Day One

So, I carried my laptop all the way across the country into five states or more and didn't blog once! Bob said I wouldn't use it.....he was right as usual BUT I did use it once or twice for other things like showing pictures to my mom and sister, loading songs onto I-pods, checking emails and directions.

Since I am delinquent I will post about our trip from here, boring you with loads of pictures (I have over 1000 even after deleting some of them). Unfortunately, I have none of our traveling day so will just tell you about it.

We departed at a decent hour of around 9 AM for a 1 PM departure. We each carried two carry ons and had one VERY large bag to check, weighing in just under 50 pounds. We had to remove our shampoo, conditioner and body wash to make it under 50. We also had one trombone, one snare drum and two large hard sided suitcases full of percussion instruments/toys.  We were able to unload most of them at check in, but The Scribbler was saddled with her two carry-ons as well as her snare drum.....Our flight; which seems so very long ago, was uneventful. It was fun to fly knowing so many people on board. There was tangible excitement in the air amongst the group heading out for this adventure so long in the making and everyone was in high spirits. Our layover in Salt Lake City was short although we were able to grab some food for the journey. Our longer flight was made more endurable with in flight movies, games, music and TV in the seatbacks. Many of us played trivia and it was fun knowing so many people playing. One guy decided to not read the questions, but to just indiscriminately pick an answer (the quicker you picked the right answer, the more points you received). He got top score for 10 out of 20 questions and was the top scorer for the plane. All of us erupted in applause when the score showed! Some, not involved, were a bit suprised :) at the noise and clapping.

Landing at Baltimore Washington International, we led our bedraggled selves to the baggage claim, longing for beds and showers, but knowing we still had over an hours drive before sleep. Luggage retrived, we took the shuttle to our cars in a nearly deserted rental car building. We were traveling and sharing a car with one other mom and daughter. Our reservation was made for a full size car although I had a free premium upgrade. This was not indicated on our reservation so we had to work that out, making some phone calls, and delaying our much longed for sleep. We also had to work out an additional driver-my insurance said she was covered, Avis said she wasn't-but that too worked out and she was covered as promised. We asked for the larger of three cars offered in the upgrade and loaded ourselves up in a boat called a Crown Victoria. The hood was so long we couldn't see over it and the headrests so large, we couldn't see around them! The Scribbler had to work out transportation for her percussion stuff which took much longer than anticipated. In the meantime,we reconsidered our car and returned to the counter to request a look at the other options. She directed us to other parking spots. We found a Chrysler 300 and stuffed all of our stuff in the trunk, determined to make this sporty red car work! We returned to re-do the paperwork and were on our way around 2 AM! The busy roads were nearly deserted which is good when you don't know where you are going and aren't familiar with the area. We arrived at our destination around 3 and were safely ensconced in our beds around 330 AM. Alarms set for 630, we slept hard, knowing morning would arrive too soon and we would be on our way to a DC adventure starting at the capitol.