Gettings
I am exhausted.
Rebo, sounds like you had a truly great time. Here’s how my week went
Monday - normal day
Tuesday - Headless chicken day - got the car checked and oil changed, washed it, did a buncha errands, got my hair done, packed, tried to sleep.
Wednesday - I intended to wake at 5:30, overslept until 6:15; loaded the car, left at 7:30, got to Brooklyn about 8:15, Cousin got us coffee and breakfast and we were at the first bridge outtatown by 8:30. There was amazingly no traffic getting out of NYC. We stopped near Harrisburg for lunch around 12:30.
We switched drivers after lunch at about 2:45 (Crackerbarrel has that store attached) so I didn’t do my usual “let me check the gas gauge before getting back on the highway thing” An hour later, I glaced over at the console and noticed the little light blinking “feed me, dammit”, (I’d told Cousin to trust me, I know my car, I’ll pick the fueling times) We pulled off at the next exit and asked the gal at the toll booth (yes the toll booth had people - we were about an hour west of Harrisburg at this point) where the gas stations were, she said the only one was about 4 miles down the road. So we go looking - there was one closer than that, but it was closed. Kept going, got stuck for 15 minutes behind an Amish rig in a No Passing zone. We pulled into the Gulf station on fumes, remedied that and got back onto 76.
We pulled up to the hotel at a little after 6pm, inspite of the traffic made up mostly of Pirates fans heading to the game. A scooter with my name on it was waiting for me (thankfully - I’d decided at the last minute to rent one), we checked in and we followed the bellman to drop our stuff in the room.
I must pause here to hijack myself. We were expecting a third roommate, so I was concerned about the logistics of 3 people and a scooter in a standard hotel room. I didn’t have to worry. The door opened onto a decent sized alcove, perfect for parking the scooter. Off the alcove was a lav (sink & seat only). The room was HUGE: A seating area (couch, two comfy chairs (with soft cushions) and a coffee table), two beds I suspect were actually queens rather than doubles, a writing desk and chair, and planty of floor space in between all these things, then a second door we thought was the other, full bath. No, it opened onto another alcove, one side of which was a really big closet with mirrored doors, and the door to a repsectably sized full bath. Cousin and I looked at each other and said “We get our own bathrooms?!?! We LOVE this room!!!” (Apparently the hotel has only so many standard rooms, but they did not charge extra for the deluxe rooms or suites - one of our friends had a whole frickin’ apartment to herself: living room, dining room, and galley kitchen, in addition to the bedroom and bathroom)
back to the story. We got our badges and spent the next three hours greeting friends we haven’t seen in (for Cousin) a year or longer (for me in some cases, 5 years or longer). And yes, I did play poker with the boys the first night. I went to sleep around 3 am
Thursday - woke up around 11am, got coffee (the cool thing? all attendees got a huge plastic mug to carry with them all weekend since the hotel had a thing about open beverages or food outside of hospitality- so I was able to have my mega cuppa with no problem) and spent the rest of the day playing games, participating in tournaments, and schmoozing with my friends. Another poker game that was still going strong when I walked away at 2am (four people were on the waiting list for a vacant seat) I think that game finally broke at 5am.
Friday - woke around noon for more of the same, actually attended one talk (the speaker is a friend) and a Shabbat Service. More poker, less sleep.
Saturday - yet more games and gabs. The keynote speaker was Dr Demento. Some folks wnet down to the park at the point were the three rivers meet to watch fireworks - I went to play poker (big surprise).
Sunday I had plans to see some old friends who’d moved to P’burgh about 13 years ago, but first I had to say goodbye to everyone who was heading home. Then my friends meet me in the hotel lobby attached to which is a Starbucks. We chatted for about three hours, then they had to head off to a family thing. So I took a nap until I got a call from other friends, attendees who like Cousin and me, were staying the extra night to be fresh for the drive home. We had dinner at a seafood restaurant (great food - mediocre service) attached to another hotel wherein The Furries were having their annual convention. Quite an eyeful.
Woke up yesterday about 8:30, but didn’t actually hit the road until almost noon because we both had headaches. I took first shift again, drove until I felt I was zoning, swapped around Bethlehem, we pulled up at her building in Brooklyn a little after 8pm, she took all her stuff (including dozens of souvenirs - she loves playing tourist) and I drove home, I was upstairs and in bed by 9:45.
About 10:30 nature called, so I got up, walked into the “library”, and before I could sit to answer Nature, my knee buckled and I ended up on the floor. I managed to, between wriggling like a snake and butt walking, make it back to the bedroom, where, sitting on the floor with my back against the bed, I made several attempts to hoist myself up onto the bed using my upper back and pushing against the night stand. This had worked on a previous occasion but I was about 60 lbs lighter then. So, fortunately, my pocketbook and cell phone were right in the room with me, so I called 911, assured them I was uninjured, but “I’d fallen and couldn’t get up” I asked them to give the burly men my cell phone number, I would unlock my car, and they could open, and come in through, the garage. I really didn’t want sirens or doors being chopped down. About 10 minutes later (it’s now about 11:45) two burly, very good looking cops, did exactly that, helped me up so I could sit on the bed, and stayed talking to me until they were satisfied that the only thing spiking was my level of embarrassment.
But because I had sat so long on the floor with my legs staight out, all the good the Uflexxa shots did was undone. My left knee is inflammed and uncooperative - I am glad I took today off - I may have to take tomorrow also.
Great vacation, though, I’d go back to Pittsburgh it’s a pretty and very clean city with intersting touristy things to do - just they roll up their sidewalks at 11pm. If I do go back, though, one thing is certain, I WILL NOT DRIVE THERE!!!
