While this blog is supposed to be about Kissimmee, it is also about my experiences. This past week, I took a vacation with my parents and my brother.
The vacation was my idea, though they picked where we would go. My parents are getting older- both are past 60 now, and my mom had a health scare last year. It occurred to me that I should take advantage of the chance to spend time with them.
While I was in law school, a cousin of mine suddenly and unexpectedly lost her father. He was a much loved uncle to me as well. So, this past week was very special to me- one of the most cherished times of my life, in fact.
Our days were jammed with activities, and I am recording them here before I forget some of the smaller details. Much of this blog will just be listing where we stayed and ate, as there are too many memories to record. I hope the list will be enough to jog my memory when I read this in the future.
Mom had never flown before. She had also never been west of the Appalachian Mountains. So, for our vacation, our plan was to fly into Las Vegas. There we were to rent a Ford Escape and head to different parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona and California.
On Saturday, June 9th, I flew from Orlando to Las Vegas. The flight left early in the morning, before 7 am and before the sun came up. After we had taken to the air and passed over most of the country, I got a tremendous view of the Grand Canyon. The shadows cast from the rising sun were spectacular.
Once I landed in Vegas, I proceeded to the baggage claim area where my one big bag was already on the carousel. I then spotted Mom, Dad and my brother waiting for me. Their flight from Raleigh Durham International Airport had come in about half an hour ahead of mine.
Mom was okay with the flight. There was some turbulence that made her a little nervous, but she had a good window seat on the Southwest Airlines plane, and my dad and brother were all able to sit on the same row with her.
In Vegas, once we got the SUV, I took them to the New York, New York casino. We had some hot dogs from the Coney Island restaurant inside.
Then it was north on I-15 into Utah. We stopped in Mesquite, NV to pick up some bottled water and some snacks to carry along. Dad mentioned the green golf course in Mesquite and how he liked seeing green much better than the surrounding brown desert.
I had been out there before- I used to live in Las Vegas, in fact. The landscape was completely new to Mom, though. My brother made the comment that the high desert cliffs, rocks and plateaus reminded him of Western movies he had seen, where gunmen were hiding up there to pick someone off down below.
We passed through the town of St. George and traveled into Zion National Park. Dad laughed at the fence posts along the way and how crooked they were. We speculated that there just weren’t enough trees like back east to provide good wood for straight fence posts, though the fencing along the interstate had metal posts.
The road that leads through Zion is not open to cars this time of year, and we took park shuttles that came along every 10 minutes or so. It was there that I realized how much Mom’s health had changed. She had very little tolerance for the heat, and she did not want to get off the shuttle and walk around and explore.
My brother and I were finally able to convince her to get off at one spot so that he and I could walk down to the Virgin River, which cuts through the cliffs of the park. Mom sat in the shade of a tree while we made our way down with Dad. She said that in years past, walking along a river would have been one of her favorite things to do.
The river was quiet, and the view up was stunning. We were the only ones down at that part of the river. My brother said that this was now his favorite national park. That particular spot on the river had a special vibe, he said.
We left the park in the late afternoon or early evening and found a room at the Super 8 Motel in Hurricane, Utah. At the hotel clerk’s recommendation, we ate at sports grill in town. My meal was delicious- grilled salmon with mashed potatoes and corn.
Dad was not so pleased with his choice- the dinner special, or Maryland fried chicken. Evidently Maryland fried chicken is not like the typical southern fried chicken. The dish was served to him smothered in fried pancake batter, and we were not sure if the chicken itself was actually fried. The combination of the two tastes was not good, as I can say as well because I tried to eat it when he said he did not want any more. So, I learned not to order Maryland fried chicken if offered to me. Better yet, do not order a Maryland special when you are eating in Utah.
That night, just as the sun went down, I decided to go for a run through the streets of Hurricane, Utah.
I am not sure what the elevation is in Hurricane, but the run was difficult. This was in part due to the hills. The main reason for the difficulty, though, was the dust storm that kicked up basically as soon as I stepped out the door.
I now know why the town is called Hurricane. From talking to the hotel desk clerk the next day, such windstorms are not uncommon there.
My run was actually kind of spooky. Night had fallen, and I was running through quiet city streets that I had never been down before. I really did not know where I was running, and I just tried to keep an idea of where the motel was so that I could make it back. Close to the town were mountains and plateaus, but they were soon obscured by the dust and the darkness. At one point, I could only see about 40 yards in front of me. The wind howled, and the dirt got in my eyes, nose and mouth. The trees bent with the wind, and all sorts of debris and leaves blew in front of me and into me. I was glad when I found the motel again.
The next morning, June 10, I had a tasty bacon, egg and cheese croissantwich from the Burger King across the parking lot from the motel. Then we hit the road for a drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
We stopped in the wilderness of Highway 59 at Pipe Springs National Monument on the Kaibab Indian Reservation. I took a brief walk among the shrubbery of the desert and spotted a baby jack rabbit with long ears. Mom bought a view finder at their visitor center for her grandson, my brother’s boy. She also purchased some slides of Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon to go with it.
I had been to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon before, so I kind of knew what to expect. The view was amazing, of course, though I was disappointed that we could not see the Colorado River all the way down at the bottom. It was just too steep and rocks obscured the view. My brother and I were interested in taking the famous mule train down to the canyon bottom. But again, Mom just could not do it. It reminded me of why I wanted to go on this vacation, and just how important this time was.
We had a wonderful lunch at the North Rim canyon lodge. I had the buffet.
The drive to the lodge was quite long from the entrance to the park, and there were no towns where one could stay. I asked our waitress and waiter where they lived, and they said that there was a hotel for employees inside the park about a 10 minute drive from the lodge. The hotel held over 100 employees. This was a seasonal job for them.
The main reason for us going to the Grand Canyon was because Mom said she wanted to see it (Her only other request for the trip was seeing the big Sequoia Trees in California). She was happy just to have the view for an hour or so.
Before getting into the car, we spotted a Steller's Jay Bird for the first time in our lives. It was beautiful with a blue sheened body and a tall black crest that flopped back and forth when it shook its head.
We made the trek back to I-15.
As the sun began to go down, we debated where we should stay for the night. Eventually, we agreed to stop in Las Vegas. At my suggestion, we got a room with a good rate at the Plaza in Old Town Las Vegas. This was where I stayed the first time I vacationed in the city back in 2003.
After checking into the room, we took Mom to the Venetian and ate dinner at the food court. I had Panda Express. It was very good, especially the egg roll. On a TV above one of the restaurants, my brother and I watched the end of the baseball game between Florida State and Stanford. FSU beat Stanford to go on to the College World Series.
After dinner, we walked around the Venetian and took Mom through the casino. We also found our way to the shops and the ceiling illuminated like the sky. Gondolas with singing boatsmen took couples down the canal between the shops.
As we had a long day, Mom and Dad were ready to go back to the Plaza for the night. But before we did that, I had my brother drive us down the full length of the Vegas Strip, so that Mom could see all the lights of the casinos.
On Monday, June 11 after a small breakfast inside the Plaza casino, we set off on I-15 South for California.
Just outside of Las Vegas, we stopped for fuel. I reflected with my parents on the life I have had so far and how I am fully aware of getting older and the fact that they are getting older.
I said something like this to them: “I had a failed experience in trying to make it as a screenwriter, and now I am older. Still, though, I fully intend to write a novel at some point, perhaps based on my experiences as a criminal trial attorney. A problem is that you are both past 60. You probably won’t be around to see it, if by chance I am successful in getting it published. Having the both of you see my success is a major reason why I have tried writing in the first place.”
I went on, “My experiences with screenwriting have taught me never to depend on my writing to make a living. Even if I get a novel published, I don’t expect to make much money from it. No longer will I put my writing ahead of what I do for a living.”
Both Mom and Dad just quietly listened to me.
We drove on into the Mojave Desert. I pointed out the Joshua Trees along the side of the road as we went up in elevation. Mom, Dad and my brother were all amused at these trees and how they compared with the trees on the east coast. For all of my family with the exception of myself, this was the farthest west they had ever been.
We crossed into California. My brother, Adam, who was driving, missed the “Welcome to California” sign at the state line because he was looking into the rear view mirror talking to Mom. We had just passed Buffalo Bill’s Casino at Primm, Nevada and saw a Carl Jr.’s hamburger restaurant. My brother was explaining to Mom that Carl Jr. is the name of Hardees restaurants out on the West Coast.
I joked with my brother that he was talking about a Carl Jr.’s restaurant at the moment he crossed into California for the first time.
“Hey, I was talking with my mother when I crossed into California for the first time,” he replied.
I think my family sort of expected everything to turn green like the East Coast once we hit California. My Dad does not like the desert, and that is all southeastern California is. I explained that we had to cross over the Sierra Nevada Mountains before he saw much green again.
In Barstow, we stopped for lunch at a place called the Barstow Station. Evidently it was a place for the convergence of I-15 and I-40, along with a Greyhound bus stop and a train station. There were several different restaurants and shops inside, including a Panda Express where I chose to eat lunch again. This restaurant was nowhere near as good as the Panda Express inside the Venetian, though.
From Barstow, we took Highway 58 to Bakersfield. Coming down the other side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, we saw miles and miles of Orange Groves or fields full of some other type of fruit. The mountains turned from bare rock on the east side to having an almost neon yellow sort of grass mixed in with boulders on the west side of the mountains.
In Bakersfield we got on Highway 198 to the Sequoia National Park. While in Bakersfield, I bought an Oreo milkshake for my brother and myself at a Carl Jr.’s restaurant.
During the drive north to the national park, we continued to pass by orange groves or lemon groves or tomato groves. Dad was amazed at it all. We also passed pumps rotating up and down, taking oil from the ground all along the way.
At a gas station close to the park, I got out and walked around close to some of the fields. A group of what I assumed to be migrant workers came to the gas station in a van, and I nodded hello to them. The driver had the largest straw hat that I have ever seen in person. The brim flopped over his shoulders.
Once we got inside Sequoia National Park itself, it was late in the afternoon and we were tired and apprehensive about heading into the park for more exploration. We stopped at the side of the main park road to discuss our plans.
I threw some rocks off of a cliff as we talked, and my brother pointed out to me a long leafed green plant next to our vehicle. The plant looked harmless enough at first glance, but upon closer inspection one could see that each long leaf ended in needle point. The leaves extended from the base of the plant in pattern much like a porcupine.
“Wow, you’d kill yourself if you fell on top of that,” my brother said. “Feel how sturdy and sharp those needles are.”
I reached down, lightly and carefully touching one of the needle points with my finger. It was indeed sharp and sturdy as my brother said (That night, hours later, my index finger was a little sore. I looked and there was actually a small hole where I had touched the plant, even though I had barely put my finger on it. The soreness made me believe that a small bit of poison or some defense agent of the plant had been injected into my finger as well. It wasn’t serious at all and healed in the next day- but I made note not to touch a plant like that again).
We decided to back track from the park and spend the night in the town of Visalia. We found a Fairfield Inn, and the desk clerk there recommended the restaurant, “Fugazi’s” in downtown Visalia. My brother had a California style pizza with barbecue sauce on it. The L.A. Kings won the Stanley Cup on television as we ate dinner at the restaurant.
After we got back to the hotel, the desk clerk furnished my brother and myself each with a pass to Lifestyles Fitness Center a couple of blocks away from the hotel. Adam was really impressed with the gym, and spent the full time working out at the various stations until it closed at 11pm. They had an indoor track 1/10 of a mile long, and I ran a little over 2 miles on it before we headed back to the hotel for the night.
The next morning, June 12, after eating the continental breakfast at the hotel, we explored Sequoia National Park. Before going into the park, we stopped at a gas station. I walked into an orange grove across the road from the station and took a look at the plants. There was a sticky index card with a grid attached to one of the plants. It read “Government insect trap. Do not disturb.” Numerous bugs had in fact gotten stuck on the card.
In the Sequoia National Park, I was impressed by clusters of small pink flowers. I wished that I knew the names of all the plants that I saw. The flower itself was about the size of a nickel. It had pink petals with a bright yellow center, At the base of each petal was a small, usually perfect triangle of purple.
We saw the General Sherman Sequoia Tree, the largest known tree by volume in the whole world. There is a Redwood tree that is taller and another Sequoia tree that is wider, but none have more volume than the General Sherman. It is estimated to be 2,500 years old.
After Mom had seen the giant Sequoias, she was happy for us to do whatever we wanted for the rest of the vacation. Adam bought a tuna fish sandwich inside the park, and I had a handful of peanut M&Ms. I suggested that we head to the Pacific Ocean as neither Mom, Dad nor my brother had ever seen it.
I tried to sleep a little as Adam drove out of the park, but the road was so curvy that my head kept falling to one side or the other and waking me up.
We drove out of the park to Fresno, then turned on to Highway 41 headed for the coast. We stopped in Lemoore and ate a mid-afternoon meal at Subway.
The drive down 41 was one of my favorite parts of the entire trip. Dad was amazed at the farm fields that stretched as far as the eye could see. We saw a crop duster plane that seemed to spray a ridiculously small portion of a field compared to all that was there.
Eventually highway 41 became a simple, two lane road that went over hills of that neon yellow grass, with sporadic but healthy trees dotting them. Cows and cow paths marked the hills. We saw deer in the fields, a turkey wondering along the road and later, a red shouldered hawk standing next to the road.
A fog or mist, typical of what I saw when I visited San Francisco in 2009 enveloped us as we reached Highway 101 South.
In Morro Bay, we tried to see the Pacific Ocean but really could only see the bay. The fog was thick and it was beginning to get dark.
We made our way to San Luis Obispo and decided to call it a night and wait for the next day to see the Pacific Ocean.
Again, we found a Super 8 Motel and ate a late dinner (just before the kitchen closed) at a raucous Irish Pub. It was trivia night, and I could tell Mom and Dad were a little uncomfortable being there. The food was tasty but incredibly rich and unhealthy, and I deliberately did not eat all of my buffalo chicken sandwich. My parents could not finish their soup and sandwich either, though my brother ate all of a monster burger. On TV at the pub, I watched the Dodgers beat Anaheim while San Francisco won its game on the other television. As Adam pointed out, there was no reaction in the pub when the Dodgers won, but the crowd cheered when San Francisco closed out the game.
The weather was cool in Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo (the 50s), and I told my family to note how the crowd was dressed at the San Francisco game with their jackets and hoodies.
That night at the motel, I suggested that after seeing the Pacific, we should head to LA to take in a Dodgers game.
Mom, Dad and Adam were all a little apprehensive about going to LA because of what they had seen and heard about the city on television in regard to traffic and gangs.
The next morning, we got back on Highway 101 in search of a good beach. The first place we tried was Avila Beach. There, my family saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time. There really was no beach there, however. Stone cliffs rose up from the water, with warning signs not to step out onto the edge. We all wanted to actually touch the water, so we continued to look for a good spot.
We discovered Pismo Beach, which was absolutely beautiful. The weather was nice but cool, and I had to wear a hoodie.
Dad was quite pleased to be able to take off his shoes and step into the ocean. The water was freezing cold, he said.
Adam touched the water with his hand and was picking up sea shells when a wave sneaked up on him and crashed into his shoes and jeans before he realized what was happening. I cracked up laughing.
Mom also touched the water with her hand, and then had to run to escape an incoming wave. That was funny to watch as well.
When I saw the Pacific for the first time, it was at Oxnard, CA in 2006. I remember standing in the ocean and being able to see snow on the mountains behind me. I called my brother on my cell phone to tell him that what my 4th grade teacher told me was true- in California you can be warm on the beach and see snow on the mountains behind you.
At Pismo Beach, though, there was too much fog inland to see any mountains. Still, it was very pleasant. Looking back from the ocean, to the left the sand turned to the stony cliffs from which we had just came.
We saw and petted a beautiful Rhodesian Ridgeback dog. Supposedly these dogs were bred in Africa to hunt lions. This dog was rollover friendly, though. It posed for a picture with us.
We walked out onto the pier, and I learned that there is clam unique to that area, the Pismo clam.
A pelican perched on a railing, and it puffed out its chest but blinked nervously as Dad approached it. We took a picture of it and then left it alone.
Surfers were in the water, and I thought it was interesting that all of the guys were wearing wet suits, but the two female surfers I saw were only wearing bikinis in the cold water.
Mom and Dad sat on a bench for a little while and watched the ocean. It was one of their favorite parts of the trip. Adam said with a smile that the vacation was only downhill from here for Mom and Dad, as I wanted to take them to L.A. next and then to Las Vegas.
We ate lunch afterwards at one of my favorite restaurants- Red Lobster. The restaurant offered a four course special which I ordered with Adam. I had a Caesar salad, New England chowder soup, shrimp pasta, and a chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream for dessert. And of course, there were the delicious cheddar biscuits. We got a to-go box for some of those.
So, it was on to L.A. and Dodger stadium via Highway 101. The road took us past Santa Barbara, where we got another good look at the ocean from our vehicle.
The road also took us right through Hollywood, and this is where the legendary traffic hit. We went from about 60 mph to a complete stop, as I told my brother to expect.
Thanks to the traffic stopping, though, I was able to spot the Hollywood sign in the hills overlooking the city. My view of the sign was between two buildings, and I pointed it out to my family before traffic started moving again.
We arrived at the stadium about three hours before game time and were able to buy four tickets together with no problem.
The game against the Anaheim Angels was really enjoyable. The L.A. Kings were there on the field for a pre-game celebration, and they brought out the Stanley Cup to the delight of the crowd. The Dodgers and the Angels both posed with them for pictures.
Mom read a book much of the time, but she said she enjoyed the atmosphere. The steps down to our seats were difficult for her to negotiate, and she had to laugh when Dad helped her keep her balance by holding the collar on the back of her neck like a cat picks up its kittens.
The Angels won the game 2-1, and it was an exciting finish in the 9th inning. Dad mentioned that he never thought he would see a game at Dodger stadium.
In the parking lot outside the stadium, the L.A. skyline was absolutely stark and beautiful. Mom took all of our pictures standing in front of it. I was pleased that everyone enjoyed the game and seeing L.A., and they agreed with me that it was worth the visit.
It was late at night when we drove out of the city looking for a hotel. Eventually we found a Fairfield Inn in Ontario. Mom and Dad were not hungry, but dinner for Adam and I was the leftover cheddar biscuits from Red Lobster.
On June 14, I got up and went for a nice run through the Industrial Park at Ontario. The weather was not too hot, and the morning sky was overcast. Most of the buildings in the park were like large offices. They housed things like the University of Phoenix or other colleges, and there were other hotels.
We took to the road and immediately began to go up in elevation in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Unfortunately, smog or fog enshrouded L.A. behind us and we could not see it. Dad said that he would miss the green of L.A. as he knew that on the other side of the mountains, California turned once again to desert.
At a rest stop in the middle of the desert on I-15, and I took the opportunity to walk out a little ways from it to enjoy the surroundings. Mom made the comment to me that I loved the desert, and I did not disagree with her. Dad and Adam also still seemed fascinated by just how different this environment was, but in just a few minutes of standing outside at the rest stop, dad got sun burned on the top of his head.
After we got back on the highway, we passed by some Joshua Trees, and stopped at an exit next to the Mojave National Preserve to take a picture with one. I noticed that the leaves of the Joshua tree also ended in a fine needle point, and I was careful not to touch them.
Right as we passed the border into Nevada at Primm, Buffalo Bill’s Casino was there for us to eat lunch. Adam wanted to stop earlier to eat at the Alien Fresh Jerky Restaurant (which is themed on Area 51, I guess). Instead, we had a nice buffet inside Buffalo Bill’s.
Once we got to Las Vegas, our first stop was the Bellagio so that I could go ahead and pick up our tickets for “O.” The family got to see the inside of the casino and the beautiful flowers and trees planted there.
Next, we checked into our rooms at the Luxor, the black pyramid of the strip. Our rooms were 16147 and 16149. I got 16149 all to myself, as I told them all before we went on vacation that when we got to Vegas, I was not going to sleep that much.
Mom was delighted that she could see planes landing and taking off from McCarran International Airport from her room.
When I stepped to the window to see what she was talking about, one of the first planes I saw come in for a landing was a large white airliner with no markings except for a red stripe down the side. According to things on the internet and a TV documentary, these are the planes that take employees back and forth to Area 51, the “non-existent” U.S. Air Force site. When I lived in Vegas back in 2006, these planes would come in low for a landing over the car dealership where I worked. I told Adam to come take a look.
I watched as the plane taxied to a building separate from the rest of the airport. The passengers all got off outside on the tarmac and walked into the building. A total of four planes eventually came in and parked next to the building. Who knows what is out there at Area 51.
That evening, we all went back to Old Town Las Vegas and watched the “Fremont Street Experience.” The lights to all the casinos went out, and the ceiling lit up with a light show and a tribute to Bon Jovi. It was neat, but I am not sure how much Mom enjoyed it because it startled her with its loudness.
I remembered these shows from years past in going to Vegas, but now they have added something that I don’t like- advertisements. When Bon Jovi finished playing, they kept the ceiling on and we had to listen to a couple of advertisements played on the loudspeaker. The next show was to be a tribute to Queen, but we went inside one of the casinos and had dinner at the Paradise Buffet.
That night, after Mom and Dad had gone to bed, my brother walked the strip until about 3am, exploring the different casinos.
As for myself, I tried my luck at the Flight Bar inside the Luxor and had a good conversation with a couple of girls from England. They were there celebrating earning their bachelor’s degree. We had a nice talk about all the countries they had visited, and how one of them had just landed a job in Saudi Arabia. They were excited to watch England take on Sweden the next day in the Euro Cup, and they asked me for a good place to watch it. I suggested the Sports Bar connected to New York New York, the old ESPN Zone. Eventually, though, they left me there at the Flight Bar. I went to another bar inside the Excalibur and tried to talk to a beautiful woman sitting alone. She said she worked in real estate there in Vegas. She wore a leopard skin outfit and seemed amused at my courage to come up and start a conversation all by myself. I thought she might be beginning to like me, but she suddenly shot me down by wishing me a good stay and walking off.
That one stung more than others for whatever reason, and I felt a little drained. I decided to call it a night and went back to my room. The time was around 4:30 am, but as most people who go there know, time does not matter in Las Vegas.
I only slept for two or three hours before I got up and went for a run on one of the treadmills at the Luxor’s fitness center. The day was Friday, June 15.
I met my parents and my brother, and we walked part of the strip, keeping in mind Mom’s energy level. We walked through the Tropicana and MGM Grand, and had lunch inside the MGM food court at a New York style pizza restaurant.
After lunch, we saw some street performers and were amazed at how they could be out there for so long in the tremendous heat. We also visited inside the new Cosmopolitan, the Monte Carlo, and the Excalibur before heading back to our rooms to rest for the “O” show at 7:30. On our way back to our rooms at the Luxor, we stopped inside the casino and had some delicious frozen yogurt. Mine was chocolate topped with blueberries.
After a brief rest, we drove to the Bellagio when it was show time.
“O,” a Cirque du Soleil production, has the reputation of being perhaps the best show in Vegas. My family enjoyed it and I was glad. I agreed with my brother’s assessment, that the show seemed to be something out of the mind of Tim Burton, especially the character who represented rain and the clowns. The acrobatics were incredible, as was the set decoration. I have also seen the Cirque du Soleil shows of “Ka” and “Zumanity.” Personally, I liked those shows a little more than “O.”
Afterwards, we ate dinner inside Caesar’s Palace. It was Friday night, and the first time that I had seen a Vegas casino become a touch too crowded for comfort.
We went outside and watched the water show in front of the Bellagio. Mom seemed to really enjoy this. One of the songs was Elvis’s “Viva, Las Vegas.” The next show was set to a classical tune that I did not recognize.
And that was pretty much it. Mom, Dad and Adam went back to the room for the night, while I went out to the casino bars again. I visited the bars at the Luxor and one at Mandalay Bay, with frankly even less success at talking to women than the night before…
It bummed me out somewhat to look around and realize that I was now older than most everyone else at the bar. But at least I was out there, trying. I would have been more unhappy to come to Vegas and then just sit in my room, watching TV or something. I reminded myself that this vacation was about spending time with Mom, Dad and my brother. In that regard, it had all gone very well. When I finally decided to go back to my room, I was surprised to see the sun actually coming up. The time was around 6 am.
The day was Saturday, June 16. I did not bother going to sleep. Later that morning, I noted that the Area 51 planes were all sitting on the Tarmac. This made me believe that whatever is going on at Area 51 is not too terribly important, because the planes evidently stay parked on the weekends.
A few hours later, I met my family again for our ride to the airport. Their flight back to Raleigh left at 12:40pm. My flight to Orlando did not leave until 5pm. The airline representative said that I was there too early to check my bag, so I had to say my goodbyes to my family before they went through airport security. Mom made me promise to call, no matter what time I got back home. She teared up a little bit.
My own flight back across the country was largely uneventful. We ran through some turbulence and steered around more, but I slept for most of the flight. I called and left a message with my parents when I was back at my house. This was around 2:30 am, east coast time.
All in all, this was the best vacation I have had with my family since I was a child and we went to the beach at Emerald Isle, NC for the first time with Mom’s side of the family.
I wrote this blog entry in the hopes of remembering as much of this vacation as I can. I know that when I go back to work, some of the details will get washed away. The passage of time is an eerie thing of nature. This vacation was one of those moments in my life when I wished I could freeze time and come back to this point whenever I wanted. I wished Mom’s health was better and that she could have enjoyed some things more, but she was very happy to have us all together. It was absolutely the right thing to do to take this vacation now when we did. I hope we can have more in the future, together as a family.
