![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Reunion Trip, Day 6 of 6
Aug. 13th, 2024 11:59 pmTUESDAY
Woke up about 6:30 to pee and returned to bed. Gary's alarm went off at 7:15 and he turned on the lights and started surfing the net, so I turned off my alarm and rolled over for about ten minutes more, then emptied the CPAP, did my morning routine, and packed up my toiletries and medications. Gary ducked in to use the bathroom and I prepared to use the pool after breakfast, donning gym shorts over my pink square-cut swimsuit, my Quake Rugby T-shirt, and sneaks. Gary dressed for the plane.
We had a quick breakfast, then Gary returned to the room and I headed for the pool, arriving about nine. I sat in the hot tub and was only there a few minutes when a hot daddy cub arrived with his wife and two little girls. He was not the same dude as Sunday; think Monster Cub with darker and thicker body fur and a chin beard. The family took selfies with the pool in back, then played briefly in the pool and sat in the hot tub. I got up and swam for a bit, then returned to the tub as they were leaving. After that I lounged on the pool deck and journaled, took one last dip and returned to the room about ten. On my way up I crossed paths with daddy cub and his family as they left the elevator and I entered. I changed clothes and finished packing, and we were checked out by 10:30.
We arrived at Cincinnati Premium Outlets Mall before 11. We walked three quarters of the way around the mall, stopping by Lids to shop and picking up some Ohio State refrigerator magnets, then bought coffee and pastry in the food court and surfed the net there for most of an hour. While we were there, I let Colleen and Sheila know where we were, and Colleen suggested we meet at her place when we were done with our respective errands. She was going to lunch with friends at noon, but mentioned the door was open so we should come in if we arrived early.
We walked the rest of the way around and left the mall about 12:30, arriving just after one, and waited for Colleen in her living room. Gary was nodding off, so I suggested he put the footrest up on his side of the couch and did the same thing on mine. Colleen arrived just after two and Sheila shortly after that. We chatted until about twenty after three, then Sheila went home and we drove the rental car back to the airport. On the way we were followed by a Jeep painted olive drab and flying two huge American flags off the back. I told Gary I didn't quite trust that vehicle, but fortunately we parted company at the I-275 interchange.
We arrived at the rental car return just after four, and had little trouble getting bags dropped off (other than the momentary confusion when I noticed the Alaska counter had moved to the west side of the terminal to make room for British Airways) and were through security and recombobulated in record time. It helped that we did not have to unpack anything, just empty pockets and remove shoes and belts (in my case, suspenders). We caught the train to concourse A and sat by the gate, recharging phones, until it was time to board.
We took off to the north on runway 36R, the easternmost runway which lines up over west Price Hill rather than Delhi. We were soon flying above the clouds, so Gary closed the window shade as suggested. He read and I listened to Joe Jackson throughout the flight. Our pilots were a white-haired dude of average height and a tall black dude who reminded me of Peter Graves' and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's characters in "Airplane!" A nice-looking younger dude with a fade haircut and stubbly beard was seated in front of Gary. About an hour before the flight was to land, I nodded off briefly, then switched over to some selections from "Naked Man" before stowing the headset and power cable. We landed from the north on the westernmost runway (16R) and parked at gate D2, very close to baggage claim.
Our first stop was the newly converted all-gender restroom conveniently located next to the gate. Gary noticed people were confused by the concept. Once we retrieved our checked bags, we walked to the train station and boarded the rear car when the train came around 8:30. We left the train at Northgate Station only to find the south elevators (platform to mezzanine and mezzanine to street) and escalator from the platform level out of service, leaving only one set of stairs connecting the platform to the south mezzanine and stairs and an escalator from there to the bus bays - a clearly unacceptable state of affairs. Gary saw the proverbial smoke pouring out of my ears and took charge of our roller bags, handing me his carryon. Further complicating matters, when we boarded the bus, my ORCA card flew out of my hand as I was trying to juggle too many things at once. Fortunately, Gary managed to catch it before the bus got moving and I was able to stop the incipient meltdown before it got out of hand, with a deep breath and a declaration that I was done ranting.
We arrived at South Everett freeway station and a couple of teenagers wanted to know when the next bus from downtown Everett was to arrive. I was in the middle of calling for a Lyft, but once we had a driver on the way, I looked up the southbound 512 and found one was due about the same time as our Lyft. By the time we had loaded up the car with our luggage, the bus arrived and apparently the person they were waiting for exited the bus. The Lyft driver's GPS was not so great; it inserted a right turn at the foot of the northbound exit ramp to route 527 and then skipped the right turn toward Broadway. However, the actual map was clear even though the directions were messed up. We got home just after 10:30. I texted Colleen and Sheila to let them know we'd arrived.
Woke up about 6:30 to pee and returned to bed. Gary's alarm went off at 7:15 and he turned on the lights and started surfing the net, so I turned off my alarm and rolled over for about ten minutes more, then emptied the CPAP, did my morning routine, and packed up my toiletries and medications. Gary ducked in to use the bathroom and I prepared to use the pool after breakfast, donning gym shorts over my pink square-cut swimsuit, my Quake Rugby T-shirt, and sneaks. Gary dressed for the plane.
We had a quick breakfast, then Gary returned to the room and I headed for the pool, arriving about nine. I sat in the hot tub and was only there a few minutes when a hot daddy cub arrived with his wife and two little girls. He was not the same dude as Sunday; think Monster Cub with darker and thicker body fur and a chin beard. The family took selfies with the pool in back, then played briefly in the pool and sat in the hot tub. I got up and swam for a bit, then returned to the tub as they were leaving. After that I lounged on the pool deck and journaled, took one last dip and returned to the room about ten. On my way up I crossed paths with daddy cub and his family as they left the elevator and I entered. I changed clothes and finished packing, and we were checked out by 10:30.
We arrived at Cincinnati Premium Outlets Mall before 11. We walked three quarters of the way around the mall, stopping by Lids to shop and picking up some Ohio State refrigerator magnets, then bought coffee and pastry in the food court and surfed the net there for most of an hour. While we were there, I let Colleen and Sheila know where we were, and Colleen suggested we meet at her place when we were done with our respective errands. She was going to lunch with friends at noon, but mentioned the door was open so we should come in if we arrived early.
We walked the rest of the way around and left the mall about 12:30, arriving just after one, and waited for Colleen in her living room. Gary was nodding off, so I suggested he put the footrest up on his side of the couch and did the same thing on mine. Colleen arrived just after two and Sheila shortly after that. We chatted until about twenty after three, then Sheila went home and we drove the rental car back to the airport. On the way we were followed by a Jeep painted olive drab and flying two huge American flags off the back. I told Gary I didn't quite trust that vehicle, but fortunately we parted company at the I-275 interchange.
We arrived at the rental car return just after four, and had little trouble getting bags dropped off (other than the momentary confusion when I noticed the Alaska counter had moved to the west side of the terminal to make room for British Airways) and were through security and recombobulated in record time. It helped that we did not have to unpack anything, just empty pockets and remove shoes and belts (in my case, suspenders). We caught the train to concourse A and sat by the gate, recharging phones, until it was time to board.
We took off to the north on runway 36R, the easternmost runway which lines up over west Price Hill rather than Delhi. We were soon flying above the clouds, so Gary closed the window shade as suggested. He read and I listened to Joe Jackson throughout the flight. Our pilots were a white-haired dude of average height and a tall black dude who reminded me of Peter Graves' and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's characters in "Airplane!" A nice-looking younger dude with a fade haircut and stubbly beard was seated in front of Gary. About an hour before the flight was to land, I nodded off briefly, then switched over to some selections from "Naked Man" before stowing the headset and power cable. We landed from the north on the westernmost runway (16R) and parked at gate D2, very close to baggage claim.
Our first stop was the newly converted all-gender restroom conveniently located next to the gate. Gary noticed people were confused by the concept. Once we retrieved our checked bags, we walked to the train station and boarded the rear car when the train came around 8:30. We left the train at Northgate Station only to find the south elevators (platform to mezzanine and mezzanine to street) and escalator from the platform level out of service, leaving only one set of stairs connecting the platform to the south mezzanine and stairs and an escalator from there to the bus bays - a clearly unacceptable state of affairs. Gary saw the proverbial smoke pouring out of my ears and took charge of our roller bags, handing me his carryon. Further complicating matters, when we boarded the bus, my ORCA card flew out of my hand as I was trying to juggle too many things at once. Fortunately, Gary managed to catch it before the bus got moving and I was able to stop the incipient meltdown before it got out of hand, with a deep breath and a declaration that I was done ranting.
We arrived at South Everett freeway station and a couple of teenagers wanted to know when the next bus from downtown Everett was to arrive. I was in the middle of calling for a Lyft, but once we had a driver on the way, I looked up the southbound 512 and found one was due about the same time as our Lyft. By the time we had loaded up the car with our luggage, the bus arrived and apparently the person they were waiting for exited the bus. The Lyft driver's GPS was not so great; it inserted a right turn at the foot of the northbound exit ramp to route 527 and then skipped the right turn toward Broadway. However, the actual map was clear even though the directions were messed up. We got home just after 10:30. I texted Colleen and Sheila to let them know we'd arrived.