I was up at eight thirty this morning with roughly two hours of solid sleep under my belt. Oh well, it isn’t like I have to drive anywhere today. And I feel fine.
I did some work right away this morning and then called Dominica to let her know what my status was. She had no idea what was going on at this point other than that I had sent an SMS message to Francesca late last night to let them know that I was stranded in Atlanta but we had no details.
Dominica, Joe and their parents left Texas by car at seven my time. Just a little later than they had been planning on. They are doing the less fun part of the trip where they lose an hour while driving instead of gaining one. That will make the trip seem to take that much longer. Dominica is very excited that I will be waiting for her in Rochester now.
I learned today that Schmap has two of my photos of Montreal on their shortlist to be used in their travel guide. That would be pretty cool. My photos are starting to show up in the weirdest places these days. More people see my pictures now than they ever did when I was working for the newspaper.
I got breakfast delivered to my room. Just the continental breakfast with pastries and coffee. I wasn’t very hungry for some reason. I am sure that I will get something more when I get to the airport this afternoon.
I also orchestrated a late checkout so that I can stay in the room charging my BlackBerry up until the very last second so that I am as prepared as possible to get stranded somewhere again.
I left the hotel at a quarter until one in the afternoon and took the hotel shuttle over to the airport. I grabbed a quick sandwich at Plane Delicious and ate that while I waited for my flight.
Luckily today my flight was on time and we had no problems getting out of Atlanta. I landed in Rochester a little before five. Dad was waiting for me at the airport. On the way home we stopped at Jay’s Diner in Henrietta for dinner. This was my first real meal since my small lunch yesterday at the deli in Williams Tower and my first really substantial meal since the Melting Pot on Thursday night.
We drove back down to dad’s place and we visited for a little while and I got settled in. It was pretty late and dad was getting tired. Art had emailed me earlier to let me know that they were around this evening so I gave them a call and went down to the Ralstons’ to visit for a while.
At the Ralstons’ we played two games of Mayfair Games’ Settlers of Catan. Settlers is a popular German boardgame that is reminiscent of Sid Meier’s Civilization for the computer. It is a resource gathering and civilization building. It is pretty easy to learn and a lot of fun.
We hung out until one in the morning or so. But it was time for me to get to bed. It has already been a long trip from Texas to Rochester and I am not very close to being in Newark yet.
I read some more of R. A. Salvatore’s “The Crystal Shard” before falling asleep.