November 13 and Mt. Vernon..........

Today we visited Mt. Vernon, George Washington's plantation/home. It was a beautiful day, which was perfect because much of the tour involves walking from place to place and it's a sprawling plantation!

Here we are with George, Martha and their grandkids! 

The house is amazing. 

It's a real, working plantation, with oxen! 

George and Martha are entombed here. 

This is the slave memorial. George freed his slaves upon the death of his wife, Martha. 

The Potomac river - and a big bird in the tree! 

The old tomb. 

Colonial folk

They have a real, working blacksmith on the plantation!

The plantation has flowers, fruits and vegetables. 

So much charm!

After Mt. Vernon, we went to explore Old Town, Alexandria. First, we stopped at Starbucks, which had a buy one, get one for a friend holiday drink promotion. Alex was his own best friend. 

Then, we did a little thrift shopping, where Alex somehow managed to channel both Macklemore and Adele at the same time. Hello. 

The buildings are just so artistic - old architecture, sometimes painted "new" colors. 

The famous fountain - I forgot to ask what it was called. 

Thanks, Alex, for capturing US in a picture! :) 

We drove through the National Mall at night and the Capitol building looked like a Lego structure with all the scaffolding surrounding it. 

The Supreme Court

A very blurry Washington memorial!

Jefferson Memorial

After our long day of walking, touring and shopping, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant for Pho. I had a vermicilli bowl and it was delicious! We stopped at Lena's afterward, a newly-opened restaurant, for drinks and dessert. The gelato was so good! Our last full day on vacation was packed full of adventures. It's been an educational week with all the history we've explored. Tomorrow, brunch with Alex and Tim, maybe a little more shopping, then off to Baltimore to return the rental car and board our plane to Seattle. 

November 12 and Alexandria, VA.........

Today, Jeff's conference was only for two hours so we checked out of hotel and went to Boalsburg. Just outside of State College, Boalsburg's claim to fame is that they started Memorial Day. So, thanks Boalsburg! As with all the small towns around here, Boalsburg has beautiful churches:



And beautiful homes:

We ate lunch at Duffy's Tavern, established in 1819! 

And on our way out of town, we stopped to fill up with gas and saw an Amish woman in a horse-drawn buggy, waiting for her husband in the convenience store. Since they clearly didn't need gas, we wondered what he was getting in the store. He came out with a fountain soda! The buggy had lantern-illuminated "turn signals" and a safety triangle on the back, since it was riding on the road with the cars. 

Love the contrast of the buggy with the gas station sign in the background!

And they're off! 

We started our drive to Alexandria, almost four hours away. The sun was fading fast, making most of our drive in the dark. 

We crossed the VERY wide Susquehanna river and saw this Statue of Liberty replica in the middle of the river! 

We finally arrived at our Airbnb in Alexandria. A sweet couple named Gina and Jemar run this one, and our room was in the basement. We were greeted by this cute sign, and their darling daughter, Sol, who kept us laughing the whole visit! She was a darling, spirited three year old. Our room was well-appointed with everything we needed, a private bathroom, and the charm of old Alexandria. 

My cousins Alex and Tim picked us up and we dined at an amazing BBQ place, followed by custard at The Dairy Godmother. I chose a boozy shake at the BBQ restaurant that was amazing! Afterward, we went to their condo nearby, met Alejandro the cat, and chatted until we were tired and Alex brought us home. It was another long, fun day. 

November 11 and Veteran's day........

Today I set out on an adventure! I found two antique malls nearby and decided I'd visit them both, and then go on a tour of Penn Cave. But that's not what happened.

What happened was I had breakfast at Perkins restaurant. They had SO MANY PIES. But I was there for breakfast, so, alas, no pie. But I did have cinnamon French toast and it was delicious. Plus a side of sliced bananas to make me feel better because I've been eating like crap this whole week.

Fueled for the morning, I set off for the first antique store. But there was a Christmas store right in the way so I spent a good amount of time in there browsing two whole floors of Christmas, and buying several ornaments. Whoops.

At the first antique store, I found a pretty cool treasure: a civil war-era tin cup for Mountain Man! Now, he already has a tin cup, but THIS tin cup belonged to a soldier at some point. Maybe even one who fought in Gettysburg or Antietam. Who knows? Now he can take a piece of civil war history with him on his rendezvous.

Speaking of Mountain Man, he specifically asked me to look for powder horns at the antique stores, so I browsed very carefully. There were none at the first store, but the next store, in a town about ten miles away, was a possibility.

The town was Bellefonte, and it was adorable! It's a Victorian town and has such charm and so many churches, plus a darling town "square" which is really a roundabout headed by the courthouse. I browsed several antique stores there and found not one, but two, powder horns for Mountain Man. He was very happy with his prizes today.

I had lunch at a corner cafe. It was a meatloaf sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy. There was a LOT of gravy poured over everything. Yummy! Plus, homemade applesauce. I was very full. I drove around town after lunch, taking pictures out my car window while I was driving (don't worry, it's a very slow-moving town). I couldn't get enough of the Victorian houses and imagining what it would be like to live in one. They were stunning!

I did not go to tour Penn Cave because I ran out of time. I was kind of bummed about the wildlife tour being closed for the season anyway, but I thought the tour of the caves by boat would be a good photo opp. But there just wasn't enough time to squeeze it in today.

I drove back to the hotel and waited for MM to arrive for dinner. Earlier in the day he had texted me the dinner choice - a nice restaurant near the golf course. We were going with some of his co-workers and other conference attendees. I looked up the menu, decided on what I was going to have, and got very excited about their large selection of "boozy milkshakes."

(Cue wa-wa-wa sound when a game show contestant give the wrong answer). I was informed that the dinner choice had been changed by a very pushy fellow conference attendee and we were now going to a brew pub. Yuck. I was very angry about this but of course I had to be pleasant and shake hands and smile. The pushy guy turned out to be somewhat obnoxious as well, and he sat by me! I ordered a fruity adult beverage to put a hazy barrier between us, but when it arrived it neither looked nor tasted like what I ordered. I drank it anyway, because 1. it clearly had alcohol in it and 2. obnoxious guy.

Dinner was what I expected - mediocre. Service was slow. I couldn't WAIT to get out of there and on to the boozy milkshake location. FINALLY we said our goodbyes and headed towards the creamy goodness that is ice cream and alcohol. One of my husband's co-workers joined us. We had a grand time sipping our very fancy adult milkshakes - except for my husband, who's "Death by Chocolate" milkshake did not include the promised brownie on top because they were out. He said he couldn't die then, just be seriously ill. He's funny.

Tomorrow I was going to meet up with a friend who lives three hours away but it's not going to work out so I'm sad. But that's one of the sucky parts of adulting - we have jobs and responsibilities and we can't always do the fun stuff. So, after we check out of the hotel tomorrow, there is one more little town I'd like to see, then we'll start our journey toward Alexandria. It's a 4 hour drive so we'll have plenty of time to take in the scenery, which hopefully won't be rainy the whole time. I can't believe our week is almost over!

November 10 and random thoughts.......

Today I was kind of bored. I knew it wouldn't be as fun as the last couple of days because Jeff would be in his conference all day and I'd be on my own to entertain myself, but I didn't know that a good many of the popular tourist activities in this town require good weather and are more geared to summer tourism.

The wifi in the hotel was down so I decided to go someplace where I could get breakfast and connect to free wifi. Starbucks! There were three downtown near the university. I also found a Dunkin Donuts nearby and I've been wanting to go there since we saw them in York.  I figured I'd grab a doughnut, head over to Starbucks to get a coffee, and hang out there a while using the wifi.  But there was no parking to be found near the college. No worries, I figured I could find the same set up near a suburban mall.

Not exactly. I found a nearby mall, but it was nearly abandoned and some of the anchor stores were shuttered. Perhaps I arrived too early (10 a.m.?) but there didn't appear to be breakfast options at this particular mall. I was about to give up when I spotted a Barnes and Noble. Hallelujah! They had a cafe AND free wifi - jackpot! I found a prime table right next to an outlet (because I need constant power for my lame computer). I had a peppermint mocha frappucino - so delicious - and perfect for my sore throat this morning. I also had an almond croissant to fill my belly and set to "work." I did do a tiny bit of real work on my computer but mostly I scrolled Facebook and watched people come and go. The internet worked great at first but then it got really slow so I spent a lot of time just looking around waiting for things to load. I finally got bored and decided to go to Ross across the street.

I knew I couldn't buy much because my suitcase was already bursting when I arrived here. But I found this one cute top so of course I had to buy it. It's super thin and will roll up and tuck right in! No problem! But then I found this buttery soft blanket. It was so rainy and cold out today, I envisioned myself wrapped in this blanket next to the hotel room window, reading a novel and watching rivulets of rain rush down the windowpane. So, of course, I bought it. I have no idea where it will fit on the trip home but that's what husbands are for - to make room in THEIR luggage for your expenditures when you're bored in a small town. Ha.

I finally got hungry for lunch so I left Ross and headed back to Barnes and Noble. I didn't see many restaurant options around the area, and I wasn't feeling adventurous driving a rental car in the rain. I ordered a pizza - the description said it was "handcrafted and hand-stretched dough" topped with fresh ingredients. The picture looked great, too! Unfortunately, it was a glorified frozen pizza. The cheap kind. With three dime-sized pieces of pepperoni, a few crumbles of sausage and watery sauce. And it wasn't even very warm. I was so hungry I ate part of it, but threw the rest away. In another one of my poor food decisions, I also ordered a large vanilla cupcake. Oh, and an iced mocha. So, I cut the cupcake in half - certainly I did not need the whole thing after eating the pizza! But, guess what? I ate the whole thing! I immediately regretted it and I had a stomach ache for two hours after. Bad, bad decisions.

I headed back to the hotel at 3:30 because it was already starting to get dark. I'm such a baby when it comes to 1. driving in an unfamiliar town, 2. driving in the dark in an unfamiliar town, 3. driving. I just want someone else to drive me places.

Soon, Jeff returned from his conference. He informed me he would be attending a dinner but that I was not invited. I'm kidding - he actually asked if I could come to the dinner and was told NO so he said we would just go get dinner on our own and he'd skip it. But, being the benevolent soul I am, I told him to go ahead and network and I'd get room service or venture down to the restaurant by myself. I also secretly thought mean things about the company for excluding spouses. Jeff went on his way and I went to dinner on my own where I enjoyed two adult beverages, crab cakes, salad and ice cream from the Penn State creamery. Who knew they had their own creamery?

I got back to the room and the wifi was out again. It took a half-hour to shut down my computer and start it back up again and get connected to the wifi. In the meantime, my cell phone carrier sent me a text informing me I had used 40mb of my roaming data and would be limited to 50. Great. I still have two more days in this wifi wasteland. So, I attempted to connect my phone to wifi with limited success. Why can't wifi just be free and everywhere, all the time?

The best news: while I was eating dinner, a high school friend of mine saw a post on Facebook showing I was near Penn State and she messaged me that she lives 3 hours away and now we're trying to connect sometime in the next two days! How cool would that be? I have not seen her for 30 years. We were best friends our senior year of high school - and also the only two new seniors at our Catholic high school. We were inseparable the whole year and then we graduated; I moved to Washington and she went off to college and we never saw each other again. We were out of touch for years before we reconnected a few years ago on Facebook. I hope our reunion works out because it would be a highlight of this trip to see her again!

Tomorrow I think I will venture to a nearby town that is said to have some nice antique stores. Mountain Man is really pushing the antique stores, which I do not understand because we are flying home so what can we buy really? His response? Powderhorns. Of course. He also thinks if I just drive randomly in any direction I will run into Amish people and become best friends with them. I don't think he understands this at all. He had me listen to Weird Al's "Amish Paradise" this morning. I seriously think that's his only reference to the Amish way of life.

Also? I have only encountered ONE public restroom with seat covers. I don't know how this is relevant here, but I believe I did title this one "random thoughts." No seat covers in the Baltimore airport, at Gettysburg, Antietam, in any restaurant we've encountered. Why? Is there a shortage of paper? Do people just not use them in this part of the country? Come to think of it, there WERE seat covers at Barnes and Noble, but only in one stall. I do not understand this.

So, my day can be summed up this way: too many carbs, not enough walking. Also, tomorrow I need to venture farther afield. And I hope it stops raining.

November 9, Harpers Ferry and Antietam

Today we woke to the sounds of breakfast being made, a rooster crowing, and a dog barking. Yep, we were on a farm. Stony Ridge Farm in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Our breakfast was locally-made granola, yogurt, fresh raspberry jam and coffee. Our hosts, Lorrie and Bob, were friendly and full of stories. They left the "rat race" in Baltimore to live in what was a ramshackle farmhouse in Harpers Ferry. They camped out on the back deck for a year while they gutted and renovated the inside. Now, they run their B&B, Bob does graphic art and they both run a community supported agriculture business, growing vegetables, berries, and raising chickens for eggs.

After breakfast, we wandered down to look at the farm and animals. There were about 40 chickens in separate pens - younger ones who are almost ready for laying, and mature ones who are already laying many eggs a day. A large, loud rooster made his presence known and the two fainting goats greeted us at the fence. Sadly (for my enjoyment) they didn't faint! But they were so darn cute. The neighboring pasture had a sweet little donkey who came right up to the fence to see if I had a treat for him - I didn't. But he stuck around long enough for several pictures. I could have hugged him, he was so tiny and cute! The two mischievous kitties couldn't wait for us to come out and play with them, and McKiver, the huge dog, greeted us enthusiastically when we went outside.

Look at this princess kitty - and her one tiny white sock!

Pardon me.....

McKiver, the huge friendly dog. 

Cool chicks. 

Goat! 

How cute can a donkey be? 

It was soon time to go, so we ventured out into the cool, frosty and foggy morning to explore Harpers Ferry. We stopped in an antique store, then visited the Catholic church, which is said to have beautiful stained glass. Sadly, it was closed, but even the outside is impressive - like something out of a fairy tale, according to Jeff.

Like we traveled back in time! 

We even saw some amazing ruins from an old Episcopalian church, and walked through the town - the downtown area has both working storefronts and replicated storefronts that show how things used to be. 

The Episcopal church ruins. 

A popular spot in town is John Brown's house. John Brown was an abolitionist who staged a rebellion, was captured, here and later hanged. 

Harpers Ferry is the spot where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers meet. An armory was built along the river banks providing the town with a robust livelihood for many years. Some relics still remain, but it's mostly gone. Industry changes, the Civil War and repeated floods have ravaged the town, but it has continued to bounce back time and again. The Shenandoah offers some beautiful scenery. 

The mighty Shenandoah! 

Heron in silhouette. 

Cardinal - such a treat to see this! 

After Harpers Ferry, we drove to Antietam. This is the sight of the single most deadly battle in one day of the civil war. In twelve hours of fighting, 23,000 men were killed. The battle of Antietam included three farms, several orchards, a cornfield, where there was deadly hand-to-hand combat, several clusters of woods and "Bloody Lane" - the sunken road which provided great cover to soldiers until they became sitting ducks and were slaughtered "seven and eight deep, stacked like railroad ties." It's a very somber place. 

The Mumma graveyard. 

Burnside Bridge - soldiers were sent across this in clusters, which provided an easy target for the soldiers stationed in the hills above. 

The cemetery where over 4700 men are buried. Initially, bodies were buried where they lay in the battlefield. Later, they were re-interred here and in other places. 

Probably the highlight of my day was driving to Antietam and seeing an owl on the power cables! At first I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Then, I realized it was an owl and I shouted to Jeff to turn around so I could take a picture. It was such a perfect specimen, we thought it might be fake. But when it turned its head and looked at us, blinking its eyes, we knew it was real! I still can't believe it. It was huge, too. Made my day! 

Now, we're checked in to the Penn Stater hotel and conference center for Jeff's three-day conference. I will spend the days exploring and basically doing whatever I want. Bliss! 

November 8, Gettysburg

Today started out early in our B&B, with coffee, baked oatmeal and toast. Our hosts were headed out to church so we ate breakfast and took off after they gave Jeff some good recommendations for history books to read about the Pacific Northwest. We said goodbye to "Home of Peace" and headed West to Gettysburg.

We spent nearly the whole day at Gettysburg. We started at the visitor's center and watched a movie. Then, we visited the Cyclorama, a 360 degree painting that was made 130 years ago. It's 42 feet high and quite a marvel. While you view the Cyclorama, a story is narrated depicting the battle of Pickett's Charge, which was a turning point in the battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. After viewing the Cyclorama, we toured the museum which had many cool artifacts which I would show you pictures of, but I'm on crummy wifi so I can't seem to upload my pictures. BUT, if you want to see some cool pictures from today, you can click here to view them on Facebook, where I was able to upload them.

Gettysburg is full of amazing and beautiful memorials, statues, cannons, and scenery, but it was a three-day battle which resulted in nearly 50,000 casualties . IN THREE DAYS. That is a staggering number. These were Americans, fighting on American soil, because the South wanted to keep slavery and stay seceded from the Union, and the North wanted to take back the seceded states and abolish slavery. What resulted was a culminating battle in the civil war, which raged on a full two years after the Battle of Gettysburg.

The sheer number of casualties resulted in every home and building in the town becoming a hospital of sorts. Many men died and were buried at private homes, such that, according to a re-enacter we met today, "the entire town of Gettysburg is a cemetery."

We got to see, up close, the many types of shells and mortars used in battle. Some shells were filled with gunpowder and designed to explode in the air, raining shrapnel down on soldiers. Others were packed full of "mini balls" - 58 caliber lead balls - that released from the cannon, spinning and spraying in all directions, causing gruesome injuries and deaths. Others were designed to shoot at high velocity, so that their initial firing could take out 23 men (literally shearing off their heads) and still explode in front of them, such that "there was a cloud of smoke, a pink mist, and, above that, body parts flying. When the smoke settled, you couldn't find an intact body part anywhere." The re-enacter stated "War is the science of killing. And they were pretty good at it, even back then."

Worse, many (most!) of the casualties were very young men. One was only 19, and already a veteran, when he died in the Battle of Gettysburg. Still another, at age 26, died a valiant death and was promoted to Brigadier General before his death, which he never lived long enough to discover. The only civilian death was a 20 year old woman named Jennie who had stayed at her sister's house to help care for her nephew. A bullet went through two doors and hit her in the back, killing her.

Today, it's hard to believe that the wide-open fields, dotted with over 1300 memorials, were once covered in bodies so deep the townspeople of Gettysburg organized campaigns to quickly bury the dead in the 92 degree July heat to prevent pestilence and illness. Looking over the fields on a beautiful sunny day, such as today, it's next to impossible to imagine the carnage. If you believe in ghosts, this place much be rich with them.

If you plan to visit, set aside a whole day. It takes at least three hours just to drive the route around all the important locations, and every location has photo opportunities, not to mention tons of reading about the history of the place.

As soon as we finished the driving tour, we headed off to Harpers Ferry and our next Airbnb location. I knew it was rural, but let me tell you, I started hearing banjos before we arrived. Kidding! Our new place is a working farm nestled in the hills outside Harpers Ferry, WV. We were greeted by their HUGE dog, McKiver, and two of the sweetest cats. Our room, again, is inside their personal residence, It's warm and cozy with the wood-burning fireplace. We arrived after dark, so we have to wait till tomorrow to see the farm and the animals, which include over 40 chickens and two fainting goats! I'm so excited to see the goats.

We checked in and soon after headed to Shepherdstown for dinner. Our host recommended the Blue Moon Cafe, which turned out to be pretty delicious - their menu included locally produced produce, dairy, eggs and beef. Jeff had a salad of spinach, baby red potatoes, portabello mushrooms and feta. I had a black bean burger. The place had a funky vibe, kind of hippie-ish. Their chocolate pie, which we split for dessert, is locally made and delicious.

Tomorrow I'll write more about the Stony Creek Farm B&B. We'll head to Antietam Battlefield in the morning, then up to State College for Jeff's conference. Our next three nights will be in a hotel. Stay tuned for more!

November 7 and I've been in three states today.....

Remember yesterday's post where I was worrying about flying? Well, I had good reason to be worried because today I experienced terrifying turbulence in an airplane. I'm not talking a few bumps through the clouds. I'm talking so rough it was hard to read or hold my Kindle and it felt like a truck hit us midair. You know, if trucks flew. And went 600 miles an hour. My point is, I had to close my eyes, pray fervently, grip my jacket and take deep breaths, and I still could not quell my anxiety. When the plane landed I felt like my legs were jelly. Still taking deep breaths, I exited the plane but not before I heard the pilot say "Yeah, I'm new!" God help me.

And you know, yes, flying can be beautiful, like when you see the sun streaming over the clouds like this:

Or you see cool jet streams in the sky like this:

Or you see an awesome river reflecting the sun like this: 

But that turbulence will ruin it every time. It's like a bumpy car ride only when you reach for something to hold on to, you realize you are IN THE AIR and there's nothing between you and the ground, except AIR, and the whole reason you're feeling all these horrible, lurching, tipping, shaking, dropping moves is because of AIR. This is why I hate air travel. 

It was already dark by the time we got our rental car and headed to York, PA. Hey, did you know that York Peppermint Patties were first manufactured in York, PA in 1940? That's what it says on the placard in our bed and breakfast. And there are York Peppermint Patties lying in little dishes all over our rooms. Here's a little Wiki background for you: York Peppermint Patties were first manufactured by Henry Kessler of the York Cone Co. in York, PA. Many similar peppermint chocolate candies were in existence before the York Peppermint Pattie but what made these unique was that while others had a soft and gooey center, the York had a firm and crisp center. According to a former employee of the company, if the pattie didn't snap clean in half during test sampling, it was considered a second. And that's how you "Get the Sensation"!

Let's just talk about how weird this whole Airbnb thing is. Anyone can rent a room in their house to anyone else for whatever amount they want and they make all the rules. So, I found this place online and these people live in a regular neighborhood. We just drove up, found the house number, and knocked on the door. A nice lady answered, asked us to take off our shoes (and offered up house slippers which "are washed between each guest" - I declined). She showed us to our upstairs quarters. There's a main bedroom with a queen bed that looks like this:

Hi Jeff! 

Plus, there's an extra room for just spreading out or lounging in that looks like this: 

And it has these super cool built-in bunkbeds so if you were traveling with kids, it would be so fun! 

And we don't know these people AT ALL. They are perfect strangers and we're just sleeping in their house. We took showers in their house! We are going to eat breakfast in their house! How weird is that? Plus, I've seen enough episodes of "Criminal Minds" to know that this could be the perfect scenario to lure unsuspecting people to your house just to murder them and make them into mincemeat pies or something. I mean, except for the paper trail, it would be the perfect crime! At least there's a lock on the door so I guess I'll be able to sleep. The last Airbnb place we stayed in had its own separate entrance and was its own little apartment. This place is right inside this couple's home. What if WE are the murderers? These people are crazy to let complete strangers into their home. And yet, here I am. 

So, we asked for a suggestion for a dinner restaurant and they highly recommended a Mexican/Peruvian place nearby. I was already starving when the plane landed, and then it took an hour to get the rental car and another hour to get to York, so that by the time we arrived at the restaurant, I was beyond hangry. Not a typo. And can you believe THREE people cut in front of us in line to get their name on the list? I mean, I'm trying to be polite.....I'm a guest in Pennsylvania after all, but....HOW RUDE! So, the wait was 20-25 minutes. You can imagine how hungry I was by the time we got our table. It took forever for them to bring us chips and salsa. The chips were warm and freshly-cooked but the salsa was watery and disappointing. Not to worry, though, my margarita was divine! I was SO looking forward to trying a Peruvian dish but nearly every dish had tilapia (ew, disgusting fish), salmon (in PA? I don't think so - how fresh can that be?!) or shrimp (again, the coast is too far away - I only trust seafood when I'm actually close to the water). So, I went with Mexican. Mexican is easy, right? Hard to screw up. Wrong. I had the worst "vegetarian burrito" ever. It was a cold flour tortilla filled with beans and about half a bag of shredded lettuce. I think they forgot the cheese completely. I had a quarter-size dollop of sour cream on top with an olive slice for garnish. The "pico de gallo" it was to be served with was another mound of bagged lettuce with a few tomato dices in it. It had no flavor, except for that nasty "bagged lettuce" taste. I HATE bagged lettuce. Plus, they forgot the side of rice and beans. When I asked for it, I was given a flavorless sauce-sized plate of ick. Jeff had a decent Peruvian dish, but overall the dinner was horribly disappointing and I was mad because I was starving for hours and was really looking forward to a good dinner. Jeff tried to make up for it by taking me to Dairy Queen after but I was already full from the little I did eat of the nasty burrito, so I only ate a few bites of my treat. Bleh. 

Now it's 10:10 here and Jeff is snoring. Never mind it's 7:10 our time. I guess we'll get an early start tomorrow, which is good because it's pitch black here by 5 p.m. and we have a big agenda. 

P.S. I'm totally calling my doctor to have her call in a prescription for Xanax or something for the flight home. Seriously. I'm not kidding. I'm considering driving home. I hate airplanes. Please don't make me get on another one.