Some of the Florida Trip

So I'm home again, and I will say that if you have to return to reality after a vacation, only having to work a day and a half before the weekend starts isn't a bad way to do it. What I did, since I didn't want to use up all my vacation on this trip, was to work last Thursday and Friday from Florida (having taken Wednesday afternoon off for the actual traveling), then took vacation days Monday through Thursday noon. Since my flight got in late on Wednesday (wheels down at 10:30, home by 11:30, which is very quick actually, but a very late night for me), I knew that taking Thursday morning would help a lot, and it did.

So I had a leisurely morning yesterday, with lots of cat time, and started unpacking, even ran out for a few groceries (Carlos was Very Upset by my absence), then worked the afternoon, and went off to swimming to discover that the instructor decided to add some new things to the class. Frankly, given that I was already tired and sore from traveling, I could have done without that, but oh well. I did what I could, stopped when it hurt, and neither left early nor cried, so we'll call that a win. Or at least not a loss. Good enough.

Oh, but you wanted to hear about the trip? With photos? Well, I could do that!

It's fortunate that the first picture taken on a trip doesn't have to be an exciting one, because I found when I got to the airport that my gate was in the newly refurbished area of the terminal, and it's quite nice: lots of varied seating areas, many with plugs for people and their devices, a wall of interesting snippets of information about Massachusetts ... So what do I take a picture of? When I went to fill the empty water bottle I brought through security, I was tickled to see this.

It's the little things in life that bring pleasure, you know? And instead of tipping the bottle sideways to the regular drinking fountain, you hold it up to the bottle filler and it senses it's there, and fills it. The upper right has a display telling how many plastic bottles it's saved. Pretty darn cool.

Also cool, this airport directory, which turns out to be touchscreen.

Want to know about dining, or shopping? It can help you. Neat.

Anyway, on to the actual trip. I got to the airport way early, as I always do, and other than a slight delay getting through security, it all worked out. (Once I got to the part just before the conveyor belt, my line stopped for about ten minutes, for no reason I could tell. Kind of annoying. Though the man in front of me was pretty funny, when told he didn't have to take his belt off because he was over 75, and he couldn't figure out why that mattered.) I had plenty of time for wandering around, and read for a while, then settled by the gate as the time to board drew closer. And closer, And, wait, hang on, there is a "maintenance issue," we won't be boarding just yet...

Sigh. I think the delay ended up being about an hour, and funniest thing is that, once the plane was in the air and I was checking my email (we really do live in the future, don't we?), I found that JetBlue had sent me two emails advising me of the delays, but suggesting that I should "still arrive at the airport in time for your originally scheduled departure time". Oh really? Since the first message was sent at 3:12, and my original departure time was 3:25, do they actually not think I was already there? Perhaps they should have a different message for delays that are so close to scheduled departure. (The second email, sent at 4:09, said the same thing. Sigh.)

This wasn't my plane, it was at the next gate, but the funny thing is that I think I saw a TV piece on it being painted, on a previous flight. Unless there are other red ones in their fleet?

Typical in-the-air shots. With wing tip.

And without. Why not?

From the airport, Mum and I went to dinner at Outback, which was good as always, then headed for home. As I said, I worked Thursday, though it's a pleasant change of pace to work from there. Preceded by coffeecake and raspberries for breakfast, of course. And a lunch break to eat by the water, with the usual friends:

Friday was similar, except instead of lunch out, we did dinner, walking down to a place overlooking the beach; the food was good, and the view, well.

Interesting effects, right?

Mum said they look like black and white, but that's how they came out.

In contrast, later in the evening, the sunset was pretty colorful, and we went up on the roof to get the clear view.

The next night, it might even have been better.

I'm also fond of the daytime view from the lanai, even with the screen overlay.

And while we're on sky shots, how about this one?

Doesn't it look like there are two bunnies in the line to the left?

Anyway, I have more to tell, and more pictures to show, but this will do for a start. Happy weekending, everyone!