Most of us were up before 7:30am doing what we do each morning. I, of course, was all about doing my exercises and prepping for a run. But before either I made the day’s first pot of coffee with Seattle’s Best.
After sucking down one cup of coffee I dressed in my smelly running clothes for one last run along the Vancouver waterfront. Over the years I’ve logged probably 40 runs along that route. This day I went without my MP3 player or ear covers.
It was spitting rain as I left and at times it rained even harder. For no real good reason, I shortened the run by about a half mile, keeping it closer to my usual weekday five miles. I returned dripping wet and quickly changed back into my PJs and placed my wet running clothes in the dryer. Before taking my shower Mary Ann and I made five sandwiches for the trip home. Last minute we made one for Glenn too, so that he had a packed lunch for work. In our stead, Glenn would find himself left with a fridge full of food, some beer, and a bottle of wine. What we’d take would be the noise and positive energy we brought with us from Ohio.
We all were showered and ready with a good half hour to spare. Glenn was up and busy burning photo CDs for each of us. One CD contained wedding photos and the other the ski trip. Just before we left his house the rain came down hard and began mixing with large snow flakes just as predicted by the local weather forecasters.
At 9:45am we loaded the minivan, hugged and said our goodbyes, and then headed for PDX. The next planned family visit is said to be October. We’ll just have to see.
I realized pulling away that we’d need to stop for gas to fulfill our rental agreement which requires the van be returned on “full”. We gambled thinking surely there’d be many fueling opportunities in and around the airport/rental agencies. It was raining so I was very focused on my driving. As we approached the airport I wasn’t entirely sure how to get to the Thrifty Rental facility. We gambled and turned right on International Way. We were wrong. That made me nervous. While trying to find Thifty I remembered the need to fuel. And as luck would have it, there were no fueling stations to be found. Of “frikin’ course! We finally located the Thrifty lot but couldn’t find fuel. We opted to drive around a little feeling certain that there’d be a gas station nearby. We never found one. Eventually we gave up and decided to eat the high refueling charges we were sure to encounter at Thrifty, although we’d used only a quarter tank.
We pulled up to the rental return and quickly exited the minivan. The young lady asked that I keep it running while she inspected the van and recorded the mileage and such. She noticed the gas not being full and told me she’d have to charge me for fuel. I conceded. However, she returned with my receipt and decided to forego charging us any extra for fuel usage. That was awfully nice!
We loaded our luggage into the airport shuttle and were on our way. He dropped us at the Northwest door all in a matter of five minutes. We opted out of the outdoor check –in kiosk where they charge $2 per bag and instead proceeded inside to the normal counter. Inside we encountered a tremendously long line – probably about 30 folks deep. Suddenly we felt pressed for time. Mindy went back out to confirm if we could fully check ourselves in at the outdoor kiosk. She returned with good news. We could!
We decided that the $2 per bag charge was well worth the no wait line. Together we had seven bags to check. Five minutes later we had all of our luggage checked and all of our boarding passes for home. We tipped the gentleman well and proceeded to security and eventually to our gate – D6.
Boarding began almost the moment we walked up – perfect timing! All of us were seated in the rear of the plane. Mindy and I were right by an engine which ended up being very noisy seats. No biggie! Not long into our flight out of Portland we dug into our packed sandwiches. They were yummy.
Mindy and I read & napped through most of the flight to Minny. Because of the strong tail wind, the flight time was 40 minutes shorter than the flight out (2:40 versus 3:20). Once in Minny we found our gate then found some dinner. We dined at the Rock Bottom Brew Pub. They were very slow but the food was good. We headed for our departing gate thirty minutes prior to departure. Turns out the gate changed last minute, but the walk was minimal. We boarded for home.
The flight to CMH was a short one hour and nineteen minutes. We landed I CMH at 10pm on the nose. Without any trouble we got our luggage and got to Bob’s minivan in the Blue Lot. As we headed down International Dr. Mindy’s phone rang. It was Lindsey requesting our ETA and she sounded somewhat panicked. But then again, when doesn’t she. She said she was in labor and needed to get to the hospital and that she needed Ashley to take her. We told her that we’d be home in short order. Where’s her mother, I wondered.
Bob & Mary Ann dropped us at home just after 11pm. We said our goodbyes and quickly switched back into Stressville mode. Mindy woke the kids while Lindsey prepared to leave for the hospital. The plan all along was for us to keep Lil’ Rocky during her hospital stay. He didn’t like the idea and pleaded with his momma to take him along. Mindy and I just rolled our eyes as once again he was manipulating her. We stressed that there would be no place for him in Labor & Delivery and that he would stop crying seconds after she departed. Surprisingly, she listened and left him with us. And just as expected, he stopped crying instantly. In fact, he was happy to be sharing Bella’s room. Can life get any more frantic?
While walking Ykraps I noticed steam billowing from my deck. What? Upon my return I checked the hot tub to find that it was in the Over Heat mode and running the air jets to attempt cool itself down. Ashley had it cranked to max temp. I wondered how long that had been going on. The water level was down about six inches. Great! What ever happened to coming home from vacation to a peaceful, clean home?
After restoring some order to the home Mindy and I eventually went to bed. Both of us had to work the following morning. It was after 1230am when we fell asleep in our own bed.
After sucking down one cup of coffee I dressed in my smelly running clothes for one last run along the Vancouver waterfront. Over the years I’ve logged probably 40 runs along that route. This day I went without my MP3 player or ear covers.
It was spitting rain as I left and at times it rained even harder. For no real good reason, I shortened the run by about a half mile, keeping it closer to my usual weekday five miles. I returned dripping wet and quickly changed back into my PJs and placed my wet running clothes in the dryer. Before taking my shower Mary Ann and I made five sandwiches for the trip home. Last minute we made one for Glenn too, so that he had a packed lunch for work. In our stead, Glenn would find himself left with a fridge full of food, some beer, and a bottle of wine. What we’d take would be the noise and positive energy we brought with us from Ohio.
We all were showered and ready with a good half hour to spare. Glenn was up and busy burning photo CDs for each of us. One CD contained wedding photos and the other the ski trip. Just before we left his house the rain came down hard and began mixing with large snow flakes just as predicted by the local weather forecasters.
At 9:45am we loaded the minivan, hugged and said our goodbyes, and then headed for PDX. The next planned family visit is said to be October. We’ll just have to see.
I realized pulling away that we’d need to stop for gas to fulfill our rental agreement which requires the van be returned on “full”. We gambled thinking surely there’d be many fueling opportunities in and around the airport/rental agencies. It was raining so I was very focused on my driving. As we approached the airport I wasn’t entirely sure how to get to the Thrifty Rental facility. We gambled and turned right on International Way. We were wrong. That made me nervous. While trying to find Thifty I remembered the need to fuel. And as luck would have it, there were no fueling stations to be found. Of “frikin’ course! We finally located the Thrifty lot but couldn’t find fuel. We opted to drive around a little feeling certain that there’d be a gas station nearby. We never found one. Eventually we gave up and decided to eat the high refueling charges we were sure to encounter at Thrifty, although we’d used only a quarter tank.
We pulled up to the rental return and quickly exited the minivan. The young lady asked that I keep it running while she inspected the van and recorded the mileage and such. She noticed the gas not being full and told me she’d have to charge me for fuel. I conceded. However, she returned with my receipt and decided to forego charging us any extra for fuel usage. That was awfully nice!
We loaded our luggage into the airport shuttle and were on our way. He dropped us at the Northwest door all in a matter of five minutes. We opted out of the outdoor check –in kiosk where they charge $2 per bag and instead proceeded inside to the normal counter. Inside we encountered a tremendously long line – probably about 30 folks deep. Suddenly we felt pressed for time. Mindy went back out to confirm if we could fully check ourselves in at the outdoor kiosk. She returned with good news. We could!
We decided that the $2 per bag charge was well worth the no wait line. Together we had seven bags to check. Five minutes later we had all of our luggage checked and all of our boarding passes for home. We tipped the gentleman well and proceeded to security and eventually to our gate – D6.
Boarding began almost the moment we walked up – perfect timing! All of us were seated in the rear of the plane. Mindy and I were right by an engine which ended up being very noisy seats. No biggie! Not long into our flight out of Portland we dug into our packed sandwiches. They were yummy.
Mindy and I read & napped through most of the flight to Minny. Because of the strong tail wind, the flight time was 40 minutes shorter than the flight out (2:40 versus 3:20). Once in Minny we found our gate then found some dinner. We dined at the Rock Bottom Brew Pub. They were very slow but the food was good. We headed for our departing gate thirty minutes prior to departure. Turns out the gate changed last minute, but the walk was minimal. We boarded for home.
The flight to CMH was a short one hour and nineteen minutes. We landed I CMH at 10pm on the nose. Without any trouble we got our luggage and got to Bob’s minivan in the Blue Lot. As we headed down International Dr. Mindy’s phone rang. It was Lindsey requesting our ETA and she sounded somewhat panicked. But then again, when doesn’t she. She said she was in labor and needed to get to the hospital and that she needed Ashley to take her. We told her that we’d be home in short order. Where’s her mother, I wondered.
Bob & Mary Ann dropped us at home just after 11pm. We said our goodbyes and quickly switched back into Stressville mode. Mindy woke the kids while Lindsey prepared to leave for the hospital. The plan all along was for us to keep Lil’ Rocky during her hospital stay. He didn’t like the idea and pleaded with his momma to take him along. Mindy and I just rolled our eyes as once again he was manipulating her. We stressed that there would be no place for him in Labor & Delivery and that he would stop crying seconds after she departed. Surprisingly, she listened and left him with us. And just as expected, he stopped crying instantly. In fact, he was happy to be sharing Bella’s room. Can life get any more frantic?
While walking Ykraps I noticed steam billowing from my deck. What? Upon my return I checked the hot tub to find that it was in the Over Heat mode and running the air jets to attempt cool itself down. Ashley had it cranked to max temp. I wondered how long that had been going on. The water level was down about six inches. Great! What ever happened to coming home from vacation to a peaceful, clean home?
After restoring some order to the home Mindy and I eventually went to bed. Both of us had to work the following morning. It was after 1230am when we fell asleep in our own bed.
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