Made it
The short version:
I made it to Alaska on a very turbulent and otherwise uneventful flight. My luggage got off the plane before me, but we made it in half an hour early. It was a wee bit nippy out, but I was glad to make it home. :D
The long version:
Trey and Eric saw me off at the airport, a very sad goodbye. :'( Not much happened at the airport, but I was smiling like a fool waiting for my flight in anticipation of being home again after 11 months.
From Portland to Seattle, I took one of those small Bombardier dual engine prop affairs. Nice because it doesn't fly high enough to get too far into the clouds so one can see the landscape going by - which I find much preferable to cloud after cloud. It reminds me of flying in my dad's old Cessna 180.
Got to Seattle just fine, nothing weird there. The next leg of the trip, however, was a bit off-kilter. I was in the VERY back of the plane, window seat. Took forever to load the damn thing - the pilot and crew were all set to leave, just as soon as folks decided to QUIT VISITING AND SIT THE HELL DOWN. The flight crew were kind of short tempered to begin with, but we had AWFUL turbulence. I usually like turbulence, because if the plane is too still, it doesn't feel like you're moving, which I hate. Well, this was so bad they had to make everyone stay in their seats for the majority of the flight, and they kept warning people to stay in their seats, and saying how unsafe it was to move about the cabin. Which was true, but no one ever TRIED moving, and still they kept giving warnings... It was a little panicky, you know? I wasn't worried - you have a greater chance of being struck by lightning than you do dying in a plane crash, but I know a lot of other people (especially this gal next to me) were VERY scared, and what the flight crew were saying over the speakers wasn't very reassuring.
Now, this gal next to me was flying with her bf/husband? and she was so scared she was just shaking and at one point, crying. I felt bad for her, so I tried to radiate calmness to her, you know? I just played cards and read through the whole thing - at one point we were talking and I told her a bit about turbulence that I do know and reassured her. At one point in the flight, the crew was warning about the turbulence and were saying some graphic things about how you could fly up and crack your head on the celing and bleed everywhere. The gal next to me commented on this after we landed, finally laughing about it now that we were on the ground. :P
Seriously, though... the ENTIRE way it was like driving 60 down an uneven, pothole-ridden road in a vehicle with no suspension.
But, there were some BEAUTIFULLY colored clouds to be seen, and once we got near the mainland of Alaska, the moon was illuminating the endless chains of mountains - as far as you could see, solid mountains and glaciers. It was fun to try and identify any lights we came across - eventually we came across Alyeska, a ski resort, that stuck out pretty well, and then I knew for sure where we were...
I had to pee so bad for the last hour of the flight (but wwasn't able or allowed to move to go to the lavatory, which was situated RIGHT behind my row...). And being in the last row, had to wait a good while before I got off the plane. I distracted myself by watching them unload the baggage, and saw my two bags come out of the plane in the first load. Turned out my aunt and sister got my luggage before they got me!
Oh, and Greta (my aunt's rotweiller we all live with) was waiting for us in the car - she remembered me and was really excited to see me... awwww...
On the way home, we stopped at a McDonalds for some fries, but the drivethru was just not moving. We pulled up so my sister could just run in and get food, and we noticed that the suburban we had been behind in line was not behind any vehicles itself. No one seemed to really be at the wheel from our angle, so my aunt, being a correctional officer and thus very assertive, decided to go see what was going on. Turned out this guy fell asleep at the wheel while waiting in line! We couldn't believe it.
After we made it to the house, Kais and I ended up til 1am talking then I didnt get much sleep that night, either. The cat woke me up in the early morning, heaving, and once my mom got up to get ready for work, I just couldnt get back to sleep. Which means at this moment, I am exhausted.
Ugghhh.. my poor cat, Storm. She's got tumors that can't be removed... she's not in pain, but she's HUGE. She's structurally a VERY small cat, just TINY. And she weighs half again what Lenny weighs. It would be like you stuck an apple on a watermelon, the head being the apple... and her tail is this tiny thing sticking out the back, like a vole... And she's so big she can't groom herself; she never really did before, either, and short of sedation, she will NOT let anyone near her with brush or soap. THere isnt' anything we can do but take really good care of her and pay attention to how she's feeling because eventually we will have to put her down. :\
Aaaaannnnd..
Today (Friday) I went out with Kaisa - she's a really good driver! I'm impressed! -- FINALLY got me some jeans. Yay! Saw a lot of the crap they're building around the valley.. it's just sad. If you'd told me they'd build a Freddy's in our town 10 years ago, I would of told you you were a liar. *sighs*
Tomorrow we're going to Seward for the weekend. Kind of random when we'll be home. Trey, I can't get ahold of you to talk to you if you're going to be online all day. Go play Castlevania or something constructive so I can get ahold of you.
Haven't read anyone's journals yet or checked e-mail, so be patient with me. :P I'm on a wacky schedual.
I made it to Alaska on a very turbulent and otherwise uneventful flight. My luggage got off the plane before me, but we made it in half an hour early. It was a wee bit nippy out, but I was glad to make it home. :D
The long version:
Trey and Eric saw me off at the airport, a very sad goodbye. :'( Not much happened at the airport, but I was smiling like a fool waiting for my flight in anticipation of being home again after 11 months.
From Portland to Seattle, I took one of those small Bombardier dual engine prop affairs. Nice because it doesn't fly high enough to get too far into the clouds so one can see the landscape going by - which I find much preferable to cloud after cloud. It reminds me of flying in my dad's old Cessna 180.
Got to Seattle just fine, nothing weird there. The next leg of the trip, however, was a bit off-kilter. I was in the VERY back of the plane, window seat. Took forever to load the damn thing - the pilot and crew were all set to leave, just as soon as folks decided to QUIT VISITING AND SIT THE HELL DOWN. The flight crew were kind of short tempered to begin with, but we had AWFUL turbulence. I usually like turbulence, because if the plane is too still, it doesn't feel like you're moving, which I hate. Well, this was so bad they had to make everyone stay in their seats for the majority of the flight, and they kept warning people to stay in their seats, and saying how unsafe it was to move about the cabin. Which was true, but no one ever TRIED moving, and still they kept giving warnings... It was a little panicky, you know? I wasn't worried - you have a greater chance of being struck by lightning than you do dying in a plane crash, but I know a lot of other people (especially this gal next to me) were VERY scared, and what the flight crew were saying over the speakers wasn't very reassuring.
Now, this gal next to me was flying with her bf/husband? and she was so scared she was just shaking and at one point, crying. I felt bad for her, so I tried to radiate calmness to her, you know? I just played cards and read through the whole thing - at one point we were talking and I told her a bit about turbulence that I do know and reassured her. At one point in the flight, the crew was warning about the turbulence and were saying some graphic things about how you could fly up and crack your head on the celing and bleed everywhere. The gal next to me commented on this after we landed, finally laughing about it now that we were on the ground. :P
Seriously, though... the ENTIRE way it was like driving 60 down an uneven, pothole-ridden road in a vehicle with no suspension.
But, there were some BEAUTIFULLY colored clouds to be seen, and once we got near the mainland of Alaska, the moon was illuminating the endless chains of mountains - as far as you could see, solid mountains and glaciers. It was fun to try and identify any lights we came across - eventually we came across Alyeska, a ski resort, that stuck out pretty well, and then I knew for sure where we were...
I had to pee so bad for the last hour of the flight (but wwasn't able or allowed to move to go to the lavatory, which was situated RIGHT behind my row...). And being in the last row, had to wait a good while before I got off the plane. I distracted myself by watching them unload the baggage, and saw my two bags come out of the plane in the first load. Turned out my aunt and sister got my luggage before they got me!
Oh, and Greta (my aunt's rotweiller we all live with) was waiting for us in the car - she remembered me and was really excited to see me... awwww...
On the way home, we stopped at a McDonalds for some fries, but the drivethru was just not moving. We pulled up so my sister could just run in and get food, and we noticed that the suburban we had been behind in line was not behind any vehicles itself. No one seemed to really be at the wheel from our angle, so my aunt, being a correctional officer and thus very assertive, decided to go see what was going on. Turned out this guy fell asleep at the wheel while waiting in line! We couldn't believe it.
After we made it to the house, Kais and I ended up til 1am talking then I didnt get much sleep that night, either. The cat woke me up in the early morning, heaving, and once my mom got up to get ready for work, I just couldnt get back to sleep. Which means at this moment, I am exhausted.
Ugghhh.. my poor cat, Storm. She's got tumors that can't be removed... she's not in pain, but she's HUGE. She's structurally a VERY small cat, just TINY. And she weighs half again what Lenny weighs. It would be like you stuck an apple on a watermelon, the head being the apple... and her tail is this tiny thing sticking out the back, like a vole... And she's so big she can't groom herself; she never really did before, either, and short of sedation, she will NOT let anyone near her with brush or soap. THere isnt' anything we can do but take really good care of her and pay attention to how she's feeling because eventually we will have to put her down. :\
Aaaaannnnd..
Today (Friday) I went out with Kaisa - she's a really good driver! I'm impressed! -- FINALLY got me some jeans. Yay! Saw a lot of the crap they're building around the valley.. it's just sad. If you'd told me they'd build a Freddy's in our town 10 years ago, I would of told you you were a liar. *sighs*
Tomorrow we're going to Seward for the weekend. Kind of random when we'll be home. Trey, I can't get ahold of you to talk to you if you're going to be online all day. Go play Castlevania or something constructive so I can get ahold of you.
Haven't read anyone's journals yet or checked e-mail, so be patient with me. :P I'm on a wacky schedual.