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At 2:00 am, the alarm went off, and I jumped up and completed my last-minute packing. It was a scurry of activity. Robin was up and moving too, and a few minutes later her nibs poked her head up and joined in. At 3:50 am the iPhone vibrated. I thought it was mad to start work so early, but the driver let us know he was out front.
When he saw the stacks and stacks of suitcases, he almost passed out!!
The girls rode in the front seat with the driver, and they tied me over the hood!
We made it to the airport in record time, 45 minutes from start to finish and nary a car on the freeway! The other cars left the freeway when they saw the overloaded stretch limo whizzing by!
We were at the gate seated by 5:00 am, so we had two hours to drink coffee and plan the trip!
We travel First Class, which means two things: First, we arrive first; second, we get a drink first!!! The taxi ride to the runway takeoff point was fun. We could feel every bump! I called the pilot and gave him last-minute instructions.
As we taxied, we spotted one of the Boeing Buildings in El Segundo.
Then we heard the roar of the engines, and I shook; the plane stayed still. BLASTOFF!!! In seconds, we were flying over the clouds and yelling for a drink! Many rainbows were visible. I could not figure out why the rainbow surrounded the shadow of our plane???
Robin kept checking on us, telling us to behave…yeah, fat chance of that!
The flight was smooth and the food acceptable. I had four BMs during the flight (Bloody Marys)
We were in and out of Philadelphia quickly and caught a puddle jumper for the rest of the adventure. The last leg was only 70 minutes, kind of like LA to SF.
The view of the Maine forests was beautiful, with many lakes. It was almost full moon tonight.
We rolled into Bangor fully expecting to hop in a car and cruise toward Bar Harbor with at least a little daylight left—very optimistic of us. Then they announced the plane parked in front of us at the terminal was having “issues,” which is airline-speak for “get comfortable, you’re not going anywhere.”
So there we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes, watching our scenic daylight drive slowly turn into a nighttime mystery tour.
Bye-bye, sunlight. It was nice almost knowing you.
By the time we finally got a car, the Moon was up, the Sun was down, and our optimism had officially left the building.
Then came the great luggage Tetris championship. Somehow, we crammed every bag into the car, leaving Robin about 14 inches of backseat real estate to fold herself into like a travel-size lawn chair. I would’ve taken photos, but I was laughing too hard to operate basic technology.
When we got to the hotel, we unpacked, parked the car, and then Robin—armed with her trusty GPS—treated us to an unexpected grand tour of the city. The GPS kept insisting, “Only 500 feet ahead!” which she said at least ten times, making me suspect we were either walking in circles or being led by a very incompetent navigator whose GPS was on the fritz.
On the bright side, we got our mile walk in before finally discovering “The Thirsty Whale,” which, at that point, felt less like a restaurant and more like a promised land.
The food and wine disappeared! The girls shared a salad, and I woofed down a jalapeño burger!
We took the first walk back to the hotel. We hid Robin’s GPS and followed our nose home.
We kinda unpacked, and I hit the bed with such a thud that 45 ducks, who were sound asleep on the adjacent water feature, took off screaming!
Good night, all!
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