What a day I had yesterday. It started at 4am, getting up, packing, and heading to the airport. My wife and son Thomas were 'good sport Garretsons' and drove me to the airport (Jack was spending the night at a friend's house). My good friends at American Eagle in San Luis Obispo did a bit of juggling on the upgrade list, and secured the last First Class seat for me (I love those gals at the SLO airport!) on my flight from LAX to O'Hare.
Getting to LAX from SLO wasn't a problem. It was when we tried to leave from LAX that the problems began. After the last passenger was boarded, the captain came on the intercom informing us that weather in and around O'Hare was forcing system-wide weather delays. He told us that we needed to get off the aircraft, and wait two hours due to the imposed delay. 'No problem,' I thought, 'I'll get in two hours later....5pm instead of 3pm.'
We finally boarded the plane, and took off. The crew weaved their way around the major weather, flying north to Minnesota, down through Detroit, and arrived into O'Hare from the east. O'Hare itself was a madhouse, with virtually EVERY flight out being canceled, and every arrival delayed. I was glad to know that I wasn't connecting out of O'Hare. All I needed to do was get my luggage, grab my rental car, and drive to South Bend, Indiana.
After an HOUR of waiting for my luggage, I schlepped over to the the Hertz shuttle bus. I got my car, and headed east towards South Bend. My plans called to meet up with some winemakers from Southern Michigan for dinner and a tasting through a lot of Rhône inspired wines. Even though I was seriously late for dinner, my hosts urged me to come over anyhow...judging by the sounds I heard over the phone, the party was in full swing.
I had packed two bottles of my wine - one white and one red - in my luggage so as to share them with my hosts. I've done this plenty of times before...wrapping each bottle in a pair of rolled-up jeans. A quick inspection of my luggage had me thinking all was well. That turned out not to be the case.
When I finally arrived at the party, I unpacked my wines. Turned out that one of the bottles - the red wine, of course! - had broken. Luckily, the wine didn't drench every item of clothes. A pair of shorts, a handkerchief and the shirt you see to the left were complete write offs. Most every other item was in need of laundering, though.
My hosts for the evening were entirely sympathetic to the day I had...and stuffed me with great food, including home-raised venison and sweet corn, duck breasts and saffron-infused potato salad...yum! And of course there was plenty of great wines to wash that food down with.
So, this morning will find me visiting wine shops and restaurants in fairly casual dress. I'll probably have to stop at a men's clothing store to outfit the rest of my week-long trip.
Memo to myself: don't pack wine in my luggage anymore. And if I absolutely have to pack wine, make sure it's white wine.
And make sure you go check out humor-blogs.com right now. Thanks!
Getting to LAX from SLO wasn't a problem. It was when we tried to leave from LAX that the problems began. After the last passenger was boarded, the captain came on the intercom informing us that weather in and around O'Hare was forcing system-wide weather delays. He told us that we needed to get off the aircraft, and wait two hours due to the imposed delay. 'No problem,' I thought, 'I'll get in two hours later....5pm instead of 3pm.'
We finally boarded the plane, and took off. The crew weaved their way around the major weather, flying north to Minnesota, down through Detroit, and arrived into O'Hare from the east. O'Hare itself was a madhouse, with virtually EVERY flight out being canceled, and every arrival delayed. I was glad to know that I wasn't connecting out of O'Hare. All I needed to do was get my luggage, grab my rental car, and drive to South Bend, Indiana.
After an HOUR of waiting for my luggage, I schlepped over to the the Hertz shuttle bus. I got my car, and headed east towards South Bend. My plans called to meet up with some winemakers from Southern Michigan for dinner and a tasting through a lot of Rhône inspired wines. Even though I was seriously late for dinner, my hosts urged me to come over anyhow...judging by the sounds I heard over the phone, the party was in full swing.I had packed two bottles of my wine - one white and one red - in my luggage so as to share them with my hosts. I've done this plenty of times before...wrapping each bottle in a pair of rolled-up jeans. A quick inspection of my luggage had me thinking all was well. That turned out not to be the case.
When I finally arrived at the party, I unpacked my wines. Turned out that one of the bottles - the red wine, of course! - had broken. Luckily, the wine didn't drench every item of clothes. A pair of shorts, a handkerchief and the shirt you see to the left were complete write offs. Most every other item was in need of laundering, though.My hosts for the evening were entirely sympathetic to the day I had...and stuffed me with great food, including home-raised venison and sweet corn, duck breasts and saffron-infused potato salad...yum! And of course there was plenty of great wines to wash that food down with.
So, this morning will find me visiting wine shops and restaurants in fairly casual dress. I'll probably have to stop at a men's clothing store to outfit the rest of my week-long trip.
Memo to myself: don't pack wine in my luggage anymore. And if I absolutely have to pack wine, make sure it's white wine.
And make sure you go check out humor-blogs.com right now. Thanks!
1 comment:
This is great, Now we know what wine goes with plaid..
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