cool with hot coming

I thought I’d add some visual effect to X’s review of our accommodations in Buffalo, The Elmwood Village Inn / Honu House. I was doing some digging to find reviews (and include my own) when I found this great slide show from the Buffalo Rising Web site.

I noticed in passing that the forecast for this weekend calls for partly sunny, 98°, and big number humidity. The bear can’t wait.

Short but sweet.

t

stay on target. stay on target

One area of neglect from my last post was the freaky nature of our timing during the Buffalo-to-D.C. return leg. We left the sleeping castle at 7am for an 8:30 Southwest flight – call us crazy (and horribly sleepy). After stopping to fill up the car and grab coffee we headed down the 198, over to the 33, and into the Buffalo-Niagara International Aerodrome. We pulled into the Hertz return area at 7:30, got the car checked in, walked to the Southwest desk to print our passes and drop-off luggage, moved through security, and were standing happily at our gate at precisely 7:41. New record.

When we arrived at BWI we had a planned 40-minute buffer to get from the plane, through baggage, onto a shuttle bus, and over to the MARC station in order to catch the train back into D.C. Since I’d made this run before I knew that neither the shuttles (every 10 minutes) nor the train would present a problem – baggage could have been the weak link. As we came through the glass doors and into the claim area we noted that our flight was unloading junk at the first merry-go-round claim about ten feet to our left. There were only a few folks milling about, and the metal-magic claim wheel is rotating clockwise as we approached from the 4 o’clock position. Without breaking stride, I attack the claim as our single bag rotates through 12 o’clock, 1 o’clock, about 2:30, and directly into my moving target of a hand. It was a thing of beauty. Our inertia took us out the door and deposited us at the MARC shuttle stop a few feet down the sidewalk. After a short wait we hopped aboard the big red bus and minutes later disembark at the train station. I peer at my watch as we walk to our track and notice it’s 10:05am. You might wonder when our train was due in, wouldn’t you? How does 10:13am sound? Shazam!

Everyone gets a two-fer today. First up are Gillian Welch and David Rawlings doing Revelator from the 2001 album Time. After that, if you’re still interested, is a solo acoustic version of The Picture by Jay Farrar.

gods and queens

So much under the bridge over the last thirty-six hours that it’s hard to know where to start and what to leave unearthed for X. I’ll address some issues that might be bypassed by her eventual entry covering our single day jaunt to the Great White North. My overall, yet wholly undetailed review, would be that it was an amazing series of events; not a step askew. Since I’ve been dubbed “Julie the Cruise Director” during any number of our travels I’d like a moment to respond to just one ‘fact’ of this adventure. As you may or may not know, I have a tendency to do a little research about future journeys that may, or may not, involve any of the following: advanced tickets, train and Metro timetables, maps, custom Google maps, reservations, additional miscellaneous research, other maps, duplicate directions, satellite views of Hamilton, walking distances, musical selections, pre-printed boarding passes, passports, show ticket storage, menus (if available), and any myriad detail you can imagine. I then sometimes put all the information, in timeline order, into a laminated document protector. Or, I might not. On Monday night, prior to launch, X hands me a quarter-folded sheet of paper that included doodles representing some new type of electric razor, a guy’s face, two flowers, and three unidentifiable drawings of dogs. Down in one corner was a number that appeared to be some sort of ‘confirmation number’. She says, “Can you put the rental car confirmation number into your pile of documents?” In initial shock and/or agreement I said sure, no problem, while reaching for the tattered ‘document’. What I was actually thinking was, “This! This is a document to be used for planning? Dear God.” Needless to say it wasn’t actually the car rental reservation but a series of useless numbers.

What we have in the greater D.C. area today seems to be monsoon season. We’re in the midst of our third massive front of this June Wednesday. We’ve lost power, the traffic lights are in-op, roads are flooded, cell phones are down, and the little critters are drowning. I heard a tornado hit around Falls Church while I was out fetching G. this afternoon but I haven’t seen confirmation – it wouldn't be a real surprise since the rain seems to have been moving upward, as in up to the sky, throughout the day. X was stymied on her commute home today and my horror stories simply revolve around trying to get anywhere near a Fairfax County Metro stop during the afternoon swale to fetch her and bring her home. It was rough out there.

I broke my no news promise today. I’d grabbed the paper from in front of our heavenly B n’ (almost) B when the proprietor asked me what I thought of the race being over. I read the front page quickly and confessed to my lent of news. I also grabbed the NYTimes at the Buffalo airport to follow-up on what’s happened. How do you expect a man to travel airports and not buy papers? I consider myself forgiven. I’ve stayed away from it since getting back this morning.

I know you’ll think I’m mad but I’ve got a long Buffalo/Hamilton weekend travel getaway for anyone interested. Give me three days and two nights in upstate NY and I’ll show you the best time. You’ll get great digs, great folks, a show, awesome food, and lovely museums. Seriously.

My photo / music video entry today is of England’s own (and the stunning) Webb Sisters who backed Leonard Cohen last night. They’ve also played for the Queen – I’m not sure which is more impressive.

Give me a call at the agency when you’re ready to see Buffalo.

t.