From Day 6: Travel Day

We woke up yesterday morning with the intention of getting ready, rolling out our luggage and grabbing breakfast from somewhere at the airport because our flight was some time after 9am. Well, that changed. We got a call from Pat saying that he got an email from the airlines stating that our flight had gotten cancelled. A few minutes later we found out that they changed our flight and now we wouldn't be departing until 11:30am, and the layover changed from Chicago to Dallas. So, needless to say, we had breakfast at the hotel breakfast restaurant. I ordered French toast and a side of bacon. It was good, nothing special about it, except that it was overpriced. The waitress was a bit scatterbrained, but she did let us get Jude whatever he wanted from the breakfast buffet, so that was nice. Nichole had ordered banana pancakes, knowing that they'd in no way compare to those from the Grasshopper Cafe. After a few bites she had this puzzled look on her face and stated: "These pancakes taste like they're sourdough." I had a bite, and sure enough, sourdough. So that was weird.

Well, we finished breakfast and headed back to the hotel to collect our stuff. I forgot to mention something funny that Jude did last night. He was on the bed playing with Nichole's phone, sat up and said "Pad pad," which is how he says iPad. So we told him that Papa has it and that he might be able to see it tomorrow. Well, being the cute kid that he is, he leapt off the bed, stood in the middle of the room and declared "Papa, Papa! Pad pad!" Then he went to the hotel room phone, picked it up, said hello, muttered something, then bye. Nichole texted her parents this and they let him use it that night.

After getting a bit turned around at Logan International Airport, and going through security, we found our gate and waited until it was time to board. In the meantime, I took up our last chance to partake of the yumminess of Dunkin Donuts by getting some coffee, and donuts for later. Time to board, fortunately the three of us were able to retain seats that were next to each other. The ride was fine, longer than I expected (I forgot mid-flight that we were going to Dallas and not Chicago). Jude got a bit restless right before the descent for landing but was then ok.

Our layover in Dallas was only and hour so we barely had enough time to use the restroom, see about getting seats together (when we found out about the flight change, Nichole and Jude's seats were not assigned yet) and grab lunch from Subway. Nichole was not able to get three seats in the same row, her and Jude got in a two seat section right behind first class, so Jude had a good window and Nichole had plenty of leg room. I had an aisle seat about four rows back, so I was able to see them and grab anything from my bag that they needed with ease. I was able to finish the book I started on the trip, Into the Wild. I enjoyed it, thought it was good and gave it 3 stars on http://www.goodreads.com. I do want to see movie that Sean Penn adapted from the book.

We landed about 5, San Diego time, grabbed our luggage while Pat got his explorer and headed back to their house where our car was. After spending a few minutes visiting with Gummy, and getting Jude an apple, we made our way home. Henry was hanging our with Stephanie (her and Andrew took care of him and our cat, Winston, while we were away). I unloaded the car and Stephanie invited us over for dinner.


It was really nice coming home and being with Henry and Winston. Of course, there was a lot more that I would like to have done, i.e. walk the Freedom Trail, go to Haverhill (where my maternal grandfather was from), go to a Red Sox game at Fenway, walk around the city more, go to the Boston Brewing Co. (where Samuel Adams is brewed), but I'm glad we did what we did, for the most part. I do miss Boston already though. I don't know exactly what it was, but I felt very comfortable there. It would take a couple of years to get acclomated to the wintery weather, but I'm pretty sure I could live there.

I really enjoyed spending time with Pat's family, I only wish there was more time to get to know them better. Being on vacation with family away from everyone's home makes it difficult for this to happen. Perhaps if we make it out to upstate New York (Greg's family) or to Burke, Virginia (the rest of the family) or if they came out to San Diego sometime, there would be a better chance for this.


All in all, I had a great time with all the families, being with Nichole and Jude all day for 6 days in a row, eating delicious food and drinking yummy beers (that all gained me 3 pounds), experiencing such a historical city that was so critical to the foundation and formation of our country, being a spectator at the the Boston marathon, and getting away from work for a week.