My recent travail

Did you know that the word travel and the word torture come from the same Latin root?

It's so true.

I have finally returned from my weeklong journey to the East Coast, Texas and back.

Phew.

My first flight to Cincinnati was bumpy. Very bumpy. Roller coaster, falling for 2 seconds, motion sickness for the rest of the week bumpy.

And the Cincinnati airport is weird. Big waiting room with doors that don't have any relationship to a normal "gate". Confusing. Although they do have a cool bus between terminals that lets you get up close and personal to the planes. My dad would love that.

Once in DC, I had the experience of meeting people I've had phone calls with for months. I recognize their voices, but had to learn to attach their faces (and heights) to their personalities. We never imagine people looking like they actually do.

I had a great visit with my DC relatives, Al and Brian and Susan and Tim and Mary Jo. Al hosted us at his apartment and cooked us dinner.

When I left for Philadelphia, the delay between the subway and the Amtrak train was 10 minutes. Very smooth. I love riding the train. I even felt warm and fuzzy riding the Maryland commuter train from the airport into DC. If only I'd figured out that the hotel was one metro stop from National Airport, I might have paid more for the flight, but that's water under the bridge.

So I had a great visit with my 93 year old grandmother. We played a scrabble game where we each had over 300 points, with final scores separated by 9.
We also went for a walk outside, when it was 60 degrees, and saw many cardinals. When my mom visits next month, she should be happy.
And Uncle Ted came down from Conneticut, and it was a good visit.

Then it started snowing in Dallas.

So I call US Airways to check on my flight, to see if it's been canceled. LIES! They tell me it's still flying until I'm at the airport. They send me to - DC National Airport - because they lie and say a flight out of there will still happen. When I arrive, 15 minutes before the flight is scheduled to take off, the computer says it's on time, but doesn't list a gate. LIES! I talk to a person, and they admit it's been canceled. I'm not impressed by US Airways. They didn't cause the storm, but they didn't communicate well. I could have visited with my grandmother for many more hours.

But Al graciously hosted and fed me for the 12 hours I was stranded in DC. I'm sure sleeping in his guest room bed was much more comfortable than in the airport.
Cell phones are great!

So, the 6 AM flight to Ft. Worth/Dallas actually took place the next morning. The cab ride to the DC airport was quite nice, since the subway doesn't run that early in the morning. (Neither do most of the food concessions, so Al's fruit made a great breakfast.)

My suitcase didn't make it into Dallas until 16 hours later. It had several key props for my demos. And my clothes and toothpaste. The airport in Dallas is huge. And the new security rules screwed it up. If you have a ticket, there's a train between terminals. But if you are outside security, because you went to get your baggage, there's a very inconvenient shuttle bus. The place is huge, designed with Texan land use philosophy in mind. Which really sucks if two airlines are making you go back and forth between their terminals because you switched airlines to get there because one of them canceled all their flights but didn't tell you about it, and they didn't put your suitcase on your plane.

Not that I'm bitter.

In other news, taking a cab from DFW to a Ft. Worth hotel can cost $75!

Then we had a great science museum meeting. I got great suggestions for improving my demos, met colleagues, and got a lot of ideas for where the nano project will go next. TONGS!

We also spent one evening at the rodeo. Mostly, bull riding. Beginning with a very Texan prayer for a good show. Some impressive spectacle, impressive smells and impressive athletics. Little kids riding sheep, and horses with lots of haunch glitter.

So, then it started snowing in Portland.

I called American Airlines, and they admitted that my flight would be delayed. I ceased planning to arrive at the airport before others, and the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History staff drove a group of us to the airport. Very nice of them. Had a great networking meal in the giant, inconvenient airport. Departed 3 hours late, arrived 3 hours late. Which meant my church board meeting that had been scheduled to be 30 minutes late so I could come and help us reach a quorum was canceled. But since it wasn't entirely safe to drive outside, it was probably best everybody stayed home.

So, I'm home. I have all my belongings. But I can't get to work, because there's snow and ice on the road. They closed the museum yesterday, but are operating on regular hours today. Couldn't go with a 2 hour late opening, NO!

My car is resting against the fence at the bottom of my condo's parking lot.

But I'm doing well. I'm not on fire, I'm warm and fed. And I'm home.