My first "first" was staying in a hotel alone. I had an early flight to catch on Tuesday, so I booked a hotel for myself to do a park-and-fly deal. That's where you can stay at the hotel and ride a shuttle to the airport so you can keep your car at the hotel while you're gone. Not that I'm a fan of shuttle rides, but I thought it was the best decision in this case.
I got to my hotel just as it was getting dark Monday night. I didn't answer my phone or texts while I was driving in Dallas, so I spent my first 45 minutes in my room catching up on that. But after I hung up from my last call, I looked up and realized I was ALONE IN A HOTEL ROOM. And it was super quiet. And I do not know what to do with quiet. So I turned my TV on for noise and went to lock my door. This is when I realized that my little chain latch thing on my door was messed up and was not going to work. So after I pushed my 60 pound suitcase against the door and the heavy coffee table against my suitcase, I felt secure. Except for the fact that I now couldn't get into my bathroom without stepping on the table and then the suitcase. That's ok though. That's a sacrifice I will make for my security.
My wake-up call was at 5:15, and by 6:00 I was in the airport shuttle with lots of other people who were taken from a sleepy stupor in the lobby to a heart-racing, praying bunch of people just hoping this shuttle driver didn't flip the van on the way. We all got very close very fast. And by close I mean just almost on top of each other. I'm guessing that the more trips this guys makes a day, the more money he makes. It was wild and I was ready to throw up by the time we reached my drop-off. It was not an enjoyable start to the day.
I had a revelation after I got my bag checked in and my boarding passes. I now know why the airports tell you to be 2 hours early for your flight. It is so they can quickly get you herded through like cattle so that you will have PLENTY of time to spend money in their shops and restaurants. AS IF THEY HAVEN'T ALREADY MADE ENOUGH MONEY OFF OF ME!!
So I ended up with 2 hours to spare and there just happened to be a TGIFridays next to my gate, so I stopped in to eat breakfast. Alone in a restaurant. Weird. As I sat there eating my breakfast tacos, I was pondering the thought of buying some duty-free miracle cream and a hair bow. Not because my brain was still rattled from the shuttle (although it probably was), but I thought that maybe I could pass as a 13 year old that needs her own personal attendant during my flight. Then I remembered miracle cream is not truly a miracle. And that a bow in my hair would just make people stare at me. So my only option is to be a big girl and face this alone.
Ok. I can do this.
My flight left on time and I sat by a very nice business man that I barely talked to but fell asleep on for the flight to Salt Lake City. My layover at Salt Lake City was not too bad. I already had my boarding pass so I had plenty of time to....you guessed it. SHOP!
Why must I have such a weakness for sweatshirts from cities that I'm just passing through?
My second flight was a much larger plane, but my seat was sandwiched right in between 2 men. Let's call them Large Man and Very Large Man. As everyone was boarding, I couldn't help but wonder why large men and very large men don't have to buy 2 seats. Or at least upgrade to first class. As our plane was taxiing, the flight attendant came and got a woman that was sitting across from me and moved her to first class. So my row looked like this: Large Man-Me-Very Large Man. The row across and up one now looked like this: Small lady-No one-No one. So I asked Very Large Man if he could please ask Small Lady if I could move to her row. Small Lady agreed and I felt like I had just been upgraded to first class. It was a lovely flight.
My flight landed in Spokane a few minutes early, and then it was off to baggage claim, which is where my friend Brandi picked me up.
Oh how I've missed that girl.
From Spokane we headed to a town just outside of Seattle to spend the night so that she could show me around Seattle Wednesday. I loved that I went from a high in the 100's to a high that was in the 70's. People were actually wearing long sleeves and were comfortable. It was divine. Brandi had to hold me back from getting a microphone and announcing to people everywhere we went that they needed to stop a minute and be thankful for the weather. I wanted them to know that there are people literally dying from the heat only 2 plane rides away. Ok. Enough about the weather. But really- a high of 70 degrees in July? Come on.
Seattle and Spokane get their own blog post. Just too much to say and too many pictures to put all into one blog post.
After spending the day Wednesday in Seattle, we went to Brandi's house in Kennewick to spend the night Wednesday night. Then she, Todd, and myself got up and headed to Spokane to spend the day and night Thursday and headed back to their house Friday morning. Thursday was a fun and interesting day, and I will post on it later.
Friday was a day of running around town with Brandi in a Mustang convertible with the top down. We went to check out some boat races and got pedicures. Later that evening we went to the Dust Devils baseball game that they have season tickets for. You want to know the difference between a Rangers game in Arlington, TX and a Dust Devils game in Washington? About 30 degrees. It was beautiful.
After the game, Brandi and I headed to our last meal together before I left (well, unless you count the cookie we split for breakfast Saturday morning on the way to the airport). We went to a cute little place called Cousins, where Brandi tackled this.
And I had a sandwich that was not picture-taking worthy, but still pretty yummy.
Brandi and I stayed up late Friday night talking and laughing about our week together. We always have a blast together no matter what we're doing, and this trip did not disappoint. It was wonderful.
She asked me what my favorite thing about the trip was and my answer was.... Laughing. We always end up laughing so hard that we can't catch our breath and we are crying our makeup off. I LOVE that about our relationship. We seem to find humor in everything. Most of the time no one else even understands what we're laughing about, which makes it even more special.
My flight back to Salt Lake City was perfect, and after a 2 hour layover, I was boarding my last plane of the trip. To sum it up, it was a small plane, we had to go through 'weather' which produced about 30 minutes of unenjoyable turbulence, and a really bad descention. Why is it that some pilots prefer to fall straight down about 10 feet, level out, then drop another 10 feet, etc.? I don't like that. At All. But we made it back safely and I got my luggage, got on my shuttle ride back to the hotel, got in my car, and headed home to my sweet hubby and kids.
And now that I've made it home safely from my week of travel with no major problems, I think I've earned the right to say...I'm a big girl now.
Well, when I want to be anyway....
Hey big girl. I can't wait to read the rest. And I love laughing with Sherry till our make up falls off.
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