Trip news and pics so far
Dec. 23rd, 2008 03:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
Just a quick update of my trip so far, for those interested as well as posterity (it's kind of neat to be able to go back in time and find out what I was doing on xx date).
First, there was the stress of travel. I don't fly well in the first place, but I was SO READY to leave that this time there were hardly any pre-plane jitters. I also don't think I forgot to pack anything, for possibly the first time ever. Anyway, I had an evening flight out, which is unusual because I usually try to depart early and arrive back late on both ends of the trip, in order to maximize vacation time, but somehow or other this didn't work out. I took the day off anyway, and it was so much more relaxing not to have to wake up and immediately start traveling. I had plenty of time to finish packing, do all the final household things, etc. This could very well be why I managed to not forget to pack something. So I felt pretty relaxed in the morning. And then came the call.
It was my mother, who was calling to inform me that their area (pretty far inland of SoCal) was getting tons and tons of snow, for like, the first time ever, and it was so bad that they had closed the 15 freeway -- basically, their only way to me. So there was the possibility that I would be stuck at the airport until the freeway opened again, whenever that might be, as I wasn't supposed to arrive until 11pm that night. Another option was to rent a car and check into a hotel that allowed pets, as I'd have Talis with me, but it would be late so the small airport I was flying into might not have car rental counters open ... and plus I didn't relish the idea of dragging Talis with me everywhere while trying to do this. Plus there was no guarantee that they wouldn't close the airport or cancel the flight due to the weather on the other end of the flight. So that put me in a bad mood for several hours while stressing about what we were going to do. Finally my aunt and uncle came through and said that they'd come pick me up and both Talis and I could stay at their place until my parents could come get me (which was very cool of them, considering I'd be arriving so late and my uncle had to work in the morning). The stress of that over, I continued to do my last-minute type stuff while waiting for my shuttle to arrive.
However, the relaxation was not to last long. I'd been planning to leave my house around 4:30pm to go to Subway and pick up a sandwich and some chips to eat at the airport/on the plane (airport food is expensive and generally not very good or healthy, plus I didn't want to give them one red cent I didn't have to). However, at about 4pm it started to hail. More accurately, gropple, which is like a light hail (you know Dippin Dots? That's what it looks like). So I decided to run out to get the sandwich right then, just in case it got worse. Which of course it did. The 15 minutes it took me to get my sandwich/chips resulted in the whole parking lot being covered in white, and when I turned on my wipers they pushed aside a mountain of gropple (which looked like a big pile of vanilla Dippin Dots). After that I went home and finished packing, then stressed about whether or not my flight was going to be canceled due to weather on MY end, and whether my shuttle was going to be able to get to me on time (or at all) if the weather got any worse, and even if it did, whether the traffic would be so horrendous that the 2 1/2 hours we had to get there before my flight would even be enough. I kept checking and rechecking the flight status of my flight, because I kept fearing that it would be canceled, and if that were the case, I'd rather stay in my own house rather than be stuck at the airport.
Everything went as smooth as could be, however. Once the shuttle arrived (within the window of time I was given), everything seemed to fall effortlessly into place. I was the only passenger, which meant we didn't have to stop to pick anyone else up (always good). It was slow but steady going getting out of my city, but once we headed further south the snow stopped and turned to rain. And even though it was rush hour, the traffic was miraculously good, even better than it was on normal days. Go figure. I arrived at the airport in plenty of time for my flight, I didn't feel rushed or harried, and for the first-time ever, Talis did not bark all through his check-in process. Other than barking when the shuttle guy first arrived and when the ticketing agent tried to be friends with him, he didn't make a peep (really, if you knew my dog, you'd know this is a Christmas miracle).
The ticketing agent said that no flights except the one to Vegas (which is only a couple of hours away from my parents) were canceled due to weather, so I could stop worrying about that. I bought a lemonade near my gate and sat down to eat my sandwich and chips (which tasted amazingly good, since I was really hungry by that point).
The freeway opened up the next day, and my parents came and fetched me in the early afternoon.
So far, being at home has been nice, no big blow ups with the parents and lots of eating. (Plus, there's something about being home and that feeling of being taken care of that I really enjoy.) Also shopping, because there's nothing else to do. But seriously there are some really good deals going on right now, which might explain why, even in a down economy, the malls are packed with people and it's nearly impossible to find a parking spot. I did all of my shopping for my family members when I got here (I had enough to bring without having to bring a ton of gifts), and it was fairly painless. I managed to also snag quite a few nice items for myself (including a nice pair of cream jeans and a gray sweater from my fave shop, White House | Black Market). I've also received most of my Christmas gifts already, which almost exclusively has consisted of cash and Starbucks gift cards. Hey, I'm not complaining.
Now I'm off for more shopping (I still have a Macy's gift card to use and I want to get some peppermint bark from Williams Sonoma, which is supposed to be fabulous) and dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.
If you made it this far, I salute you.
For my first meal at home, my parents wanted to make stuff that I enjoy. Here's shrimp cocktail.
Raw steak mmm. Marinated by my dad, who has the magic touch with this stuff.
The dinner itself ... T-bone steaks with baked potato and corn on the cob. My favorite!
Here's the view of the scenery near my parents' place from the freeway. Keep in mind this is Southern California, people, not Colorado!
Talis and Noodle making friends. Well, not really. Noodle was incessantly annoying to Talis, as she kept wanting to sniff him so much he could barely walk about. He let out some annoyed noises but didn't try to bite her, at least.
A Contemplative!Talis shot.
Some cheesecake we had after a prime rib dinner at Wood Ranch. I've had waaaaaay too much beef since arriving here.
A chocolate-dipped creampuff from Beard Papa or something? It's at the mall.
Deep-fried fish from Long John Silver's, which we don't have in Seattle. Quite good and inexpensive!
And finally, this is my new "Samantha" ring. So called because it reminds me of Samantha Jones's ring from the S&tC movie, except mine didn't cost $50,000.
First, there was the stress of travel. I don't fly well in the first place, but I was SO READY to leave that this time there were hardly any pre-plane jitters. I also don't think I forgot to pack anything, for possibly the first time ever. Anyway, I had an evening flight out, which is unusual because I usually try to depart early and arrive back late on both ends of the trip, in order to maximize vacation time, but somehow or other this didn't work out. I took the day off anyway, and it was so much more relaxing not to have to wake up and immediately start traveling. I had plenty of time to finish packing, do all the final household things, etc. This could very well be why I managed to not forget to pack something. So I felt pretty relaxed in the morning. And then came the call.
It was my mother, who was calling to inform me that their area (pretty far inland of SoCal) was getting tons and tons of snow, for like, the first time ever, and it was so bad that they had closed the 15 freeway -- basically, their only way to me. So there was the possibility that I would be stuck at the airport until the freeway opened again, whenever that might be, as I wasn't supposed to arrive until 11pm that night. Another option was to rent a car and check into a hotel that allowed pets, as I'd have Talis with me, but it would be late so the small airport I was flying into might not have car rental counters open ... and plus I didn't relish the idea of dragging Talis with me everywhere while trying to do this. Plus there was no guarantee that they wouldn't close the airport or cancel the flight due to the weather on the other end of the flight. So that put me in a bad mood for several hours while stressing about what we were going to do. Finally my aunt and uncle came through and said that they'd come pick me up and both Talis and I could stay at their place until my parents could come get me (which was very cool of them, considering I'd be arriving so late and my uncle had to work in the morning). The stress of that over, I continued to do my last-minute type stuff while waiting for my shuttle to arrive.
However, the relaxation was not to last long. I'd been planning to leave my house around 4:30pm to go to Subway and pick up a sandwich and some chips to eat at the airport/on the plane (airport food is expensive and generally not very good or healthy, plus I didn't want to give them one red cent I didn't have to). However, at about 4pm it started to hail. More accurately, gropple, which is like a light hail (you know Dippin Dots? That's what it looks like). So I decided to run out to get the sandwich right then, just in case it got worse. Which of course it did. The 15 minutes it took me to get my sandwich/chips resulted in the whole parking lot being covered in white, and when I turned on my wipers they pushed aside a mountain of gropple (which looked like a big pile of vanilla Dippin Dots). After that I went home and finished packing, then stressed about whether or not my flight was going to be canceled due to weather on MY end, and whether my shuttle was going to be able to get to me on time (or at all) if the weather got any worse, and even if it did, whether the traffic would be so horrendous that the 2 1/2 hours we had to get there before my flight would even be enough. I kept checking and rechecking the flight status of my flight, because I kept fearing that it would be canceled, and if that were the case, I'd rather stay in my own house rather than be stuck at the airport.
Everything went as smooth as could be, however. Once the shuttle arrived (within the window of time I was given), everything seemed to fall effortlessly into place. I was the only passenger, which meant we didn't have to stop to pick anyone else up (always good). It was slow but steady going getting out of my city, but once we headed further south the snow stopped and turned to rain. And even though it was rush hour, the traffic was miraculously good, even better than it was on normal days. Go figure. I arrived at the airport in plenty of time for my flight, I didn't feel rushed or harried, and for the first-time ever, Talis did not bark all through his check-in process. Other than barking when the shuttle guy first arrived and when the ticketing agent tried to be friends with him, he didn't make a peep (really, if you knew my dog, you'd know this is a Christmas miracle).
The ticketing agent said that no flights except the one to Vegas (which is only a couple of hours away from my parents) were canceled due to weather, so I could stop worrying about that. I bought a lemonade near my gate and sat down to eat my sandwich and chips (which tasted amazingly good, since I was really hungry by that point).
The freeway opened up the next day, and my parents came and fetched me in the early afternoon.
So far, being at home has been nice, no big blow ups with the parents and lots of eating. (Plus, there's something about being home and that feeling of being taken care of that I really enjoy.) Also shopping, because there's nothing else to do. But seriously there are some really good deals going on right now, which might explain why, even in a down economy, the malls are packed with people and it's nearly impossible to find a parking spot. I did all of my shopping for my family members when I got here (I had enough to bring without having to bring a ton of gifts), and it was fairly painless. I managed to also snag quite a few nice items for myself (including a nice pair of cream jeans and a gray sweater from my fave shop, White House | Black Market). I've also received most of my Christmas gifts already, which almost exclusively has consisted of cash and Starbucks gift cards. Hey, I'm not complaining.
Now I'm off for more shopping (I still have a Macy's gift card to use and I want to get some peppermint bark from Williams Sonoma, which is supposed to be fabulous) and dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.
If you made it this far, I salute you.
For my first meal at home, my parents wanted to make stuff that I enjoy. Here's shrimp cocktail.
Raw steak mmm. Marinated by my dad, who has the magic touch with this stuff.
The dinner itself ... T-bone steaks with baked potato and corn on the cob. My favorite!
Here's the view of the scenery near my parents' place from the freeway. Keep in mind this is Southern California, people, not Colorado!
Talis and Noodle making friends. Well, not really. Noodle was incessantly annoying to Talis, as she kept wanting to sniff him so much he could barely walk about. He let out some annoyed noises but didn't try to bite her, at least.
A Contemplative!Talis shot.
Some cheesecake we had after a prime rib dinner at Wood Ranch. I've had waaaaaay too much beef since arriving here.
A chocolate-dipped creampuff from Beard Papa or something? It's at the mall.
Deep-fried fish from Long John Silver's, which we don't have in Seattle. Quite good and inexpensive!
And finally, this is my new "Samantha" ring. So called because it reminds me of Samantha Jones's ring from the S&tC movie, except mine didn't cost $50,000.
