A very long weekend edition, that is.

So it's our 25th anniversary. So we should do something special. So this explains why we left Tucker and Snowy in the capable hands of Aubrey Spivey and were headed for the airport at ten this morning.  Our flight wasn't until 2, but this was our first time flying with the power chair and we wanted to get places early.

Well, it was nearly a flawless day. We used the Atlanta Park-Ride as the airport suggested and are right on the roadway. All the shuttle drivers gave us directions and one called the shuttle with the chair lift for us. They were super helpful. A+ for the park-ride.

Southwest was great, too. The baggage check guy was jolly and tagged James' chair before we even got inside. We were shunted to the left with the people with families at TSA, and only I had to remove my shoes. Our gate was in the perfect place, next to the bathroom and the water fountain. We ate at Jersey Mike's, and yipe, yes, much more expensive at the airport.

They whisked James' chair away at the foot of the jetway, folded the back forward, and it was off as cargo. We had swell seats right at the front, James at the window, of course, and after an hour we flew right over Chesapeke Bay and then a half-hour later we were flying right along the opposite side of Long Island Sound and had a spectacular view of the south coast of Rhode Island, all the way from Napatree Point to Point Judith, and then the plane turned north and there were the Jamestown and Newport Bridges and, I think, both the Mount Hope Bridge and possibly the Braga Bridge. We came in west over Massachusetts Bay, with a great view of the North Shore, and landed at Logan Airport.

Of course, then we had to wait for the chair, but soon we were on our way via sliding walkway and elevators to baggage claim, and were on a blissfully cool Massport bus going to the Rental Car center. This was a slight bobble. We were supposed to wait at the airport and call Sixt Rental, but all the prompts I got from Sixt told me to go to the Rental Car center. But the driver with the shuttle was game and he and another gentleman lifted that heavy power chair and put it in the back of the van.

The actual Sixt Rental  place is in Chelsea, and by the time we got done with the paperwork Boston was in the full throes of rush hour. So we headed for a Texas Roadhouse, got rather tangled up in the streets in Everett, and finally made it to the restaurant only to find it standing room only. However, there was a lifesaving Panera Bread across the shopping center parking lot. Never was a chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwich so gratefully received.

By the time we left (about 8:30), rush hour was over, and I was flabbergasted that the roads were so clear! This ain't Atlanta rush hour. On the other hand, I had forgotten how totally berserk Boston drivers are: weaving in and out of traffic, laying on the horn...this is why you pahk the cah and take the T. The shortest and quickest way to our hotel was the expressway through downtown Boston! So we crossed the striking Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, which was lighted in blue, and drive though the tunnels of the Big Dig.

The only fly in the ointment is the hotel. We are staying at a new Holiday Inn Express and the handicapped accessable room is rather austere, but has a comfy bed and pillows, and a jacuzzi tub in the room--and the freaking air conditioner doesn't work properly. It's 77 degrees in the room and the cool air coming out of the A/C isn't coming out all that cool or forcefully. Which explains why James is sitting right now in shorts and nothing else in front of it and I have our little fan pointing right at me in a skimpy tank. The hotel clerk says the computer says the A/C is working fine, and is plying us with drinks and ice and the promise of a fridge and the technician in tomorrow morning.

And now I'm going to bed because I have a headache and want a shower.

Labels: travel

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:17:00 PM

Comments:

Hurray, glad to learn you're taking an anniversary trip, and I've prayed that the air conditioner is fixed tomorrow morning. Will you be posting a new vacation photo album?

# posted by  Unknown : 8:35:00 PM

 

Probably when we get home.

# posted by  Linda : 11:25:00 PM

 

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