Yesterday, as I was making my way back to our room after what has become my usual routine of going out to get a chai tea at Bad Ass Coffee, I ran into an older couple from Michigan. They were trying to wrangle their luggage through the secure entry and then find the elevator. I ended up helping them with both tasks and riding with them on the elevator. I was wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and flip flops, and as we started our ride up the woman said something about them just getting here and not having time to change out of their corduroy pants yet. They said they were from Michigan. I told them I was from Oregon, that I’d gotten here a couple of days ago, and the first thing I did was change out of my jeans and into my shorts. Even with the weather we had yesterday (thunderstorms with severe weather warning) it was warm. The man then said, “Oregon huh? We were in Oregon last year. Drove down the coast.” The woman said it was beautiful and then the man spoke again. He said, “yes it was”, to which I nodded and smiled, and then he continued by saying there was just one thing he didn’t understand. He said, “What I don’t get is, with all the hippies in Oregon who are so into the environment, why was there so much paper on the side of the road. I thought hippies loved the environment. You’d think the hippies would clean it up.” With that, we reached their floor and they got off the elevator. As they did they wished me a good trip and I wished them a nice vacation.

I finished my jaunt up to our room, chai and ham and cheese bagel in hand, settled in to enjoy both, and thought about what he’d said. And you know, I had to agree with him. We Oregonians pride ourselves on our love of the environment and our protection of it. We used to be, and still are regarding some things, pioneers in all things environment. What’s happening? Is it what Karen assumed, that things are slipping because so many people are moving in from out of state? Or is it that we’ve just become cocky and careless… focusing on things outside of ourselves and not paying enough attention to what’s happening on our own doorstep. Either way… we’d best be careful and heed the wise words of the anonymous man from Michigan… we hippies had best be keeping it clean.

Here I am, sitting in my pajamas after one in the afternoon. I’ve sipped some tea, written a bit, surfed a bit, watched “Clear and Present Danger”, and some tv on A&E. Karen is suited up and out networking at the conference. It doesn’t seem quite fair, and I definitely believe I got the better end of the deal. It’s been quiet, which has been really nice. I’ve always liked my own company and never have been uncomfortable spending time alone. In fact, I enjoy it. So today, it’s been good. All that’s left is a trip out and about to the nearest Starbucks for a chai tea and possibly a sandwich, if they have them. What could be better? So far… I’m enjoying this little home away from home.

Inside PDX

Ted Is Here

The Ceiling at Dick Clark’s in Phoenix

Bag It

Waiting For The Rental Car

What can I say… It was a long day. We got up at 4:00 in the morning, Oregon time, at the Marriott in Portland, and finally put our bags down at 12:30 AM, Florida time, at the Marriott in Orlando. 17 hours of travel, two plane changes, and a few faux pas by the airline, but we made it. And were thankful for it…. making it that is.

The initial take off and trip to Phoenix, our first stop, went without a hitch. We got up on time (a miracle that early in the morning), caught the shuttle to the airport on time, and checked our bags in with no problem. We got some chai tea after getting through security and had a nice flight to Phoenix, where we knew we had a long lay over, so no big deal…. right? Wrong. We did have a long lay over (4 and a half hours), which wasn’t bad. It gave us time to get something to eat at Dick Clark’s American Bandstand restaurant in the phoenix airport, and watch a movie (Coach Carter) via the laptop and a couple of good sets of headphones (thank you Bose). All that went great. And then…. then we went up to the ticket agent in Phoenix to see what our boarding group was. You see, we checked in via the internet at home, before we’d left the house on Friday, and even though our first flight was on Alaska and our second was on American Airlines, we’d booked them through Alaska and were allowed to check in for both. Or so we’d thought. Karen went up to the ticket agent to get our boarding group and found that no, we hadn’t been checked in, and what’s more, the airline had changed planes (literally… we had a different airplane) so though he was able to get us on the plane, we weren’t sitting together. Which, for those of you who know us, and particularly, who know Karen well… this did NOT make her happy. Alas, even after she chatted with them, there was nothing they could do. What’s more… our flight from Phoenix to Orlanda had a planned stop in Dallas, also supposed to be no biggie, but since we hadn’t been checked in for our flight, and since they changed the plane, we each had two boarding passes, one for each leg, and were told we had to de-plane and re-check in for the second leg of what was supposed to be a smooth and trouble free flight. Ok, so there we were… two boarding passes each for two legs of flight to Orlando, and we weren’t sitting together on either leg. Bummer. Luckily, Karen being herself, got some passengers to change so that we could sit together from Phoenix to Dallas. That part done, we de-planed in Dallas with the thought that we’d just be boarding our same plane again, which we were relieved about because we’d landed 45 minutes late in Dallas. You’d think the adventure stopped there, but nooooooo… we de-planed in Dallas to find a ticket agent outside the gangway doors saying, Orlando eh… well… you need to go to terminal C (we were in terminal D at the time) because the airport had changed our gate, and once again, our plane, even though our flight still had the same number. There was another couple who’d gotten off directly before us who were in the same boat, so we all looked at each other and ran for the skylink. Anyone who’s ever flown through Dallas knows it’s a large airport. And I mean large. We had about 7 minutes before our new plane at our new gate was supposed to take off. As we ran off toward the sky link I was yelling to the other couple asking if anyone had let the staff know that there were others on our old plane thinking they didn’t have to change planes or get off. They yelled back, yes… they’d told the ticket agent. So, as a group of 4 we ran to the sky link, got on, took the trip around to C, and found ourself right at our gate when we came down the escalator… thank god. The plane was all loaded and we found they were waiting for us. So… we got on (the plane was full), found our separate seats, 34A and 35A, and Karen again tried to ask the people in her row if they’d switch, since they weren’t sitting together (one was sitting in her seat). Her inquiry received a very snide response from the “lady”, and I use that term loosely, who was sitting in her seat. She said, with way more attitude than I can muster here, that they were not switching. That meant we had to sit apart, since the two next to me were a mother and a small child, and asking them to switch was obviously out of the question. After all of that, finally, we were in the air… on our last plane of the day, headed to our final destination. All I have to say about that last flight, well… this sums it up… I was in the second to the last row on the plane, sitting next to a little girl who took turns alternately kicking my right leg and arm and putting her hand on my sternum (ok, she only did the sternum thing once, but I was actually almost asleep when it happened and it scared the crap out of me). Behind me I had a mother and her two sons, who both, I think, took turns kicking the back of my seat, the one at the window, directly behind me, kept opening up his sliding window and then slamming it back down, yelling about how close we were to the ground as we took off. To all this I have to say again… THANK GOD for an ipod and my sweet noise cancelling Bose headphones. I turned on the ipod, slipped the headphones on, and all noise from the yelling, kicking, sternum slapping kids was gone. As was the incredibly loud sound of the 757 engine I was sitting right behind. I noticed that Karen too, sitting right in front of me, had her ipod and headphones working their magic. It was lovely, and two hours later… we landed, at last, in Orlando.

From there the rest of the evening went smoothly. We got our little rental car without a hitch, found our hotel without a hitch, and checked in… without a hitch. Finally finding ourselves safely and thankfully ensconced in what will be our little home away from home until Friday, when we leave for other destinations in Florida. Speaking to that I only have one thing to say… we’re driving!

… All photos taken with my phone…

Well… Disney World… and more specifically…Epcot. We’re almost ready to head out. We arrived safely here in Orlando, got our rental car, and found our hotel. There’s a story about our travels yesterday, complete with pictures, but I’ll save that for later tonight or tomorrow. Right now the new camcorder battery is charging, my fantastic camera is waiting, and my honey is ready to go… if that battery would just get done charging, we’ll be outta here!

It’s been a bit since my last post. We were just leaving St. Louis I believe. And now… where are we? We are at the Marriott near the Portland Airport ready to take off on our next adventure… a week in Orlando, Florida followed by a couple of days in Tallahassee, followed by a couple of days driving back down the coast to Ft. Lauderdale, followed by a week long cruise in the Caribbean. Yes, we are cruising there again, only this time we’re going to Panama, Costa Rica, and Belize. We were only home, between trips, for 9 days.

We have a 4:00 AM wake up call and a 4:30 AM shuttle ride to the airport, so I guess, since it’s nearly 10:00, we’d best turn this puppy off and try to get some sleep.

Thanks Mom and Don for the ride to the hotel and for dinner tonight… another tasty meal at Mississippi Pizza. One can never go wrong with a spinach salad, a couple of slices of pizza, and a great tasting root beer. Yum.

Now… we’re off to sleep…