letting it go...

i'm behind, and i know it. i have several half-written posts from my weekend excursion that need to be strung together, polished, and put up.

however, if i wait for a chunk of free time large enough to get it done, it'll be at least another week, so i figure i might as well give you a brief summary. with that in mind, may i present to you

bits and pieces from the last week

thursday, march 16th

congaree national park

friday, march 17th
i figured i’d get a jump on my sneaky sibling and call daddy at work to wish him a happy birthday first. i was quite proud of myself until she called about fifteen minutes later, said she’d done the same thing, and it seems that my message on his voice mail (the one where i’m crowing about being the first to call) is about ten minutes younger than her message about being the first to call.

damn.

the trip to kansas city was nothing if not...exciting. after battling traffic jams caused by dick cheney, who'd flown into charlotte for a brunch, i thought i was free and clear when my first plane rolled into detroit.

au contraire, mon frere

we arrived at the detroit airport thirty minutes before my flight to kansas city was due to take off. since one is supposed to be on the plane fifteen minutes prior to takeoff, I was less than thrilled to find that we’d deplaned at gate a2….and my next flight would be departing from gate a76 which, naturally, would be about half a mile away, at the complete opposite end of the freaking terminal. i wandered up to the indoor tram in the hopes that perhaps i’d be able to hop on and save myself a little time. needless to say, i was simply thrilled to see “temporarily out of order” scrolling on the video screen above the tram entrances.

henry rollins has a great spoken word bit about airports and the folks who stand on the moving sidewalks- especially on the side clearly marked “walk”, as is the case at the detroit airport. (the only conclusion i can draw is that there were a lot of illiterate folks roaming about the detroit airport today.)

however, i suppose the stubborn “standees” should be thanked for adding a whole new dimension to my little “workout”- not only was i forced to sprint from one end of the airport to the other, but i also worked in a bit of lateral motion dodging folks, and since i was dragging around both my computer bag and backpack, i suppose i can consider the whole exercise adequate training for the upcoming hike next month.

anyway, ten minutes and at least half a mile later (wanna measure it for me next time you’re there, doug?), I made it to a76…and nearly ran into folks deplaning from the plane that had arrived late from philly…which, of course, meant that it’d be a while before we’d board our plane, which meant I didn’t really have to run after all.

dammit.

however, it was all worthwhile becuase i managed to surprise daddy when i finally made it to kansas city- as this blurry shot taken the moment he saw me shows:



i am pleased to report that i did not give daddy heart failure for his 60th birthday. (go me!)

saturday, march 18th

i actually finished this post in the car:

sigh

why is it when I meet intriguing people who happen to be vaguely attractive, I can strike up a conversation with them (quick- sparkling wit and personality- you’re on in 10), but I wind up kicking myself later for not leaving them my email address and taking their picture*….then again, i suppose even striking up a conversation is pretty good, considering I used to have a very hard time doing even that much.

we went to the brown vs. board of education historical site today (2 cancellations on my national park passport in three days- woo-hoo!), and i wound up chatting up one of the employees, who, well, happened to be a bit of a hunk. (don’t worry, dear- he wasn’t val kilmer.) anyway, we started chatting about the stamps on my passport, which led to him asking about the most out-of-the-way park i’d been to (st. croix in eastern maine), and come to find out, he used to live near one of the other parks i’d almost made it to this summer and somehow we wound up talking about kayaking and now i’m kicking myself for not slipping him my email address or blog address or something, because i’d really love to pick his brain. (as it was, i was dragged away by daddy….isn’t that always the way?)

*let me adjust that slightly- i have contact info for the canadian friend i made on my last trip to kansas city…..he should have been a picture of the day, though.

ok, now that we're all caught up (sort of), i need to take care of catching up of another sort- in the interest of having post-worthy photos from havasupai next month, the treadmill beckons.