on the road

Well, I never take photos from planes, but . . . . when we were over Nevada, Mom suggested that I take the window for the rest of the flight. It was glorious! Talk about the ultimate map! The Humboldt Sink, Reno, Tahoe, Sacramento (a quick glimpse of Shasta out the other side of the plane, Lassen in the foreground), Diabolo looming, then over Sonoma and Napa, out to turn south at Point Reyes, then these spectacular views of the city. I have more, if anyone wants them. I liked the centered view of the Golden Gate, but I also like the one that shows everything, including Diabolo. Nice landing, too, from the south. It's funny to fly all the way to San José to land at SFO.

The flight itself was pretty bumpy for the first hour or so, and the airlines' promise to keep us hydrated (our dangerous bottles of water having been confiscated at the gate -- for the second time, of course, the previous ones having been confiscated at security) was an empty one. We got a little glass of water (wine in my case) before the plane took off, and it was over an hour before we had a chance at more. Very irritating. On the way back I'm going to tell the stewardii that my Aged Parent needs constant hydration. Hmph. The food on the flight was good, and once the liquids started to flow they kept coming. As on my last first-class flight, the attendant topped up my wine glass every time she walked by. An hour before the end of the flight I told her to stop, since I needed to drive later in the day. Let me mention here that the airports at both end charge usurious prices for bottled water all of a sudden, very much not appreciated!!

I needn't have worried about driving very soon, since the baggage carousel malfunctioned halfway through the offload, and it took the brilliant airport people 45 minutes to decide to move the luggage to the adjoining carousel. All this time we had a very nice, gracious wheelchair attendant, who never complained about the delay. A good fellow; we gave him $30, since he was with us for almost an hour.

I realized after we got on the hotel shuttle that Mom was probably in very good hands, so I got off it before we left the airport and let her go on to the motel. I'd planned to get her settled and then shuttle back to the airport to get the car, but due to the massive delay in the airport (and over half an hour waiting for the shuttle), I wanted to get the car renting over with. A good choice, since there was a half hour wait there, too. Adding to that the 45 minutes to get checked in and get a wheelchair when we first entered the MSP airport, it was a day filled with waiting and delays.

Anyway, I got the car. No red PT for us this time; it's a Dodge Grand Caravan, bigger than I like to drive in a city, but so what. By the time we got all of this together, it was time to eat -- and drink, since we were not equipped with our normal little plastic bottle of gin. We went to the hotel restaurant, had a couple of drinks, picked at a couple of steaks (today we'll get a small ice chest to save this food for tonight's supper, since we'll eat lunch out today), crashed.

I was very tired, as was maman. I should have at least sent an email, but I just couldn't stay awake.

Here's a funny note from the flight. As we have bulkhead seats (always), there's really no place to put stuff. I put my book under my seat before takeoff, and when I looked for it, it was gone. The guys behind us hadn't seen it, and the stewardess gave a desultory look around for it (but she was really too busy pouring wine and drinks for everyone), so I hoped to find it when we landed. As people were getting off, I looked back, and there was a woman with my book. She was asking a guy near her if it was his. "No." he said. "That's far too intellectual for me!" It was The Forsyte Saga, so I claimed my "intellectual" book.

Nearly breakfast time, and I realize that although I've showered, I have not yet made coffee. Where's Charlie, my coffee steward?

Looks like the weather will be great.