After a quick stop at the hotel to freshen up, we tried to get a cab outside our hotel.  When that didn't work, we tried on Park Ave. and when that didn't work, we kept walking until we found a hotel with a helpful doorman and he got us a cab.  After some confusion on the cabdriver's part, we made it to the right street, only to go past the address.  The driver made a (probably illegal) U-turn and dropped us off on the opposite side of the street.  We jay-walked across, and started looking for the address.  When we couldn't find it, Mom called cousin Newsprint.  He told her he could see us, so the four of us started spinning around until he told Mom to look up.  When we did, there he was, in a very large window above a drug store!  It turns out that 110 Whatever Street's door is actually on the side street.

Cousins Newsprint and Newsprintska are both former journalists who now teach at Columbia, and they had quite a selection of nibbles ready for us as well as red wine or an old-fashioned.  I had the red wine but the old-fashioned made me smile because that was my grandfather's drink.  I should mention that Cousin Newsprint is my dad's cousin, and their fathers were brothers.  Clearly, Great Uncle Newsprint loved old-fashioneds as well, and taught his son to make them.  Newsprint and Newsprintska took us to an Italian restaurant three blocks from their condo and we had a wonderful dinner and great conversation.  Afterwards, we took a cab back to the hotel and went to sleep.

Last words

These are my last words before leaving for NYC with my mom and both sisters-in-law:

"Please don't let me die on this trip because the house is full of dog hair!"

Next Monday is a court holiday, so I am taking Thursday and Friday off also, and we're having a girls' weekend out.  We are doing the bus tour of the city, seeing a Pops concert at Carnegie Hall and going to see Book of Mormon.  I have lunch dates with a children's book scholar and an art critic and author, which means I will be out-brained for most of the weekend, and am looking forward to some epic people-watching.

There is not much else going on, so I'll be back with pictures after the trip!

What's up?

Not much here, just working, reading, painting my nails and working out.  There have been some bumps in the road at work, but since said bumps have led to more of a friendship with a co-worker, I can deal with them.

I have heard from 3 independent sources that citrus essential oils will cut the bond chlorine forms with skin, so I've taken to using a grapefruit eo shower gel for my post water-walking showers.  I don't know if there's less damage to my aging skin, but I do smell good. :-)

It's hard to believe that summer is almost over and even harder to believe all of the travel plans for next year.  In March, I'll be going to Universal in Orlando with Mom, Dad, Captain Crossword and my nieces.  In April, Mom and I are going to France and England, and then in December, the whole famdamily is going to London because The Awesome Nacho's band is performing.

Dad is reluctant to go because he dislikes the inconvenience of travel.  Well, I don't know anyone who likes it, but Scary Bear does not want to be winkled out of his cave.  Of course, he was then bemoaning the possibility of losing his whole family to one plane crash or terrorist act, and Mom said "Then come with us."

That was exactly what I thought when she told me about it. :-D  Oh, yes, we'll all go down together...

Oh, and it is nice that a quick Google search shows that I am far from the only person who thinks that a white Kia Soul in your rear view mirror looks exactly like a Storm Trooper.  I feel vindicated and less paranoid.

Laughter, tears, family and frustration

When I called to wish my dad a happy birthday, after I had done so, Mom got on the phone and told me Aunt Cathy had died.  Aunt Cathy was really Mom's aunt, and my great-aunt, but she was always Aunt Cathy.  She was married to my grandmother's baby brother, a wonderful man who she survived by 10 or 11 years, and they had three kids, five grandkids and four great-grandkids (by the time Aunt Cathy died).

My grandmother was the oldest of four, so there was quite a gap between her and Cathy, but despite the age gap and despite my grandfather moving the family from Pittsburgh to Elyria, my mom still grew up spending time with her cousins and her aunts and uncles.  Mom and her siblings attended Ed & Cathy's wedding, but were deemed too young for the reception, so they were bundled off back home while their parents went.  Mom remembers that Gramma brought them each a piece of cake, but that she was still mad because it wasn't the same.  That may have been what inspired her to allow my brother's and I to come to the wedding of Ed & Cathy's younger daughter.

Since Mom and Dad and I left at 7:00 a.m. to be at the church by 10:00 (with a generous margin of error for Pittsburgh traffic and directions), we had lots of time to talk about that wedding, my grandparents, and Ed & Cathy.  When we arrived early enough to grab a cup of coffee, Mom and I got a case of the giggles when Dad could not get the voice-activated Google maps to understand "McDonalds".  But we found one, and I had a quick iced coffee and Dad had a cinnamon thing (or McThing, who knows?).

The church was large and modern, the soloist/organist was a phenomenal musician and the priest did a good job despite the fact that he had never met Aunt Cathy.  Apparently, her church doesn't have its own priests, but relies on visiting priests from other parishes.  The one who performed her funeral mass was built on the same lines as Shaquille O'Neal.  He also had a very good singing voice.

The trip from the church to the cemetery was a long one, so more Mom and Dad and Jammies chatter ensued.  I mentioned that it was the only time we could run red lights in a car with out-of-state plates and not get pulled over.  Fortunately, as part of the procession we did not have to interrupt our conversation to listen to the GPS.  A large part of the chatter was Mom remembering where Uncle Henry lived, or Uncle Bill, or Uncle Ed, and whether or not she and her siblings had visited.  Two of Uncle Henry's children were at the funeral, and Mom made sure to get e-mail addresses for everyone.

The 'graveside' service was actually at the mortuary at the cemetery, and everyone else went straight from there to lunch.  Since Mom wasn't about to have visited Pittsburgh without visiting her parents', grandparents' and sisters' graves, we followed the hearse to the grave site.  When we left, we got lost in the cemetery, but found our way out in time to truthfully tell Mom's cousin that we were on the way to the restaurant.

Lunch was very nice, and I got to know two of my first cousins once removed more than I did 10 years ago.  They're very impressive young men, and Aunt Cathy had reason to be proud of all of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  When we left after many hugs and some tears, Mom asked if anyone wanted an ice cream cone or a milkshake, and Dad didn't, but I did.  Since we were right by the Pennsylvania turnpike, we got on and stopped for our sugar fix at a service plaza.  Mom got a milkshake, I got an apple & caramel sundae, and Dad got a frozen coffee drink.

Shortly after we left the service plaza, traffic started to slow up, and then it stopped.  We sat at mile marker 225 for an hour in the hot July sunshine, with the car turned off and all the windows open.  After a while, people were getting out of their cars and walking forward to try to see what was going on, a few cars managed to turn around and go back east on the westbound shoulder, and three assholes on motorcycles rode up the shoulder to try to get to the head of the traffic.  Dad hoped that there would be a cop waiting for them.  I just hoped they crashed and totaled their bikes!

After an hour, the traffic started to move, and we drove west to mile marker 223, where we were directed across the median and onto the eastbound turnpike, where we had to go 9 miles back to get to an exit, then wait in line for another 25 minutes to actually get off the turnpike.  It turns out there was a horrible accident and the whole turnpike was closed.  Although I had joked (before learning why we were stopped) that Mom's craving for ice cream got us stuck, it could very well have been that it saved us from being part of that accident.

Mom and I were relatively pessimistic about the people zooming up the left hand lane and whether they'd cross back into the right line just at the exit and Dad said he didn't want to hear us being negative.  So of  course as we tried to find an alternate route back home, Dad called the voice on the GPS a "chirpy little bitch", told it to shut up and told Mom that the frustration had to come out somehow!

After a stop for gas (for the car), cheese popcorn (for Mom) and almonds (for me), we got back on the turnpike and had an uneventful trip home the rest of the way.  I slept for a bit in the car, then took a short nap on my folks' couch, then came home to a very, very hungry dog.  Fortunately, LMPP forgave me as soon as the food hit the bowl, and does not seem to be holding a grudge.

One of the things Mom said as we left the church was that she was grateful for a happy childhood.  I am equally grateful for mine, especially as I have grown up and learned that happy childhoods are not as common as they should be.  Aunt Cathy was part of that happy childhood, and it's hard to imagine a trip to Pittsburgh that doesn't end with seeing her.

I'm inclined to say it was ducky.

Both of my nieces and the younger of my nephews are visiting my parents this week, and yesterday I took the day off work and Mom and the kids and I headed to Pittsburgh for the day.  Our drive was largely uneventful, barring a wee bit of a spat towards the end where Mom listened to the end of the directions rather than the whole thing and missed the middle bit, we were parked across the street from Station Square at 11:00 a.m.

We walked through the square and the kids looked at the river for a bit, then walked all the way down it, out the other side and across the street to the Monongahela Incline.  I'd ridden the Dusquene incline in my childhood, but not this one.  Mom of course, had ridden both as a Pittsburgh native.  Super Doughnut was a little nervous for some reason, but everyone enjoyed the ride to the top and the view from Mount Washington.  Then we had a discussion of which three rivers meet in Pittsburgh which ended with me asking the fare-taker if the third was the Allegheny or the Susquehanna.  For the record, the rivers are the Ohio, the Monongahela and the Allegheny.  Then we rode back down, had a nice lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and then lined up for our tour.

The weather was absolutely perfect--warm and sunny but with a nice breeze.  We had an interesting and loud tour through the city, then hit the water.  Literally hit the water, because we took a Just Ducky amphibious tour!  For me, being on the water was the best part, water-loving critter that I am.  I think it was also my niece's best part, because she was one of the kids asked to steer the boat while the guide took a break and the captain talked.  Because she had purple rhinestones on her t-shirt, the captain called her "Captain Sparkle".

After the tour, we walked through the old train station which is now a fancy restaurant, and I forgot to ask Mom if it was still a station when she was a kid.  After some more not-fun with the GPS, we made it back to Mom and Dad's and then I headed home.

By some twist of luck, the first Just Ducky video I found features the same guide we had yesterday, so here's Carol:

Disney Adventure Day 6, December 26, 2012 (Cozumel, Mexico)

Click "Read More" for the good stuff!

Disney Adventure Day 5, December 25, 2012 (Costa Maya, Mexico)

Pictures and blah, blah, blah after the jump. ;)

Disney Adventure Day 4, December 24, 2012 (Grand Cayman Island)

Same deal as yesterday, everything is behind the jump!

Disney Adventure Day 3, December 23, 2012 (Day at sea)

Today's post has the pictures mixed in with the text, and since there are lots of pictures, everything is after the jump.

Disney Adventure Day 2, December 22, 2012 (Cape Canaveral, Florida)

I woke up early, but sadly, did not remember to credit The Doctor with the continuing existence of the world—all I wanted was coffee.  Fortunately, it was available in the hotel’s gathering area well before the breakfast buffet was set up.  When I went to Mom and Dad’s room and knocked very quietly on the door, Mom let me in and after we’d talked for a bit, she told me that the Crossword-Mathgeek family was planning to have breakfast at 8:30, so I said I’d come back and join them.  However, when I went to get another cup of coffee, Jeeves and Superdoughnut were already having breakfast, so I joined them instead.

Breakfast was decent—the pineapple was good, the toaster was slooooow and the yogurt was Dannon, but I got plenty to eat and either the meds or the previous night’s salad solved one of my problems.  J  Jeeves made a Publix run and bought out the pharmacy aisle because Lady Margo woke up with a sore throat, and Mom had to get her bathing suit out of the car, but we all managed to get our stuff together and get on the bus for the Disney terminal on time.  Just as Dad was grumping that bus was supposed to leave at 11:15, it started up and we pulled out at 11:20.

Getting to the terminal was very quick, but since Mom and I did our online check-in late, we were not in the same boarding group as the rest of the family.  They all got to board at noon, while we had to hang around in the terminal until 1.  When they did call group 25, Mom and Dad and I managed to sneak on board behind another family and not be announced.   Dad kept saying he wanted to put his bag down and Mom and I kept telling him the rooms wouldn’t open until 1:30.  Rather than try to find the rest of the family, the three of us went to lunch at the Enchanted Garden, which is an extremely lovely restaurant.

After lunch, Dad and I both went to take naps.  We did get some family time, because all four rooms are in a line, and our verandas all line up.  There was a lot of talking back and forth, and that stayed true for the rest of the trip.

For some reason, I hadn’t turned off my cell, so what woke me was that ringing, followed by the message tone when I didn’t find the phone fast enough.  I looked at the caller ID, expecting that someone from the family was trying to wake me up, but instead it was the woman with whom I’d interviewed for a court job a week ago.  I GOT THE JOB!  I start on January 2^nd, which gives me the 1st for getting Mom’s office set up for her return.

I knocked on the connecting door between my room and my parents', and Dad was still napping, but Mom came to the door and I told her, then I went down to Jeeves and Lady Margo’s room and told them.  We all went out on the balcony and when I saw that Dad was on his balcony, I said, “Hey, Dad, who are you looking at?”  He said he didn’t know, and I said, “The newest probate court employee, that’s who!”

This time, we had the early dinner, so we all met in the hallway and headed for the Royal Court.  I’m not sure what happened, but I ate a really yummy bowl of French onion soup, had a Lemon Drop martini, took about four bites of my salad with goat cheese and knew I was going to be sick.  I excused myself from dinner, took the elevator up and made it back to my room before tossing my cookies.  I brushed my teeth, sat down and rested for a bit, then went back downstairs to see the tree lighting.  Mom was in her room reading when I got back upstairs, so we talked a little bit, then she fell asleep around 9.   I wasn’t going to buy internet service on this trip, but I had to go online and tell everyone about the job, so I bought 250 minutes. I managed to stay up until almost 10, and after a last smoke on the veranda, where I saw a lighted ship traveling away from us, I snuggled under my big poofy coverlet on my big poofy mattress and fell asleep.

Pictures of my room and the Towel Animal du Jour (a swan) after the jump!