Motor City and Points North
MoMP actually left New England a few weeks ago. Gasp! I left civilization the internets behind when I headed to Flint, MI, by way of Detroit, to attend the wedding of a beloved cousin to his college sweetheart. It was a wild weekend of travel, family, and the usual wedding related high jinks. It was also the first time I've been away from Felix for a whole weekend.
The plan was to meet my Mom and Uncle Ron at my parents' house at 6:15AM on Friday, and carpool down to TF Green Airport in Providence together for our 9AM flight to Detroit. Then, the ice storm hit.
When my alarm went off at 5:15, it was raining hard and gusting, but I wasn't overly concerned. All the weather reports had indicated that Providence was only getting rain. I figured I'd check the flight status after I brushed my teeth and washed my face. When Mom called to tell me that they had no power, no trees left in the yard, and no way out of the neighborhood due to the storm, I was floored. Turns out, poor Ron had tree limbs through his roof, across his driveway, and no power to boot. He had to cancel his trip to deal with everything. Mom was optimistic that she could get out later in the day, and hopefully fly standby on a later flight, so I struck out solo towards Providence, intending to fly - literally - by the seat of my pants. Theoretically, half my family would be within 2 hours of me when I landed, if my Mom couldn't make it out.
It was a wild and wet ride down 146 to Providence, and 295 south was a windfield, but I made it to long term parking with plenty of time before the flight. I got myself some Starbucks, and settled in at the gate with my knitting.
We boarded on time, and then we sat... and sat... and sat... for more than an hour and a half, waiting on a mechanical problem. Our flight crew was fantastic under the circumstances, providing water and trivia questions - with prizes! Did you know that Oregon and Florida are only one time zone apart, despite the fact that one touches the Atlantic and one touches the Pacific? (The panhandle is Central and the eastern moutains of Oregon are Mountain.) Did you know that there are only four states which have capital cities whose names begin with the same letter as the states themselves? (Indianapolis, IN, Honolulu, HI, Dover, DE, and Oklahoma City, OK) The upside of being grounded was that I was able to keep in touch with Mom via cell and know that she was confirmed on the next flight out behind me.
I landed in Detroit, and hour and a half later than scheduled. I waited two hours for my mom to catch up, enjoying some terminal takeout and finishing my book circle selection for the month. She landed, we collected our rental car, a Chevy HHR - fuel efficient but UGLY! - and headed north towards Flint.
We checked into the hotel and met up with the assorted family members already gathered. I had time to hug the groom before he headed out to the rehearsal, and then we were off and running. We set up the function room for the rehearsal dinner, ate, and broke it down again before showering and falling, exhausted, into bed.
The next morning, over continental breakfast in the lobby, we decided to accompany my aunt to the salon in hopes of getting mani/pedis. Yay! I heart I'm Not Really A Waitress. After that, we did some errands at the local superstore.
Has anyone in New England ever heard of Meijer? It was like a Super Walmart bred with a Target. Cheap, high quality, and great groceries! I don't like the cheapy feel of the Walmarts around here, and I don't trust the produce at the Super Walmart. In the words of my mother, it looks like someone stomped on it most of the time. This place had nicer produce than the Whole Paycheck I try not to shop too much at. Why are there none of these in New England?
Anyway, after our superstore adventure, I went over to my aunt's room to do her makeup, since I'd brought all my fancy pots and brushes along. My aunt is this tiny, gorgeous thing, with sherry colored eyes and great facial bones, so she's super fun to make up. Then it was off to do my own face before we departed for the wedding.
The ceremony was held at the Longway Planetarium in Flint, and it was one of the coolest locations for a wedding I've ever been to. They brought in twinkle lights wrapped in tulle, and small bare limbed trees that had been whitewashed. They used the meteor shower graphics to mark the I do's, and used spotlights and dome lights in the darkened planetarium for drama. They picked really interesting, non-weddingy music for most of the ceremony, and the effect was great!
The next day we were up earlyish to breakfast with everyone before we packed up for Detroit again. We had some time to kill between check out and out flight home, so Mom and I went shopping and had some lunch at the Somerset Collection in Detroit. Our flight home was completely uneventful, but by the time I got in my car in Providence, I was ready to be home with my boys again.
The plan was to meet my Mom and Uncle Ron at my parents' house at 6:15AM on Friday, and carpool down to TF Green Airport in Providence together for our 9AM flight to Detroit. Then, the ice storm hit.
When my alarm went off at 5:15, it was raining hard and gusting, but I wasn't overly concerned. All the weather reports had indicated that Providence was only getting rain. I figured I'd check the flight status after I brushed my teeth and washed my face. When Mom called to tell me that they had no power, no trees left in the yard, and no way out of the neighborhood due to the storm, I was floored. Turns out, poor Ron had tree limbs through his roof, across his driveway, and no power to boot. He had to cancel his trip to deal with everything. Mom was optimistic that she could get out later in the day, and hopefully fly standby on a later flight, so I struck out solo towards Providence, intending to fly - literally - by the seat of my pants. Theoretically, half my family would be within 2 hours of me when I landed, if my Mom couldn't make it out.
It was a wild and wet ride down 146 to Providence, and 295 south was a windfield, but I made it to long term parking with plenty of time before the flight. I got myself some Starbucks, and settled in at the gate with my knitting.
We boarded on time, and then we sat... and sat... and sat... for more than an hour and a half, waiting on a mechanical problem. Our flight crew was fantastic under the circumstances, providing water and trivia questions - with prizes! Did you know that Oregon and Florida are only one time zone apart, despite the fact that one touches the Atlantic and one touches the Pacific? (The panhandle is Central and the eastern moutains of Oregon are Mountain.) Did you know that there are only four states which have capital cities whose names begin with the same letter as the states themselves? (Indianapolis, IN, Honolulu, HI, Dover, DE, and Oklahoma City, OK) The upside of being grounded was that I was able to keep in touch with Mom via cell and know that she was confirmed on the next flight out behind me.
I landed in Detroit, and hour and a half later than scheduled. I waited two hours for my mom to catch up, enjoying some terminal takeout and finishing my book circle selection for the month. She landed, we collected our rental car, a Chevy HHR - fuel efficient but UGLY! - and headed north towards Flint.
We checked into the hotel and met up with the assorted family members already gathered. I had time to hug the groom before he headed out to the rehearsal, and then we were off and running. We set up the function room for the rehearsal dinner, ate, and broke it down again before showering and falling, exhausted, into bed.
The next morning, over continental breakfast in the lobby, we decided to accompany my aunt to the salon in hopes of getting mani/pedis. Yay! I heart I'm Not Really A Waitress. After that, we did some errands at the local superstore.
Has anyone in New England ever heard of Meijer? It was like a Super Walmart bred with a Target. Cheap, high quality, and great groceries! I don't like the cheapy feel of the Walmarts around here, and I don't trust the produce at the Super Walmart. In the words of my mother, it looks like someone stomped on it most of the time. This place had nicer produce than the Whole Paycheck I try not to shop too much at. Why are there none of these in New England?
Anyway, after our superstore adventure, I went over to my aunt's room to do her makeup, since I'd brought all my fancy pots and brushes along. My aunt is this tiny, gorgeous thing, with sherry colored eyes and great facial bones, so she's super fun to make up. Then it was off to do my own face before we departed for the wedding.
The ceremony was held at the Longway Planetarium in Flint, and it was one of the coolest locations for a wedding I've ever been to. They brought in twinkle lights wrapped in tulle, and small bare limbed trees that had been whitewashed. They used the meteor shower graphics to mark the I do's, and used spotlights and dome lights in the darkened planetarium for drama. They picked really interesting, non-weddingy music for most of the ceremony, and the effect was great!
The next day we were up earlyish to breakfast with everyone before we packed up for Detroit again. We had some time to kill between check out and out flight home, so Mom and I went shopping and had some lunch at the Somerset Collection in Detroit. Our flight home was completely uneventful, but by the time I got in my car in Providence, I was ready to be home with my boys again.
Labels: Friends and Family, Travel
posted by Cameron | 10:52 AM
1 Comments:
Long live Meijer!!!
Post a Comment
<< Home