Home this week and next

With the Labor Day holiday coming up, I don't have to travel for work this week or next.  Yeah!

One drawback to not traveling so much is that I'll lose my high status with American Airlines and with it no more automatic upgrades.  I have been very spoiled getting to travel first class even on the short flights. 

I fly Delta more now because there are direct flights to Denver where American does not.  Delta did partially matched my AA status and Delta has a more liberal upgrade policy.  I have been upgraded to first class a number of times on Delta where if I had similar status on American, I would not have been.

I need some more miles to re-qualify for a decent status on American and I have a long way to go to re-qualify on Delta for my existing status.  American and Delta are in different frequent flyer programs though the requirements are pretty much the same.

There is more to having the status than just the first-class upgrades.  The higher your status the more matching points you can make and, therefore, the easier it is to qualify for the next year.  It is kind of a vicious game but with the amount of travel I do, airline status makes things more comfortable.

706 miles and 49 hours

We did it!  The Alspaugh kids and mom made a 706 mile roadtrip over 49 hours from Virginia to New Jersey to Deleware and back.  The six surviving children of Gracie and Loyd Alspaugh traveled and saw each other in the span of less than 12 hours.  While we weren't all in the same place at the same time, this was a close to a family reunion you could get.

Started the trip from Mom's apartment on Thursday morning.  Look how happy we were.  Six adults, all regular drivers and not regular passengers, in a seven passenger van.

We hit traffic and construction right off the get go but that is to be expected.  It took longer than we'd planned but we did make it to New Jersey to surprise John on his 55th birthday.

John was expecting me and Mom and was super suprized to see Carol, Betty, Spade (Loyd) and Bev pour through the door.

John's New Jersey family, Jennie and Charlie, had kept the secret and helped plan the surprise.  We all went out to dinner in Allentown.

Betty had the idea to take the Cape May ferry from New Jersey to Deleware for the roadtrip to see Lea.

We got an early start from New Jersey because we were afraid of running into more traffic or construction.  We didn't and made it to the ferry earlier than planned.

The ride across was great.  Time to relax, see dolphins, eat and not be in the car!

We met up with Lea and daughter Kathy at the Deleware State Fair Grounds in Harrington, DE.

Back in the car for another family dinner.  It was further than expected and nerves were getting frayed.

Being close to the ocean we went to a big seafood restaurant and had another big meal.

Saturday morning we headed back to Virginia. Everyone got up and ready and we headed out earlier than planned. With no construction or traffic, we made it back to Mom's by 11:00am.

It was truly a special occasion with stories that will last a lifetime.

Ahh, nothing in particular

Taking a day of vacation to do nothing in particular.  After several weeks of business travel and personal travel on the weekend, I'm looking forward to this day of basically nothing.

Flying back East to visit family tomorrow.  Might actually see all my brothers and sisters in almost the same time and place!  That hasn't happened in years.

More north cabin photos

view of lake from cabin

card game drop-in

the happy cabiners - me, Jenny, Michael

North cabin photos (one)

Only one photo uploaded because the connection at the hotel is not that good and I can't edit the pictures to be smaller.

This is Jenny and Andrew's cabin as seen from the lake. The lake is called Gust Lake.

Great weekend and now back to Denver

Quick note.  Got back from Jenny and Andrew's north Minnesota home.  Pictures and more when I have more time.

Back in Broomfield (Denver) this week for work.

I don't think I've seen this happen before

Delta flight from Denver to Minneapolis.  I was in seat 1B on McDonnell Douglas 90.  That is first row of first class...two seats on right and two seats on left.  1B is the seat that kind of sticks out into the aisle.

During the takeoff climb, the cockpit door flies open!  I can see the pilots clearly, the cockpit controls, and out the front windows.  The cockpit door was open for awhile before the lead flight attendant got up to try to close it.  The plane is at a pretty steep angle and she had difficulty pushing the door closed...let alone the danger of standing while the plane is taking off.

Not a word was said by anyone.  The flight attendant got the door closed and sat back down.

Gorgeous sunset

This picture hardly does it justice.  The sunset last night over the rockies as incredibly beautiful.

We drove into Boulder for dinner and once we got back to the client's office in Broomfield, the clouds were ablaze in color.  The client office is on top of the tallest hill in Broomfield so the view was spectacular.

Also, you can't see them in the photo but there were probably a dozen bunny rabbits in the grassy areas around the entrance to the building.  Someone had babies recently! :-)

A Minnesota weekend

What a busy, fun and hot weekend.  It acutally started on Thursday with Rose.

For Rose's birthday we went to the musical "Gospel at Colonus" at the Ordway in St. Paul.  We both had histories with this show from the 1980's.  I was a production assistant when it was at Arena Stage in 1985.  Rose was working at the Guthrie in the accounting office when the same show was done there in 1987.

There are several of the same cast still in the show!  It was quite astounding to be taken back 25 years.  I recall so much of the show and the people.

Friday night Rose and I again so yet another show.  This time it was at the Guthrie. The opening of "The Scotsboro Boys."  This was an astounding production....a musical about a very important event in American race history.  It is difficult to describe and telling the plot doesn't do it justice.  It was simply amazing.

JT

Saturday was first coffee at Java Jack's.  And JT and Linda Taylor invited a bunch of folks to their place on Crystal Lake for some fun on the lake.

The Taylor's are the best!  They are featured in the pictures to the left on JT's tree-top deck that overlooks the beautiful lake.

Linda

We boated around part of the lake in the pontoon boat while the kids were having a blast tubing in the speed boat. Both boats ended up in the center of the lake, were tied together, anchored and most of us jumped in to cool off, swim and float.

Chad cooked the best sweet corn on the grill. People brought food to share and grill.

We then waited for the neighbors incredibly illegal and awesome fireworks display. JT and Linda tooks back out on the pontoon so we could see the fireworks from the water. Definitely not disappointing.


Sunday was Art Fair day.  I met Christine at our coffee shop around 9:30am.  We finished the crossword puzzle and headed to catch the free shuttle bus to Powderhorn Park Art Fair.

I had already strolled through most of the Uptown Art Fair Saturday and today...and so had Christine.

I had never been to the Powderhorn Art Fair.  The bus was fantastic because it was air conditioned and fast.  It was hot and going to be getting hotter.

I had a mission to find the artist that had done my copper fish in the garden.  We didn't find him are anyting really similar but Christine did find two pair of earrings.

We then caught the shuttle to the Loring Art Fair.  There we found these great copper butterflies.  You can't tell from this photo but they kind of float above the ground on copper wire.  I also found two small painted copper fish to add to the one already in the garden.  A different artist so not exactly what I was looking for but sort of close.

It was now really really hot and humid.  We got some food and water at Loring.

We caught the shuttle bus back to Uptown and strolled through a part of the fair that neither had been into yet.  The heat and humidity were high, high, high....so a beer was our next stop.  It was good.

We headed down Hennepin....me to home and Christine to Lucia's to pick up a cake for Tom.

I turned on the A/C in my bedroom and passed out for a while.  About 6:45pm these realy dark clouds showed up and the temperature dropped from 96 to 82.  Relief!!!

Tomorrow I head to Denver for the week.

More tall ship photos

Europa bow head

rigging on the HMS Bounty

rigging on the Ronald Amundsen

full shot of the HMS Bounty

A fun-filled weekend.

Friday went to my first Twins game in the new outdoor baseball stadium.

Allison has a semi-season set of tickets and invited me to go with her.  She has great seats near homeplate.

It is a beautiful, compact stadium.  Lots of things going on....all made perfect by the Twins winning against the Seattle Mariners.

Saturday, Bunny, Rachel, Christine and I drove up to Duluth to see the Tall Ships taking part in the Great Lakes Challenge Race Course. There were 8 ships.

Two were sailing through out the day.  These six were docked at the Duluth Bay Front Park and were having boardings.

This is the bowhead of the HMS Bounty. This ship was very popular with a very very long line to board. We decided didn't want to do the long wait in the heat.

The ship was used in the 1960 movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" and more recently in the Johnny Depp "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead's Man's Chest."

Bunny and I posing on the U.S. Brig Niagara. This ship used to belong to the people of Pennsylvania. It now is owned by a non-profit private organization.

Rachel and Christine being shown the ships route.

All the ships had friendly, interesting and helpful crews and volunteers.

We all had a great time and were so glad we made the drive up to Duluth.