So this is Christmas...

I flew out of SeaTac on a red-eye Tuesday morning. For those of you who hadn't heard, the Pacific Northwest got a hell of a lot of snow last week and both the SeaTac and Portland airports had some problems. SeaTac wasn't closed, but many flights were canceled. I came close to canceling my trip because I was worried I wouldn't be able to get out and Pantsman and his family were, for the most part, snowed in. So, if I got stuck and couldn't get a shuttle out of the SeaTac, I was stuck.

Several people on the shuttle were going down ten hours or more before their flights. They were concerned I-5 would close or that the airport would be a mess. Turns out, neither was the case.

I had been watching the chaotic views of the airport on the Seattle news and expected it to be a smaller version of the New Orleans Convention Center Post-Katrina. However, when I walked into the terminal about 10:00pm Monday night, it was almost empty. I mentioned this to the ticket agent and he told me I should've been there earlier in the day. Sounds like they were pretty much shut down in the morning and spent the afternoon getting caught up.

I like the red-eye. I am always exhausted when I get to wherever I am going, but I think it is a calmer time to fly. People are quiet, sleepy, and generally less argumentative. Even in the Minneapolis airport, things were quiet. Granted, it was 6am, but, still.... quiet.

In Minneapolis there was this young couple talking to another girl. I gathered that the two girls grew up together. One was living in Seattle and the other in Southern California (or "So Cal" as they said), where she worked in "The Industry." They talked about how passe it was to see famous people and then listed all of the famous people they had seen. She was pretty much any average early-twenties girl. Him? Dear god. He was wearing artfully torn jeans, a studded belt, had almost-too-long hair covered by a farmer's hat cocked to the side. She mentioned that he was "from the farm," but I don't know about that. I have my doubt that he has ever been near a farm. I saw them later at our destination airport trying to find his luggage. Her dad had that look of, "Why did my Daughter marry this pansy-ass loser" on his face while they were waiting.

So far, the trip has been good. It was bone-chillingly cold the first few days I was here but it has warmed up enough that I could go outside without a coat (I mean like 50-degrees warm). I went to Church. Yes, you read that correctly. I went to Church and was not struck by lightening. I went to Church because my nephew was singing. I have other stories from Church, but they will have to wait, because there are pictures involved, and I am too lazy to go find my camera.

Today was the annual trip to the Family Museum where I am worn out by the kids and eventually seek refuge at the coffee shop in the public library. I normally don't mention that I am a librarian, but today I did, and no one seemed too impressed. Pshaw... Public librarians.

A couple more days and I head back west. It's been a good and absolutely necessary break. But I don't know that I am ready to go back to work, though. I could use another week or so off....