Travels

There are 244 posts filed in Travels (this is page 23 of 25).

Book Night

Light blogging tonight – its a good night to read. I’ve had Bill Bryson’s A Short History Of Nearly Everything checked out for weeks and have had a hard time putting it down. It’s filling in a lot of the blanks that remained in my science education. Bryson’s writing is so entertaining he can make being blown up by a supervolcano sound like fun.

I don’t have a full weekend this weekend as I’m off to Philadelphia for three days beginning tomorrow evening. I’ve flown through Philly many times but never gotten a chance to look around the city itself. Since reading Walter Isaacson’s Benjamin Franklin: An American Life I’ve wanted to walk the same streets that Franklin walked. They’re also the same streets that Rocky Balboa walked, or jogged at least. At any rate tomorrow I’ll get my chance.

Orcas Island’s Revenge

Remember how I said that the start of our Orcas Island vacation began with my breakfast getting airborne before we did? Well, that little bug behaved itself while we were actually on vacation but it apparently never left. Kelly had quite a restless night, spending more time upright than horizontal. I had a not-so-fun day. Fortunately for me I think my issues may be over. I hope Kelly’s are, too.

When it’s 100+ degrees outside is not the time to be dehydrated. Be well, y’all.

High-Performance Performances

In my attempt to document events during our day at the Orcas Island Airport, I neglected to talk about one special event. As I was watching Hallie and Travis ride the kiddie cars inside Magic Air‘s hangar, I heard a roar behind me. Whirling around, I caught a glimpse of a beautifully restored World War II-era fighter plane as it screamed just 20 feet above the runway on a fly-by. I was lucky enough to catch the plane on video as it made two more low-altitude passes.
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CQ CQ?

Note to self: make sure to remove Yaesu FT-50R ham radio from rental car before returning car to agency. D’oh! I brought it along with the hopes of firing it up on top of Mt. Constitution, but its battery wasn’t charged like I expected it to be and thus it became an expensive paperweight during our trip. Fortunately, Avis has it and is mailing it back to me.

While I’m on the subject of praise where praise is due, kudos to Southwest for correcting my mistake and getting our family home the same day. I didn’t expect it to happen but the gate agent who made the arrangements went above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks a bunch!

Home!

It’s 1:40 AM and we’re home now. Plane left Chicago an hour late but at least it left. Good thing I already had this morning off for a doctor’s appointment (which got cancelled when it looked like I wouldn’t make it).

See y’all tomorrow.

Home Tonight

Well, against all odds we managed to find four open seats from Seattle to Chicago Midway. We found out there were three open all the way to Raleigh about 15 minutes before our Seattle departure and we were making plans to have me fly separately through Las Vegas. Instead a fourth seat popped up five minutes before takeoff so I joined Kelly and the kids for the trip to Chicago.

We’re about an hour away from leaving Chicago now and should get home before midnight, God willing and the creek don’t rise. The kids have been real troupers, as has Kelly. Heck, even I’ve been a good boy. As long as we get home tonight nothing else really matters.

Vacation Extended!

We got our vacation extended! That’s right, we got some extra vacation this morning when we missed our flight out of Seattle by mere minutes. If we’re lucky, we can catch space on a flight through Chicago. If not, we’ll spend another night here in Seattle.

The Doubletree’s airport shuttle doomed us, as it arrived much later than expected to pick us up. By the time it arrived, half the hotel was waiting to board it. What should have been a ten minute ride, tops, across the street took 20-25 minutes.

Keep smiling, I keep telling myself. Keep smiling.

Some Vacation Photos Uploaded

I’ve been using the hotel’s internet to upload a few pics from our vacation. They will be slow to load until a process runs that will create thumbnails for them.

You can have a gander at the August photos here. The full set will have to wait until we return. Enjoy!

Seattle For The Night

We’re in Seattle for the evening, having gotten here smoothly all things considered. We got up at the crack of dawn (heck, even before then – I got some great pictures!), packed things up, and had exited the rental home at 6 AM on the dot. We dropped off the key at the real estate agent and then made a beeline for the queues at the ferry landing. There were three lanes full for Anacortes by 6:20 but we were number 4 in lane four. We spent our spare time visiting the coffee counter at Orcas Hotel.
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