Lessee... I left a week ago for Huntsville AL. For the first time in 15 years, I was doing Thanksgiving with my Dad and step-mom. Was a completely uneventful flight from Chicago to Washington-Dulles and then to Huntsville (ORD-IAD-HSV)...
Alabama was lousy when I landed. 65 and pouring rain...which continued into Wednesday. I can't complain too much as the rumbly thunderstorms at 3am are quite nice...except I crashed at 9pm..so I was up at 3am.
I helped my step-mom get everything set up for the day and getting all the food ready. A few people were in town already but most were travelling in Wednesday. All was good until the reports of 4-8" of snow in Peoria. My two step-brothers were supposed to be driving down with their uncle Nick. They were nearly killed in a near-miss accident as they left Morton. Thankfully it was just a close call.
Thanksgiving was actually an okay day. It started out grey and gloomy but turned partly cloudy and warmer. We had 28 people in the house and it was quite enjoyable.
Friday was a "casual" day for everyone to just hang out and enjoy the get together. Mother Nature certainly cooperated with temperatures in the mid 60s and sunny skies. We had a nice bonfire that evening. Derek (one of my brothers) and I spend a couple of hours down there while David (the other brother) spent time talking investments with Dad and Debbie.
Saturday started out nice and quickly clouded over with yet more rain. Everyone pretty much left Saturday afternoon leaving just me at the house with Dad and Debbie.
Sunday was spent going to church, dinner at a great steak place up in Hartselle AL called OH!Bryans. Best steak I've had in years...and very reasonably priced too. We went shopping and I got a new pair of tennis shoes as well as a pair of waterproof boots that go about 6" above the ankle. I'm about 6'8" in those boots. Fun, but I have to duck even more often.
Monday morning was the very early wake-up call. I had to be at HSV at 7am for my 8:50 flight. Yeah. Right. I got there right at 7am...and was standign at the gate, completely through security at 7:20am. *yawn* Flew to IAD no problem. 45 minute "Air Traffic Control Hold" later...there's a 45 minutes weather delay...finally get going at 1:30pm and finally get into O'Hare at about 2:30. Called my friend
Two hours later, John made it to O'Hare. I finally got home about 5:45pm.
Aside from the weather delay and the snafu of getting from O'Hare to home...it was a great week. Much much better than I expected.
Now if only Christmas will go so well...
1 comment:
Glad to hear it went well. I guess family gatherings are mellowing out for me. I no longer dread them with the intense fear I used to.
Now they are just a mild nuisance. ;)
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