And ... We're Off

I was up a couple of times through the night. The instance I remember most was most likely prompted by the full moon shining brightly onto my scantly covered body through the aptly named half-moon window. It was about as bright as it ever gets – a by product of the crystal clear sky & the extremely cold temps. However, despite the momentary interruption, I was thankfully able to fall back asleep with little trouble after a quick pee.

I woke for good at 5:30am, exactly. I am a finely tuned machine, indeed. I gathered my stuff, brushed my teeth, and then headed down stairs to begin my morning routine. I was beyond giddy that this day had finally arrived. I haven’t had a day of vacation since the holidays. And I’ve really needed one.

I pushed through my usual exercise routine then turned my attention to Ykraps, who was patiently waiting by the door. It was cold, this I already knew. According to the Weather Channel it hit 1 degree. Thankfully, there was little to no breeze. Our walk was a fruitful one. Ykraps emptied his bowels and then some.

Mindy was up on her own. She retrieved her own coffee but promptly returned upstairs. I did what I usually do. I read the Daily OM, read a couple email, and meditated. I dressed and left for a run a few minutes behind schedule. It was cold but I was comfy, especially after a quarter mile or so. My thoughts were all over the place. I thought about our flight, the kids, specifically Lindsey, and then my coming meeting with my boss. But nothing that was gonna ruin my day. My run went well. I marveled at the speed in which it went by.

Inside, Jacob & Mindy were up and milling about the kitchen. Bella remained in bed even after waking initially around 5am. The day went on about like normal. Mindy & Bella left around 7:25am. Jacob & I ate, and then he played Wii while I showered.

We left for the bus stop at 7:55am. There were greeted Pat & Alanna. I gave Jacob a hug good bye not sure that I’d see him later this afternoon. While the Trooper thawed, I went back inside to enjoy a few minutes more of quiet time. I played some Wii. Earlier, I took a handful of snap shots with my new camera of the beautiful sunrise glistening against the ice covered trees. Magnificent!

I left for work a few minutes later than usual but in a fabulous state of mind. Work went smoothly. I had an interview scheduled for 930am so I had little time to interact with my team prior. Afterwards, I met with my boss in what I would deem as a productive and amicable meeting. The work day was preogressing smoothly. My boss, around 2pm, offered that I leave early. I didn't hesitate to get going. I was really excited!





I spent the afternoon alone wrapping up any last minute packing. It was nice having that hour or so all to myself. I was perfectly organized and ready by the time that Mindy arrived home. In fact, so much so that I was able to play Wii with the kids while waiting on Jimaken to come pick-up the children, and Bob I. to come pick up Mindy & I.

Jimaken arrived around 4pm and left with the kids after Bella and I completed our game of Wii golf. They left around 4:30pm. Everyone was in very good spirits. I walked Ykraps at 4:40pm determined to get a last minute poop out of him. It worked. While out on our walk Bob & Mary Ann arrived to fetch Mindy & I. All of us were very excited to be getting our ski vacation underway.

We left the house just before 5pm. Before hopping on the freeway we made a last minute stop at the corner Ameristop to but a few Mega-Millions lottery tickets. The jackpot was setting at a cool $270 million for the Friday night drawing. We were finally airport bound just after 5pm.

Our flight was slated to depart at 7pm, essentially the same time that a big winter storm was expected to hit. We cared little beyond getting the hell out of town on schedule. At the time the skies were dry and only thinly veiled in clouds. Ironically, my mother called on our trek towards the airport checking on our safety given the “nasty weather”. Apparently the weather had already taken a turn for the worse in her neck of the woods, so it was like work convincing her that it wasn’t the same here. Ultimately I found it easier just to agree that we’d drive carefully to the airport.

We arrived a short time later. Bob kindly dropped all of us curbside along with our luggage while he went to park. We chose to check our bags curbside so we could head directly to security. Five minutes later we were removing our shoes and emptying our pockets at the security checkpoint. At the last minute Mary Ann realized that she had Bob’s boarding pass so she waited for his arrival by the “Brush Strokes in Flight” sculpture.

The rest of us headed towards CBC (Columbus Brewing Company), our schedule meeting point. By the time we fetched ourselves a beer along came Bob & Mary Ann. There we toasted to a fabulous ski weekend. Time flew by as we sipped (some gulped) our beers. It was 6:30pm – time to board. We zipped to the jet way at B35. Our seats were in row 14. Just as we boarded the snow storm everyone was talking about all day began.

Sadly, we had to sit on the tarmac waiting our turn to deice. That put us about 40 minutes behind. We had only an hour or so lay over in Minny. A missed connection would almost certainly equate to an over night given our knowledge of additional flights to Portland flying late out of Minny. Because of that, all of us were a bit anxious. However, if there was a silver lining, we knew the storm was coming at CMH from the south west and that Minny was clear and dry. Once in the air we would be able to make good time.

Despite the fact that we deplaned on concourse C and our connection was leaving out of concourse F, the universe was very kind to us. We made it to our connecting gate just as boarding began. The only negative was that we were all hungry and certainly would’ve preferred to grab a bite to eat. But given our druthers, we preferred to get to our destination - Portland - somewhat on schedule.

The Minny to Portland leg went fast. I slept most of the way, and so did everyone else.
We landed just before 11pm PST under a rare moonlit sky. Any tension that may have mounted during our travel unraveled as we made our way to baggage claim. Bob & I contemplated stopping at the new Rogue draft house in the terminal, but ended up thinking it a better choice to get our bags and car and head to Glenn’s. He had food & beer awaiting our arrival.

We had our bags and our Hertz rental vehicle in short order. Having the vehicles right there at the terminal was a big time saver. We made our way to Glenn’s in about twenty minutes. It’s not too far – perhaps 9 miles.

Glenn greeted us at the front door just as we pulled up curbside. His house was warm and inviting as we all exchanged hugs and handshakes. Glenn exclaimed that each of us was assigned the same sleeping quarters as last year. He had a toasty fire roaring as well as several bouquets of native pink rhododendrons - our wedding flowers. After moving our bags to our rooms we kicked back with some cold brew, wings, and nachos. We visited for just about an hour before calling it a night. Mindy & Mary Ann were the first to call it. However, the rest of us weren’t far behind. After all, we had an aggressive morning agenda.