Trippin' to Maryland

The funny thing was that I was composing in my head this post about how great the flights to Maryland had gone. The planes had been on time, we didn't have to pay to use the bathroom or for our snacks or sodas or pillows, and the flights were not packed to the gills.

Here we see The Boy demonstrating how the "kewl kidz" wear their iPod ear buds. Yes, it was a long couple of flights.

In any case, we made it to Baltimore/Washington International Airport (motto: "Be happy we didn't throw in Philadelphia too") fine.

An interesting moment I completely failed to capture with a camera: About three rows ahead of us there was a distinguished looking black man that was taking a VERY long time to get his jacket arranged just right before he headed down the aisle to leave the plane. There was plenty of time to whip out the camera and take a picture, but, well, I just wanted to get off the dang plane. So I was mildly perturbed and not thinking this was a bloggable event.

He turned out to be the Rev Jesse Jackson. Flying coach on Southwest Airlines. Eating the same bags of peanuts we had.

In any case, things went downhill from there. The baggage took forever, and when they did show up, WHM's bag looked like something that had been cuddled by a velociraptor. So there was much frustration on her part trying to convince them that the bag did not actually look like that when we left California. A pair of shoes, her favorite shirt, and a special umbrella were all destroyed. She ended up with a new suitcase and a check for $50.

So we were late getting to DAAAUUNNS place, where lots of people had already gathered.

Mary is the little girl with the backpack, cousin Cathy is on the left, DAAAUUUNNN is in the middle, and Missouri Donna rounds out the group. DAAAUUUNNN's house is wonderful, little yappy dogs not-withstanding.


It rained a lot last night and the wind blew a bit, but even with all that, the view off the deck this morning is still amazing.

(OK, a couple of weeks ago, before all the leaves fell, it would have been a bit better, but this is still very cool.) And here's a picture to remind us of why we are here.

That's Dolores. Today (Sunday) will be a busy day. Among other things, I need to try to find a local place to print the poster since the one I ordered on the internets came back less than optimal.

But the fireplace is cracklin' and breakfast is sizzlin' and, well, maybe we can wait a few minutes before shovin' the day forward.

That's it - move along...