Going to Phoenix doesn't actually seem like a typical vacation since we've been there (and all over the state of AZ) several times already. It's become almost a second home for us, we're so comfortable there.
We started out as usual with Papa complaining about having to miss a baseball game on Sunday. Papa plays in an old guys baseball league that goes from April until October. Although I do try to schedule activities around the 7 months of the season, I inevitably schedule something where he has to miss a game here or there and his complaining knows no end.
Papa batting.....notice the large crowds! I use to go to his games quite frequently but once made a comment about their age (just jokingly) and Papa banned me from the stands for a year. When I was allowed to return, the allure had been tabled so I go only now and again.
Here is a father/son game.....Papa is in the Browns uniform and Almost Step-Son is front and center in white sleeveless t-shirt.
Earth to Grammy----boy, what a tangent I went off there----back to vacation.....
We were using some of Papa's frequent flyer miles and let me tell you what a pain those are. From our experience they are not the least bit pleasant to use as a way of travel. You don't get to fly when you want, you fly when they say, at horrible times in the morning or night, odd days (we left on a Wednesday), connecting flights with long layovers, and you are in boarding groups that board last. It's almost like they want you NOT to use the FFM or even fly (on American).
The only positive was we got to check bags for free on the outbound flight. For some reason, they didn't honor this arrangement on our way home and no amount of arguing worked to change their minds. I've noticed several times that airline personnel are passive/aggressive. They tell you how things are and when you argue about an injustice, they just turn off and ignore you. This infuriates me but how can you argue when the other person is ignoring you. And it's not just me, with all the time I've spent in airports the last two weeks, I've noticed this alot. Must be in the training manual or something.
So our flight was for 6 a.m. (read my Dark Morning blog) which meant we needed to leave for the airport before 5 and that was pushing it close. We thought a Wednesday at that time, the airport would be deserted but we were quite wrong. It was packed with long lines at security. We were starting to worry a bit about making our flight but we did with Starbucks in hand and headed out on leg one to Dallas.
Dallas/Fort Worth airport wasn't bad, just huge and they have these Skylinks to ride on from terminal to terminal. Papa had been there before, so he was familiar with everything, but I was acting like an astonished 3 year old and embarrassing him! We did have a relatively short wait between flights on this leg and were on the plane to Phoenix before we knew it.
Since Phoenix is like a second home, Sky Harbor is as familiar to us as Lambert Airport. We maneuvered our way around there getting our bags and directing Fantastic Son to where we were waiting for his pick-up with no problems.
FS has been working sporadically most of this year due to the economy and good for us--he wasn't working during our visit, but not so good for him. He has been told work should pick up this month when some large permits are obtained by the contractors. I hope so.
We lunched (although it was only 9:30 a.m.) at a cute diner (called "5 and Diner" http://www.5anddiner.com/history.html) and went to his and Serious Girlfriend's new house.
No, they do not have Christmas decorations up still...this was taken the week they moved in just before Christmas.
Ok, we are going to do a blog mini-series now......stay tuned for our continuing saga coming soon.
Grammy
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