Idol Week 11: If the Creek Don't Rise
This Is Why I Won't Be Commenting or Responding to Comments Next Week
Traveling in late January from North Carolina is always a crapshoot. You never, ever know what to expect. Even the Old Farmer's Almanac can't predict NC weather, especially now that we're in the throes of climate change. Take now for example. Since late last week we've been in the high sixties. Some of the early flowering bushes were tricked by this "Fool's Spring" and started blooming. Today the bottom has started to fall out of the thermometer. It's windy and getting colder. Next week we'll have normal January weather again.
Sorry, bushes. That's what you get for trusting the temperature. Next time buy a calendar.
It's especially frustrating for me because my birthday is in late January. I generally take off work the week of my birthday (it's my gift to me), and after the first few years I got tired of staycations. I wanted to travel. About five years ago a soon-to-be-former coworker convinced me that I really needed to see Gatlinburg, TN. We had our trip planned and the rooms booked when she got herself fired. Since the rooms were booked under her employee rate that plan went kaput.
A couple of years later I decided to try again. I had my room booked and was ready to go when the meteorologists started predicting a Snowpocalypse. I looked at the sky, felt the air pressure on my skin, and knew they were right. I was not about to drive on I-40 over the Tennessee state line in that kind of weather. The day before my birthday the snow started to fall. And fall. And fall. We got about three feet of snow and everything was closed for about a week. It was mostly melted by the time I had to go back to work.
For once NC closed down for a legit amount of snowfall. Usually it's like this:
Last year the stars were in alignment and I finally got to Gatlinburg. I spent a day there exploring the strip, going to the aquarium, the Salt & Pepper Shaker Museum, Ripley's Believe It or Not!, and the Guinness Records museum. (Tourist tip: Do the Guinness museum in a group. It's not as much fun alone.) On my way back I stopped in Pigeon Forge to see the Titanic museum. I finally got to scratch my travel/museum itch and it was wonderful.
So this year I decided to do it again. Only this time, since this is a milestone birthday, I chose to mark something off my bucket list. I'm going to Washington, D.C. for five days and I'm going to hit up every Smithsonian museum I can get to. I am also going to swing by the Capitol on Tuesday to see if I can yell at Mitch McConnell in Spanish spot any political celebrities on their way to the impeachment trial. I'm going at just the right time to see some fireworks!
I'm flying out of Asheville on Saturday. Nonrefundable tickets. I'm past the cancellation date on my hotel reservation. So of course when I check the weather, this is what I see.
Screw it! I'm only twenty minutes away from the airport and I have all-wheel drive. Heck, I drove across half the state in an ice storm in my old 1994 Nissan with front-wheel drive (aka The Stupidest Thing I've Ever Done). I am going to DC! Ain't no way I'm missing it! If I have to strap on wings and flap my way there I'm going. I'm only going to be 40 once and I'm starting the decade off right!
Besides, my flight doesn't leave until mid-afternoon and most of the ice should be melted by then.
Update 1/18: I had just checked my bag when I got a text that my flight was delayed. Fifteen minutes later it was cancelled until 1/19. Thanks, January weather!
Traveling in late January from North Carolina is always a crapshoot. You never, ever know what to expect. Even the Old Farmer's Almanac can't predict NC weather, especially now that we're in the throes of climate change. Take now for example. Since late last week we've been in the high sixties. Some of the early flowering bushes were tricked by this "Fool's Spring" and started blooming. Today the bottom has started to fall out of the thermometer. It's windy and getting colder. Next week we'll have normal January weather again.
Sorry, bushes. That's what you get for trusting the temperature. Next time buy a calendar.
It's especially frustrating for me because my birthday is in late January. I generally take off work the week of my birthday (it's my gift to me), and after the first few years I got tired of staycations. I wanted to travel. About five years ago a soon-to-be-former coworker convinced me that I really needed to see Gatlinburg, TN. We had our trip planned and the rooms booked when she got herself fired. Since the rooms were booked under her employee rate that plan went kaput.
A couple of years later I decided to try again. I had my room booked and was ready to go when the meteorologists started predicting a Snowpocalypse. I looked at the sky, felt the air pressure on my skin, and knew they were right. I was not about to drive on I-40 over the Tennessee state line in that kind of weather. The day before my birthday the snow started to fall. And fall. And fall. We got about three feet of snow and everything was closed for about a week. It was mostly melted by the time I had to go back to work.
For once NC closed down for a legit amount of snowfall. Usually it's like this:
Last year the stars were in alignment and I finally got to Gatlinburg. I spent a day there exploring the strip, going to the aquarium, the Salt & Pepper Shaker Museum, Ripley's Believe It or Not!, and the Guinness Records museum. (Tourist tip: Do the Guinness museum in a group. It's not as much fun alone.) On my way back I stopped in Pigeon Forge to see the Titanic museum. I finally got to scratch my travel/museum itch and it was wonderful.
So this year I decided to do it again. Only this time, since this is a milestone birthday, I chose to mark something off my bucket list. I'm going to Washington, D.C. for five days and I'm going to hit up every Smithsonian museum I can get to. I am also going to swing by the Capitol on Tuesday to see if I can yell at Mitch McConnell in Spanish spot any political celebrities on their way to the impeachment trial. I'm going at just the right time to see some fireworks!
I'm flying out of Asheville on Saturday. Nonrefundable tickets. I'm past the cancellation date on my hotel reservation. So of course when I check the weather, this is what I see.
Screw it! I'm only twenty minutes away from the airport and I have all-wheel drive. Heck, I drove across half the state in an ice storm in my old 1994 Nissan with front-wheel drive (aka The Stupidest Thing I've Ever Done). I am going to DC! Ain't no way I'm missing it! If I have to strap on wings and flap my way there I'm going. I'm only going to be 40 once and I'm starting the decade off right!
Besides, my flight doesn't leave until mid-afternoon and most of the ice should be melted by then.
Update 1/18: I had just checked my bag when I got a text that my flight was delayed. Fifteen minutes later it was cancelled until 1/19. Thanks, January weather!