The trip to Providence...there and back again
I am reminded of a quote… “Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?”
There’s a Chinese curse...“May you live in interesting times.” That curse is true and if I ever find out who got me with it, I will hurt them. Their timing was perfect.
It all started the day before the trip. I called the Holiday Inn information line to confirm our reservations. Imagine my surprise when the gal on the phone told me the hotel I made my reservations with was “no longer in the Holiday Inn system.” She had a record of my reservation and rate...the whole deal, but nothing else. I asked if she could give me a direct number for the hotel. She said, “I’ll see if it’s been purged from the system.” At this point I was thinking we’re going to be sleeping on the street...I didn’t know what the hotel’s new name was or anything. Fortunately she DID have the number and I was able to confirm my reservation with the Providence Plaza (it’s going to be a Hilton when they’re finished renovating). I was so relieved...but that almost heart attack was a preview of things to come.
I made arrangements to leave work at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday. The plan was for me to go home, pack and pick up the dogs, drop the dogs at my friend Patti’s house (spending the weekend with her is like going to a spa, so I call going to visit her Chez Patti), then proceed to meet my friend Julie at the Royal Mile Pub for supper. I would stay with Julie over night, we would get up and take only one car down to Union Station...it was going to be so much easier!
Once on the road, I figured it would be maybe a 45 trip to Patti’s and then on to Julie’s...no problem.
Nope.
I pulled out onto Route 1. Dead in the road. It took me 45 minutes to get to the junction of Route 1 and the Fairfax County Parkway - less than 5 miles. I finally got onto 95 and then 495...smooth sailing, so I figured, “OK...I’ll be a little late.” Once I hit that spot on 495 with no chance of turning back, 495 died. Another 30 minutes went by getting to 66. At last I got to 66 and it was moving for maybe 100 yards. Then 66 jammed up. Julie called me to tell me she was hungry and was going to go eat. I let her know that I’d get to her as soon as I could.
I did finally get to Patti’s to drop off the puppers, who were ecstatic to be at Chez Patti’s.
Back on the road, I was just trying to get to Julie’s before 9:00 p.m. as I would be completely pissed to miss CSI. I did make it and it was a great ep. Did I mention that I started out from my house at 5:00 and arrived at Julie’s at 8:30? I should have known then that the travel gods were plotting against me.
Julie and I went to bed right after CSI so we could get up at 5:15 a.m. The train was due to leave at 7:25…we figured this would give us plenty of time. Julie set her alarm and I set mine. Mine was a travel alarm that I don’t use often…I had accidentally mixed a.m. and p.m.. I just happened to wake up at 5:45. All I could hear was Julie’s alarm blasting music...she was dead asleep. After I called her several times she blasted out of bed.
We flew around the house grabbling stuff and flung ourselves in the car. She handed me MapQuest directions...she’d wanted to take the quickest route and given our slightly tardy status, I thought this was a good idea. All was smooth sailing until Route 50 turned into New York Ave. Stopped. Dead. Again.
The minutes were ticking away. It had become clear we were not going to make it. She turned to me and said, “I am going to drop you at the door...if you can get on that train, you get on it.” Since I was the one who booked our tickets, I knew there were other trains during the day. I figured we could get another one. If not, well then, I would just have to kill her. Julie was contemplating a move to Arizona at this point. I was wondering if Europe would be far enough away if I ended up missing the play.
She flung me out of the car at the door and went to park the car. I beat feet inside (well, I went as fast as I could). Just as I walked up to the ticket counter they made last call on our train. Gone.
The next train was at 9:25. We changed our tickets, found the waiting area and enjoyed the opportunity to catch our breath. There was a woman in sitting close by who was having a lively conversation with God or somebody. She didn’t really register with me until she stood up, pulled her pants part way down and started digging around in there. Have to say I’d never seen that before and while it was not as gross as the pictures of Britney Spears that have been all over the internet lately, it was up there on the squick scale. She wandered off soon after.
We were supposed to meet csishewolf at the Trinity Brewhouse at 4:00 p.m. for supper. Our new schedule put us in Providence at 4:25 p.m. Great. Somehow she hadn’t given me her numbers so I tried to get her home phone from information. Unpublished. Shit. I did have the number for the restaurant, though. I’d call and leave word for her when it opened…it was the best I could do.
We did manage to get on the train without incident and find seats together. OK. So far so good. The Acella train that had left just before ours apparently broke down somewhere. All those passengers were loaded onto our train, making things pretty crowded. Somewhere in Delaware this man, woman and a whole passel of little children board. The father stood at the back of the train, surveying the crowd and said, “Oh, we’ll just ask people to move so we can all sit together.” My thought was, “Good luck with that, honey.”
The man proceeded to go up and down the aisle, pretty much demanding that people move. No one moved. He asked my friend Julie to move…no please, no nothing, just an I-have-children-and-I-am-entitled-to-what-I-want kind of attitude. She said, “I’d rather not.” He got all pissy at this and said, “That’s real nice.” Finally the conductor made some poor woman change seats. Several stops up the line disgruntled man and family left en masse…and the whole mood on the train lightened up.
I did manage to reach the Trinity Brewhouse when they opened to leave a message for csishewolf. They were very nice and promised to let her know we’d be late, but only a little since we were due about 4:25.
Sometime after 2:00 I realized that I had neglected to record my time at work before I left the previous day. We’re allowed only six screw ups a year…and every time we miss recording our time, our managers get dinged for it. Now, I was in no danger of getting reprimanded or anything, but my CSC boss is a very nice man and he had emailed me early Thursday morning to REMIND ME to do the time recording, so I felt about two inches tall. I tried on and off all afternoon to reach him. He finally called me back and after I apologized profusely, I felt better and settled down for the rest of the trip.
I happened to hear one of the conductors talking to another passenger about the schedule, and she said, “We’re only 20 minutes late now.” I did a few calculations in my head and realized this put us in Providence a full hour after we were supposed to meet csishewolf. Dammit!
I was trying to figure how we could still meet her and have time to get to the hotel and then get to the theater. I decided to call the hotel to make sure they would hold our reservations…they agreed to do so. At that point, I just fretted until csishewolf called my cell…the bartender at Trinity Brewhouse had given her my message. YAY! We made arrangements to go directly to the restaurant and check in at the hotel after supper.
Once we got into Providence we caught a very disgruntled cab to the restaurant (they do not like to make short trips). FINALLY we were some place we were supposed to be. csishewolf was waiting for us at the door. We had a wonderful time visiting and getting to know one another over very good burgers. Pretty soon though, it was time to go check in at the hotel.
csishewolf found out that our hotel was just across the way, so we decided to walk. Big mistake for me. It was very cold, a little windy, it was mostly uphill and I was dragging a heavy suitcase (damn laptop), plus I am a big girl and gravity works. I really thought I was going to die. The one bright spot was that a big shiny black stretch limousine crossed my path as I was getting across a street…I am convinced this was WP on the way the theater! I felt his vibes…I just know it was him!
OK, so we manage to make it to the hotel. Once we check in, Julie and I crawl to our room and collapse on our beds. We had all of 30 minutes to prepare for the show. As I had left my tiara in my other suitcase, I just changed my shirt and brushed my hair. The hotel had a shuttle, so we made use of that to get to the theater (along with a 60ish couple going to see the Beach Boys).
If you want to read about the play, jump one post up in my LJ…lots of info there.
The rest of the trip was kind of anticlimactic, given the drama that followed us all the way to Providence, however, the travel gods had one more trick up their sleeves. When we got back to Union Station, Julie went to get her car out of the parking lot. It, of course, had a dead battery. We managed to get it going courtesy of the Amtrak police.
Both of us were so tired and so undone by the MILES of walking and cold and snafus, that we decided to stop off at the Royal Mile Pub for a pint. After that, we felt much better. I decided to spend the night at Julie’s and put off picking up the puppers until Sunday.
Chez Patti’s was even more of a spa than it usually is…for my birthday, she had taken them to be groomed, so I was greeted by two clean, snazzy looking aussies who were quite happy to see their mum.
I wish I could say we went home, we took a nap and that was that. But I can’t. I realized during the night that the furnace wasn’t coming on. After some gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair, I realized there is a switch in the door…I had replaced the filter and the door wasn’t completely closed. I was so grateful not to have some furnace catastrophe to deal with, I cannot tell you. However, I used up my entire energy supply for the day…and I went to bed that night at about 8:00. I'm just hanging on until the weekend and trying not to nap at my desk. I GOT TO SEE WP LIVE ON STAGE! WOOT!
So, the play was terrific but the trip? Not so much.
There’s a Chinese curse...“May you live in interesting times.” That curse is true and if I ever find out who got me with it, I will hurt them. Their timing was perfect.
It all started the day before the trip. I called the Holiday Inn information line to confirm our reservations. Imagine my surprise when the gal on the phone told me the hotel I made my reservations with was “no longer in the Holiday Inn system.” She had a record of my reservation and rate...the whole deal, but nothing else. I asked if she could give me a direct number for the hotel. She said, “I’ll see if it’s been purged from the system.” At this point I was thinking we’re going to be sleeping on the street...I didn’t know what the hotel’s new name was or anything. Fortunately she DID have the number and I was able to confirm my reservation with the Providence Plaza (it’s going to be a Hilton when they’re finished renovating). I was so relieved...but that almost heart attack was a preview of things to come.
I made arrangements to leave work at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday. The plan was for me to go home, pack and pick up the dogs, drop the dogs at my friend Patti’s house (spending the weekend with her is like going to a spa, so I call going to visit her Chez Patti), then proceed to meet my friend Julie at the Royal Mile Pub for supper. I would stay with Julie over night, we would get up and take only one car down to Union Station...it was going to be so much easier!
Once on the road, I figured it would be maybe a 45 trip to Patti’s and then on to Julie’s...no problem.
Nope.
I pulled out onto Route 1. Dead in the road. It took me 45 minutes to get to the junction of Route 1 and the Fairfax County Parkway - less than 5 miles. I finally got onto 95 and then 495...smooth sailing, so I figured, “OK...I’ll be a little late.” Once I hit that spot on 495 with no chance of turning back, 495 died. Another 30 minutes went by getting to 66. At last I got to 66 and it was moving for maybe 100 yards. Then 66 jammed up. Julie called me to tell me she was hungry and was going to go eat. I let her know that I’d get to her as soon as I could.
I did finally get to Patti’s to drop off the puppers, who were ecstatic to be at Chez Patti’s.
Back on the road, I was just trying to get to Julie’s before 9:00 p.m. as I would be completely pissed to miss CSI. I did make it and it was a great ep. Did I mention that I started out from my house at 5:00 and arrived at Julie’s at 8:30? I should have known then that the travel gods were plotting against me.
Julie and I went to bed right after CSI so we could get up at 5:15 a.m. The train was due to leave at 7:25…we figured this would give us plenty of time. Julie set her alarm and I set mine. Mine was a travel alarm that I don’t use often…I had accidentally mixed a.m. and p.m.. I just happened to wake up at 5:45. All I could hear was Julie’s alarm blasting music...she was dead asleep. After I called her several times she blasted out of bed.
We flew around the house grabbling stuff and flung ourselves in the car. She handed me MapQuest directions...she’d wanted to take the quickest route and given our slightly tardy status, I thought this was a good idea. All was smooth sailing until Route 50 turned into New York Ave. Stopped. Dead. Again.
The minutes were ticking away. It had become clear we were not going to make it. She turned to me and said, “I am going to drop you at the door...if you can get on that train, you get on it.” Since I was the one who booked our tickets, I knew there were other trains during the day. I figured we could get another one. If not, well then, I would just have to kill her. Julie was contemplating a move to Arizona at this point. I was wondering if Europe would be far enough away if I ended up missing the play.
She flung me out of the car at the door and went to park the car. I beat feet inside (well, I went as fast as I could). Just as I walked up to the ticket counter they made last call on our train. Gone.
The next train was at 9:25. We changed our tickets, found the waiting area and enjoyed the opportunity to catch our breath. There was a woman in sitting close by who was having a lively conversation with God or somebody. She didn’t really register with me until she stood up, pulled her pants part way down and started digging around in there. Have to say I’d never seen that before and while it was not as gross as the pictures of Britney Spears that have been all over the internet lately, it was up there on the squick scale. She wandered off soon after.
We were supposed to meet csishewolf at the Trinity Brewhouse at 4:00 p.m. for supper. Our new schedule put us in Providence at 4:25 p.m. Great. Somehow she hadn’t given me her numbers so I tried to get her home phone from information. Unpublished. Shit. I did have the number for the restaurant, though. I’d call and leave word for her when it opened…it was the best I could do.
We did manage to get on the train without incident and find seats together. OK. So far so good. The Acella train that had left just before ours apparently broke down somewhere. All those passengers were loaded onto our train, making things pretty crowded. Somewhere in Delaware this man, woman and a whole passel of little children board. The father stood at the back of the train, surveying the crowd and said, “Oh, we’ll just ask people to move so we can all sit together.” My thought was, “Good luck with that, honey.”
The man proceeded to go up and down the aisle, pretty much demanding that people move. No one moved. He asked my friend Julie to move…no please, no nothing, just an I-have-children-and-I-am-entitled-to-what-I-want kind of attitude. She said, “I’d rather not.” He got all pissy at this and said, “That’s real nice.” Finally the conductor made some poor woman change seats. Several stops up the line disgruntled man and family left en masse…and the whole mood on the train lightened up.
I did manage to reach the Trinity Brewhouse when they opened to leave a message for csishewolf. They were very nice and promised to let her know we’d be late, but only a little since we were due about 4:25.
Sometime after 2:00 I realized that I had neglected to record my time at work before I left the previous day. We’re allowed only six screw ups a year…and every time we miss recording our time, our managers get dinged for it. Now, I was in no danger of getting reprimanded or anything, but my CSC boss is a very nice man and he had emailed me early Thursday morning to REMIND ME to do the time recording, so I felt about two inches tall. I tried on and off all afternoon to reach him. He finally called me back and after I apologized profusely, I felt better and settled down for the rest of the trip.
I happened to hear one of the conductors talking to another passenger about the schedule, and she said, “We’re only 20 minutes late now.” I did a few calculations in my head and realized this put us in Providence a full hour after we were supposed to meet csishewolf. Dammit!
I was trying to figure how we could still meet her and have time to get to the hotel and then get to the theater. I decided to call the hotel to make sure they would hold our reservations…they agreed to do so. At that point, I just fretted until csishewolf called my cell…the bartender at Trinity Brewhouse had given her my message. YAY! We made arrangements to go directly to the restaurant and check in at the hotel after supper.
Once we got into Providence we caught a very disgruntled cab to the restaurant (they do not like to make short trips). FINALLY we were some place we were supposed to be. csishewolf was waiting for us at the door. We had a wonderful time visiting and getting to know one another over very good burgers. Pretty soon though, it was time to go check in at the hotel.
csishewolf found out that our hotel was just across the way, so we decided to walk. Big mistake for me. It was very cold, a little windy, it was mostly uphill and I was dragging a heavy suitcase (damn laptop), plus I am a big girl and gravity works. I really thought I was going to die. The one bright spot was that a big shiny black stretch limousine crossed my path as I was getting across a street…I am convinced this was WP on the way the theater! I felt his vibes…I just know it was him!
OK, so we manage to make it to the hotel. Once we check in, Julie and I crawl to our room and collapse on our beds. We had all of 30 minutes to prepare for the show. As I had left my tiara in my other suitcase, I just changed my shirt and brushed my hair. The hotel had a shuttle, so we made use of that to get to the theater (along with a 60ish couple going to see the Beach Boys).
If you want to read about the play, jump one post up in my LJ…lots of info there.
The rest of the trip was kind of anticlimactic, given the drama that followed us all the way to Providence, however, the travel gods had one more trick up their sleeves. When we got back to Union Station, Julie went to get her car out of the parking lot. It, of course, had a dead battery. We managed to get it going courtesy of the Amtrak police.
Both of us were so tired and so undone by the MILES of walking and cold and snafus, that we decided to stop off at the Royal Mile Pub for a pint. After that, we felt much better. I decided to spend the night at Julie’s and put off picking up the puppers until Sunday.
Chez Patti’s was even more of a spa than it usually is…for my birthday, she had taken them to be groomed, so I was greeted by two clean, snazzy looking aussies who were quite happy to see their mum.
I wish I could say we went home, we took a nap and that was that. But I can’t. I realized during the night that the furnace wasn’t coming on. After some gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair, I realized there is a switch in the door…I had replaced the filter and the door wasn’t completely closed. I was so grateful not to have some furnace catastrophe to deal with, I cannot tell you. However, I used up my entire energy supply for the day…and I went to bed that night at about 8:00. I'm just hanging on until the weekend and trying not to nap at my desk. I GOT TO SEE WP LIVE ON STAGE! WOOT!
So, the play was terrific but the trip? Not so much.