George's Key West Fantasy Fest 2005 Adventure Chronicle
Foreword
It was a crazy and far-fetched idea to start out with: Going to Key West after a major hurricane devastated south Florida. But it had gone past… a day or two ago…
I had been watching the hurricane for the last two weeks. And thanks to the miracle of modern technology I was able to track and keep a log of the storm the whole time. Not exactly the best way to plan a vacation. “Are you still going?!” they all asked. That's not what they were all thinking… “You're nuts!” would be more like it. It was more of a stress-builder than anything.
I had planned and packed and paid and panicked. And probably a few more “P” words that I hadn't thought of – for the last year. In fact we have to start planning for the next year before we pack to go home from the current trip. It's the only way to guarantee a good place to stay.
Be “we” I of course mean my good buddy Brian and any other friends or relatives who might enjoy the show. And by “show I mean Fantasy Fest . There really is no substitute. The best people-watching time and place that I know of – at least in the US.
Fantasy Fest is by no means a politically-correct, on your best behavior, straight-laced, family-oriented, vacation destination. It is a wonderful experience. Be fore-warned though… Fantasy Fest is a come as you are-actually come as you might want to be- throw your cares to the wind, anti-mainstream, alternative, fun, bizarre, alcohol-fueled celebration that is really the most incredible experience I have ever had.
Monday, October 24, 2004
The day before my flight. It was supposed to be the day of my flight. But when the storm track turned toward the Gulf of Mexico, the airline gave options for changing or cancelling. I changed. Whether that was the right decision I am still unsure. I could still not go. But I'll press on. It will be an adventure. I leave tomorrow. I've packed. I've tried to sleep. I've checked web pages, called airlines, hotels and car rental places. Watched all the news I could stand. Talked with the people I was supposed to be going with. Everything pointed to my still being able to go. Sure there was damage and destruction and mayhem. But not where we were going to be… mostly.
In retrospect I think it would probably have been better to not go on this trip. I say this because I now realize that you have to be completely insane to vacation in a disaster area. That is not to say that I didn't have fun. I did. We did. Oh, yeah! But it was a definite trade-off.
I should also say that my flights were already changed quite a number of times before the hurricane ever thought about coming into existence. I, along with a few others, all booked trips on Alaska Airlines as early as possible in the year. That would be sometime in January or February. In some corporate, money-saving decision sometime over the summer, they suspended the direct flights from Seattle to Miami. As it turned out it really wasn't a factor at the actual time I was going because of the storm. It was just the first in a long string of mishaps focused on Key West and me.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
My parents picked me up at home and took me to the airport. The before 6am airport run is always appreciated. Doubly so for relatives. Extra points for parents and airport trips. I had not been feeling all that great. And I was pretty much a nervous wreck all building from the past year or more of life. I really needed to get away from this place for a while. I always prefer someplace warm and tropical and really laid-back. The main reasons I like Key West. You can just be. You don't need to be fancy, or plain, or anything at all. You do what you want to do and you just be who you are. Or in the case of Fantasy Fest you can be anything or anyone you can think of.
Even so. At SEATAC Airport I still hadn't decided whether I was going or not. Checked my bags and checked the status of Miami Airport . Still closed. That darned hurricane again. But it was scheduled to be opened for normal operations later that afternoon. Great. I wouldn't be getting in there until evening. But I knew in the back of my mind that things most likely would not go according to plan. I was nervous about the whole thing, very discouraged, and quite tired. I hadn't slept well and I was hungry. Oh, yeah – I don't really like to fly. Not a great way to start off.
At the ticket counter, I still hadn't decided whether to go. At the gate I still hadn't decided. The plane was boarding. I was still deciding… ok - I'll go. By now I couldn't even think. My mind was numb and I just couldn't get myself to relax. I just knew that this was going to be the sort of trip that, if not exactly relaxing, would be different. And I needed that as well. So – off we go!
As a side note, I did take something to calm my nerves. Realizing that it was technically something like 7am, but I had been up for days it seemed. A celebratory, inaugural libation wouldn't be out of the question. Plus I was in first class for this part of the trip. At least this first part. Seattle to Atlanta is quite a long ride. The extra seats and the extra service are worth it.
When I got to Atlanta to change planes I was able to get off first. Another advantage to being up front. I had to check the departure screens. Sure enough my flight from Atlanta to Miami was cancelled and the airport remained closed. I thought something like this might happen. I had already made arrangements for a room and a car in Atlanta. You just never know. But on the other hand I really didn't want to stay in Georgia. So I ran over to the customer service desk to change my flight. I managed to change into a flight only minutes from leaving that went to Orlando . That's right. Land of the mouse.
My friends Iain and Nancy left on Monday from Seattle. They got as far as Orlando and that's it. They did manage to get a rental car, though.
I made it. I was in Florida. At least the weather was OK. It was a lot cooler than normal. The storm pushed all the nice warm tropical air and the heat that I really wanted out and replaced it with air from some northern place. Ohio I think.
Iain and Nancy picked me up at the airport in a 10 passenger minivan. Honestly – how can it be mini? Well anyway, they got me. My luggage was a different story. In Atlanta I changed flights to Orlando from Miami. My luggage did not. I had nothing.
The first stop was at one of the local places to eat. A smaller. Local hole-in-the-wall Italian place. They seemed to have pretty good food. I don't really remember much about that evening. By that time I was beyond tired and I just wanted to get to sleep. We also went to a drug store for some toiletries and a few odds and ends me. Then on to someplace to stay. I think it was a Clarion. I really can't remember. It wasn't really all that late, but when you figure all the flying time and running time and the three hour clock difference… well then you have a really long day.
I know I've been a bit long-winded on just this very beginning part of the trip. It is partly intentional and partly insane, but I believe it was necessary to convey just a fraction of how I felt about this whole escapade so far. This trip didn't start out on the best circumstances to say the least. And this had been a very long day.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
I feel a little better. It's morning now. We got a quick bite to eat in one of the local restaurants. Not bad. But there were grits with everything. I'm not much for grits. Must be a southern thing. After breakfast we hit one of the Florida Malls and a JC Penney's. I didn't mind that so much because I needed some new duds anyway. It was just the timing. I did a power-shop: everything I would need for two days picked out in under 10 minutes. No reason to stick around. We had places to go.
We figured that since we were in mouseland… you guessed it. We decided to head over toward Disney . So off to lunch and a place to stay nearby that night. On the journey we made a stop or two at a few roadside attractions. Nothing like the biggest orange building in the world. Then on to Downtown Disney for lunch. Years ago you had to physically go into the park to get to any of the things that they had to offer. Now there are tons of things outside the park proper. Lunch was at Fulton's Crab House. One of the upper-end places in this part of mousetown. Then on to some shopping. They don't call it “Downtown” Disney for nothing. I came up with the idea that we should just stay at the park. They have lots of rooms not too far away. So I went over to Guest Services and set up a reservation from in the park. They actually make it too easy. We ended up staying in the Disney All-Star Resort. I thought it was really fun. The Disney folks really do a great job catering to families. This was the lower-end of the big hotels. Pretty cool I thought.
Each Disney hotel has a theme and that theme is carried into almost every aspect of each individual hotel. Ours was themed the All-Star Resort. All the big Disney superstars were immortalized in statuary larger than imagination. Cinderella, Snow White and the Dwarfs, Herbie the Love Bug (we stayed in the Herbie building). All the animated biggies! Really cool.
But when I actually saw the rooms I though Nancy would kill me for picking this place. Every room was mousified to the max! There were ears everywhere. The curtains, the pillows, the shower curtain. And where there were no mouse ears- there were other characters! the towels, the soap, the beds, the wallpaper… The lights on the wall were really cool. When off, they looked like boxes of popcorn you get at the movies. When you flipped the switch, they turned into normal wall sconces. Kids must love this stuff. I know I did. Turns out Nancy thought it was kind of interesting and fun, too. Whew!
They have a great big, huge, gigantic pool. Wonderful if you like to play in the water. This wasn't one of the water parks. Just one of the normal pools for the hotel. And on a grand scale, to boot. Anyway… even if you didn't know where the pool was you could find it simply by following your nose. There was more chlorine in the water than I could wrap my mind around comfortably. Your kids would be really clean. And disinfected as well. You could change the color of your hair and your clothes and your eyes all in one trip! I didn't go swimming that day.
After checking in and taking a little nap we decided to head back over to Downtown Disney. They've got lots of clubs there for nighttime entertainment. We were early so we just had dinner and took in a few more sights around the area. The House of Blues is a great place. Good food and good music. I would like to go back at night sometime and see what the club scene is like. Perhaps next year. After dinner we just went back and crashed in our rooms. Another day over. This one was fun. I got to see at least a part of the Disney complex.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
After checking out of the hotel we gassed up the van. Bear in mind that we had to be sure to get every drop. We were going to be going through an area where gas was if not completely unavailable then very scarce and with an unbelievably long wait.
We had breakfast on the go. We picked up some kind of edible items at the gas station quickie-mart and had them in the van while on the road to Key West. Not great stuff, but enough so that we didn't die of hunger. It looked like it was turning into a long day. And it was only eight in the morning!
We headed south out of Orlando bound for Key West. With only one “scheduled” stop in Miami. Yes, we really did go through downtown Miami and you wouldn't believe the devastation. Blue tarps everywhere. Lines for gas that were literally miles long on the sides of the highway with police everywhere to keep order. Convoys of all sorts of trucks with police escorts carrying all sorts of supplies from water to ice to electrical crews from all over North America – not just the US. And of course there was no electricity for miles and miles. Buildings and homes destroyed. No water or food. Why would we go into such an area??!! The airline, more specifically DELTA (Don't Expect Luggage To Arrive), sent my bags to Miami. Yes. Even though I went to Orlando. And they didn't even tell me. I had to track them down myself. The airport was opened. But there was no infrastructure in the surrounding area. It took quite a while to get out of the airport area once we got into it. But we were headed south.
There were areas that didn't get power back until almost Thanksgiving. That's more than a month. At the time when we were driving through there were more than 11,000 crews of electrical workers. That's at least 2 or 3 people per crew working to restore power. Just about everything was closed, damaged or destroyed.
The drive down through the keys was strange. Because of the water damage we saw just about everything piled on the side of the road that you could think of. Once salt water hits it, it's toast. Cars, mattresses, appliances, furniture of all sorts, trees, boats, and I even saw a channel marker buoy presumably washed over the road by the storm surge. My guess is that it was from the InterCoastal Waterway ( ICW ). I later found out that marine traffic was suspended for most of the keys for a week or so. They had to make sure the channel markers and buoys were still where they were supposed to be. Although I don't think they were planning to check the highways!
When we got down to KW, after seeing a couple dozen boats on the sides of the road along with all the other debris, I was just happy to be at my destination. Sure it was a little wet and there was damage. But it was all still there.
It was now just after 5pm. So it was a 10 hour day of road tripping. Normally it would be about 7 hours (give or take). I got the key from the box. The place I stay closes at 5. And I went over to where I was staying. Thank you for driving Iain! That is one drive I would not have liked. I got into my place and cleaned-up a little and then went out for a little walk to check out the neighborhood. Very little if any damage in my immediate area. I am on the high-point of the island. 16 feet I think. There weren't a lot of people there yet. Mostly locals and a few brave tourists like me. I don't normally consider myself a tourist in this particular little burg. I've done the touristy things. Now I just come here to relax and check things out.
I was kind of hungry. Word on the street was that La Ti Da (no web site) was the place to be that night. It's a pretty upper-class restaurant. They had a $15 all you can eat and drink night. Wonderful Italian food and wine. It would normally have cost me about $50 for what I had. That was good. Then another little walk down to the end of the street and back to my place. It had been a long couple of days and I was tired. Time for sleep.
Friday, October 28, 2005
I slept for about 14 hours. I guess I finally did begin to relax. Really rested now. Amazing what a good meal and a few glasses of wine will do to you.
Now it's time to check-in. I walk over to the office and it seems there isn't anyone else in town. Just a few people other than locals. Tom at the Andrew's Inn (which is a great place, by the way) tells me that they are getting quite a number of people from FEMA and the Red Cross staying there. Interesting. Since I had a shortened trip I had to change my reservations. No problems at all. They were more than accommodating.
Next: Breakfast. But where to eat? Most things were open and just thrilled to get customers. I picked a place called Cheeseburger Key West . (no web site) . Not bad for breakfast.
I just walked around a little and checked out the storm damage and debris. It seems like every shop in town that was affected by the storm surge was cleaned, fixed or hosed out. They were opened, but just a bit soggy, still. The really strange thing about it, on top of all the other strangeness, there was a coating of salt and fine sand on everything. The continual display of disorder and the lack of people made things seem closer to the surrealist realm than the normal (for Key West) vacation destination I had become familiar with over the past few years. The more I looked, the more storm damage I saw. Ordinarily lively places were now quieted by water, wind and sand. It was time for a break.
Lunch at Sloppy Joe's . I talked with a few shopkeepers and locals in the afternoon. The “Official” Fantasy Fest events have all been either cancelled or postponed until December. There is a lot of confusion about this still. We'll see. The locals don't seem to care. They are planning “Unofficial” events. This should be interesting.
Brian arrived sometime around 4:30pm. We had enough time for him to get unpacked and relax a little. When he walked into the house where we were staying he asked me, “Is this the common area?” He was actually stunned and amazed that we had such a fantastically big place for just two of us.
We decided on Crabby Dick's for dinner. There were “jump-up” parades all over the place that night. People getting into costume and walking around in groups, by themselves, some with instruments. WE were on the outdoor balcony having a really good fish platter when all of a sudden we heard drums. Seems there was a parade of sorts coming up the sidewalk and going directly beneath us. People joined in and dropped out along the way. It was only about 20 or so people at any one time. It was like that all evening. Except that was the only group with drums. Really wild. Kind-of Mardi-Gras-ish… a little like KW used to be in the days before real estate prices soared and cruise ships came.
For the rest of the night we just relaxed, walked around and watched people. There weren't many to watch yet, but it was fun.
Normally on Fridays during Fantasy Fest there is a really fantastic outdoor street fair with food and crafts as far as the eye can see… which is about two miles to the end of the street. It didn't happen at all and I was really pretty disappointed. It's one of my favorite things.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
This morning we decided to have breakfast at Rick's Blue Heaven . Brian seemed to have a slight little perverse enjoyment from the idea of eating eggs with chickens roaming all around you. Great place. Good Service and really good food.
For all the times between meals for the rest of the trip, unless I say something otherwise… we were walking around looking and checking things out. Or shopping or basically doing nothing.
For lunch we went to Sloppy Joe's . Sure I just was there yesterday, but they have pretty good stuff and entertainment all day.
After lunch we relaxed. Later we had dinner at Willie T's and then started getting ready for the Un-Official Fantasy Fest Parade and Celebration! Festivities started at 6pm in front of Billie's Restaurant .
It's somewhat hard to describe the channeled release of stress that was this year's fest. It's hard to describe any Fantasy Fest for that matter. You just have to live it once and you'll understand. I think it was more of a locals party that resembled the way Fantasy Fest started 30 years ago. Those in costume gathered at the designated starting point (a bar). The King then announces the first stop (another bar) and everyone parades through the street to that place… where those in costume are treated to a free drink. After a little while the next destination is announced and the parade continues to the new place… where everyone in costume gets a free drink.
The costumes were wonderful. People didn't have a lot of time this year to get ready, but that didn't stop them. This was just what was needed. The official theme for this year's fest was Freaks, Geeks & Goddesses. And there sure were quite a few of them around. There was Wilma, of Fred and Wilma. There was Wilma the hurricane. A box of Kleenex. Pirates by the dozen. Doctors, nurses, drag queens, costumes, lack of costumes, body paint… and my personal favorite – Michael Jackson and his entourage. There are so many different and weird people walking by – you'll just have to look at the pictures. But even that doesn't do it justice.
This continues all evening until the (now) party, makes it to the center of town outside the last stop where the street party starts and continues all night. I walked along taking pictures and video of the parade and of Brian. (You never know when blackmail material will come in handy!) And I watched a bit of the party. It was more like a normal year now, only about 1/25 th the size. I think there may have been about 2,000 people or so there that night. Far short of the norms for that weekend of around 75,000. But I haven't seen any official numbers. After a little while I had had enough. The music was extra loud and I was getting tired. (Sucks getting old, doesn't it!?) So I retired to bed for the rest of the night. Brian however, stayed out and had one of the most fantastically interesting adventures – and funny (to me now and to him later) that I have ever heard of. You'll just have to read Brian's story for yourself. Mine is already too long!
Oh, and just to help out the revelers we set the clocks back an hour tonight! One more hour of partying! WOOHOO!
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Believe it or not I actually made it to Church for the 7:30am mass. I have always been more of a morning person, though. Right after that I walked over to Fausto's Market for something snacking to eat. We had a house with a full kitchen but no food. And since Brian wouldn't be up for another hour or two I needed a little snack.
After we were both up we decided on something simple for breakfast. Denny's was right around the corner. Food's ok and fairly inexpensive. We'll save the epicurean delights for later.
Next on to the Butterfly Museum . As Brian puts it, “…a moment of Zen to offset last night…” It is quite an extraordinary place. If you ever get to KW I highly recommend this little diversion.
After the museum was more shopping on our way to lunch at the Conch Republic Seafood Company . Then more shopping on our way back to take a nap. It's amazing how tired you can get doing nothing all day! Later we had dinner at Fogarty's and then walked down for drinks at Sloppy Joe's . Then just back to sleep. All the activities that were this year's Fantasy Fest were now officially (or un-officially) over, depending how you looked at it.
Monday, October 31, 2005 - Halloween
Today we had breakfast at Pepe's Cafe . It came recommended by a few locals. Not exactly the easiest to find. It is definitely more of a locals place. But the service and food were both ok.
After breakfast more shopping! And a quick stop off at the Key West Winery for sampling. Really interesting wines made from all sorts of tropical fruits. Then on to a relatively new attraction in KW. The Pirate Museum . This gets a 5-star, excellent, gotta-see-it rating in my book. They tell you about the real pirates of the Caribbean. Plus they have a world-class collection of pirate booty, a first rate gift shop and soon a pirate themed restaurant (which was just being built when I was there). Should be good. It's on my short list for next time.
After that I did a little more shopping and then back to the house. I boxed up all the souvenirs that I was going to send to people anyway, walked them over to the post office and mailed them out. Seems like double work taking them home first.
Afternoon snack today was from Wendy's . Later dinner was at Cheeseburger Key West (no web site). The lunch fare was pretty good. And the service was really good. After dinner we walked a little bit and then…
I decided to make a home for the evening in Irish Kevin's . It's a sing-along bar and always very popular. Of course it was still light outside so there weren't many people there yet. Guinness #1. Brian is up and down from the table a few times. I can't stand it any longer. I told him to just go. “Go do your thing. If you want me I'll be right here, on that stool there, drinking this.” He rallied and bolted for the door. The singer on stage was a guy from near Johnstown – believe it or not. John Solinski . Not only that but there were people in the bar from Johnstown. If you know me then you'll understand the humor. If not – you're on your own with that one. Guinness #2 . People were coming in and out a lot wearing costumes. More and more bizarre as the night progressed. Guinness #3 . Brian came back in to see what was happening and off he went again. The rain started. It got dark. People sang. People were drinking. The power went out. Not in the bar… in the lower keys! Seems the rain had been too much for a storm-damaged trunk cable somewhere halfway up the keys. OK, well, I guess the power did go out in the bar, too. But only for a minute. As luck would have it I picked the only establishment in Key West with a generator. Soon the lights and music and cash registers and everything were up and running again. They never stopped serving. The first thing the guy on the stage said was,”…time to find a seat and order up. The rest of KW will be through the doors in about five minutes…” Guinness #4 . Sure enough he was right. Everyone came out of the wet dark into the party. That's when it got to be fun. The more the merrier!
What you have to remember about today is that it is Halloween in a place that many consider to be one of the most haunted places in the US; the people desperately need a break from all the storm stuff and well, honestly, what else are you going to do when the power is out?! Why, find the nearest purveyor of libations and join the crowd, of course! Not to mention, although I will, that this is also considered to be the adult version of “spring break” … yes, I know it's in the fall. But what are ya gonna do?!
Brian found his way in. He was at the other end of the island when it went dark. All he had was headlights along the main street to light the way. And it was still raining. That's about when we realized that the air conditioner wasn't connected to the generator.
The revelers were out in force. And mostly they had to force their way into this place. Standing room only – and that was for card-carrying sardines. One of Brian's and my favorite sight that evening was when this really extra-tall guy dressed as an Oompa-Loompa walked in and was standing right next to me. Biggest darned munchkin-like being I had ever seen. Must be all that chocolate they eat.
G uinness #5 . I was mildly relaxed. And I felt like I was having fun! Seems like a lot to drink, but it was over about 6 hours. And Guinness is one of the healthiest beers in the world.
Happy Halloween! This was one of the best – for me anyway. We can only try to outdo ourselves each subsequent year. This one will be hard to beat!
We called it quits for the night shortly after the power came back up. Well, it was about half up anyway. Walking back we noticed that only about half the city was on. We later found out that the Keys have their own generator to help offset major outages. The power fluctuated a few times for the rest of the night but it wasn't that bad. Besides - we were sleeping.
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Good Morning Happy Campers! With the best and worst of everything behind us… mostly… it was time to start heading out of the keys. WE packed and I made phone call after phone call. I decided it was in my best interest to not stay an additional few days like I had originally planned but to leave early and make the drive up US1 with Brian. He liked the idea of the company and really it helped that I could drive him home because he couldn't see (…you'll just have to read his story if you haven't already…).
I changed all my reservations again. Booked a flight out of Fort Myers Airport for a day or two later than I wanted and cancelled the hotel and car reservations. But I could stay with Brian (Thank you, again) and visit a few relatives in the area. Plus I could just relax and do nothing for a few more days. So it would be ok.
Checking out early was no problem. In fact I just took everything I paid extra from the beginning and end of my stay and applied it directly to next year's reservations. It's best to get a room for next year before you leave – that way you are guaranteed a really good place.
We decided to have breakfast at Rick's Blue Heaven again. A leisurely and delicious meal to start a long day of driving was just the ticket.
We packed the car. Checked out and headed out. Since Brian was playing blind-man's bluff by wearing my glasses and I had prescription sun glasses it really was a no-brainer. I got to do the driving to Naples .
Getting out of KW was an adventure. Because of the extremely heavy rain the night before many of the main roads were still covered with lots of water. The storm drains were all filled with sand and other debris. It took us almost one hour to make it the three miles just to get off the island.
After we actually made it out of KW and started northbound we made pretty good time. We made a few short stops along the way. Gas and water. Lunch at a place called Gustav's (no web site) in Homestead. Bathroom breaks. Nothing big. And I am really glad we left the top up. About halfway across Alligator Alley we hit a blinding rainstorm. Actually it came after us. That was when Brian woke up. Lunch put him to sleep for the afternoon.
Later, back in Naples… we unpacked and relaxed a little and then had dinner at some place called Moe's . Just a hole-in-the-wall little place but it was good eatin'.
Wednesday, November 2, 2005
This was a pretty easy day, activity-wise. I just lounged around watching movies and TV and playing video games. Sometime in there I managed to scrounge something for breakfast and lunch. It was some great down-time.
Later that evening we had dinner at Stonewood with Paul and Rose. Great steaks. Great service. And really great company (Thanks again for dinner). That's it for the day.
Thursday, November 3, 2005
This was another light day. I had breakfast at the house. Relaxed a bit. Borrowed a car and went relative-visiting. Back to the house for lunch. More relaxing. I think I took a nap or read a book or something. Later we had dinner out with the neighbors at a little hole in the wall called Cuban Café (no web site) . Then over to Hickey's Pub (no web site) for drinks. After that one more relative to visit and I called it a night.
Friday, November 4, 2005
This is my travel day. I got up, finished repacking and had a quick breakfast. Then we loaded the car with my stuff and off to the airport. Thank you once again, Brian. Good weather for flying and a nice easy drive to the airport.
RSW is a really good choice for flying into Florida. I had no trouble checking in. No lines. Barely any people. I am really glad I decided to stay away from Miami on this leg. While waiting I had lunch as Casa Bacardi (no web site) . Good burger. And did a little shopping.
The flight to Chicago was great. Alaska Airlines put me (and my luggage, this time!) on an American flight. I had an empty seat next to me. And it was smooth. Travel karma comes into play here. On the flight from Chicago to Seattle I had a middle seat. Between the “Jolly Green Giant” (although he thankfully wasn't green) and “Hulk Hogan's sister”… both over 6'4” and wedged into seats on either side of me. Giants among the populace. I didn't have armrests the entire time. But they didn't have arm, knee, head, leg or foot room! We were all quite cramped that evening. Come to think of it, the rest of the plane didn't fare all that much better.
I celebrated my vacation's end with a tiny, little bottle of wine. OK, mostly it was to kill the taste of the airline food. (Believe it or not they did actually feed us on this flight!) It almost worked!
Back in Seattle I got my bags right away and my parents picked me up and took me back to my house.
It really was an amazing adventure. I feel a lot better now than when this whole thing started. I'm glad things worked out.
Thus ends another travel odyssey. Now I have to start planning for next year! |
