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Compared to keeping my two girls occupied in mass for an hour, driving in the car is easy--even for 18 hours. The girls are troopers, especially Alyssa. There were moments of irritability, and there's now a car full of goldfish, peanut butter, and jelly, but Friday was a marathon day of travel, twelve hours on the road. Here's a run down of some other points of interest from the drive out.
Nothing says family road trip like standing in the parking lot of a Cavender's Boot Barn in El Paso Texas with your shirt collar pulled up over your nose while you hold your child at arms' length so mommy can take off her shit-laden clothes.
As if on queue, Alyssa came home today from the doctor with a diagnosis of dual ear infections. Let us be clear: this trip is not a vacation, it's a refresher on the difference between having to go to work and getting to.
Everything was going great. The invitations went out as scheduled, Jen's prolonged visit allowed her an opportunity for a shower and bachelorette party, and when I flew out for the July wedding we took our engagement pictures. Then, on August third, just over two weeks away from the wedding, Jen got a phone call, and I got in big big trouble.
With full lights and siren this guy still wasn't stopping, but he wasn't exactly fleeing either. We were still ho humming down the road at maybe 45 mph. After another half mile or so, my brother made a shrewd, last ditch effort to keep his passenger in the car. "3536, coming up on failure to yield".
What Olympia may lack in bustle, it makes up for in the quality of the tour. Our guide was excellent. He didn't recite from a memorized script, he simply walked us to the three rooms on the tour and started talking about them. If anyone had a question, he answered it in detail. It was like he was giving us a tour of his own home.
Suddenly I became aware of some activity about ten rows in front of me. A passenger vomited. That's always a nice way to start a flight, puking before you even leave the gate.
Unlike many parks and beaches with tourist appeal, the locks and gardens are run not by Parks and Recreation but by the Army Corps of Engineers. They offer free, guided public tours of the locks and gardens. The tour was fantastic.
At work, people often see me scratch my head in confusion and utter the phrase "we've been making [insert our product here] for how many years?" in response to some things we do that don't always seem to make sense. I think this is one thing we definitely got right. Check it out for yourself by clicking here or searching Google for "Dreamliner Gallery".
After my somewhat eventful morning I departed for a fun-filled Oregonian weekend. The drive mapped out to about 300 miles and Vicki was estimating five 
hours. Puget Sound is notorious in my experience for perpetual traffic, so I left the factory about 12:30 PM hoping to keep the drive in the five to six hour range and be in Eugene in time for dinner. 7:30 PM I arrived. SEVEN THIRTY. Have I got a few things to say about that.
hours. Puget Sound is notorious in my experience for perpetual traffic, so I left the factory about 12:30 PM hoping to keep the drive in the five to six hour range and be in Eugene in time for dinner. 7:30 PM I arrived. SEVEN THIRTY. Have I got a few things to say about that.The production schedule for the 787 is so tight here in Everett that program leaders decided to outsource the refurbishment of the flight test airplanes and the incorporation of certain changes into the airplanes that need them. Boeing San Antonio won the contract for this work. Depending on how the flight test program proceeds, 787's should begin arriving in San Antonio early next year, hopefully sometime in the first quarter.
In the spring of 1999 I got the travel bug, an unawakened passion for visiting new places and experiencing life "on the road". Before that first trip with Medinet, I had never even flown on an airplane. Now, ten year later, I have frequent flyer accounts with nearly every domestic airline in the United States. As I sit here preparing to share the itinerary for my latest adventure, I realize that in ten years, almost without fail, I have been "on the road" every summer. That's something I never expected or even realized until now. In case you missed it, here's a quick recap:
The following is from Road Scholar Meghan and her series of updates about her recent humanitarian aid trip to Ghana. It appears here edited for content and length.
We breezed through customs, all medical supplies and medications in hand. At baggage claim the two large red suitcases I checked in arrived, all filled with medical supplies and extra scrubs. I saw a cute little Mickey Mouse bag go around and smiled. Then I saw it again, and again, and again. Curiously, I didn't see my gate-checked bag going around. Ever.
I travelled all this way, there was one thing I was not going to miss for all the beer in Ireland: a visit to the Guinness Storehouse. I could ramble on all about the tour, the factory, the brewing process, etc., but I have a feeling you'd much rather hear about a valuable lesson I learned and how I nearly shit my pants.
The following is from Road Scholar Meghan and her series of updates about her recent humanitarian aid trip to Ghana. It was originally sent by Meghan on October 26th and appears here edited for content and length.
Let the countdown begin! It's four days left and I'm headed to West Africa. Got all my shots, picked up my Malaria and Cipro prescriptions, and sort-of started packing.
The following is from Road Scholar Meghan and her series of updates about her recent humanitarian aid trip to Ghana. It has been edited for content and length.
My first thought was "No bloody way!?! THEY ACCEPTED ME?!?! AWESOME!!!"
My second thought was..."What the hell am I doing??"
The following is from Road Scholar Meghan. It is the first in a series of posts about her recent humanitarian aid trip to Ghana. It has been edited for content and length.
For the last few years I have worked at Boston Medical Center in Boston, MA in the Emergency Room as a nursing assistant, ED tech, whatever p.c. term they use nowadays. I love it.