Friday I was supposed to fly out of LaGuardia at 8:50am, which should have put me in Richmond VA by 10:30. Kevin had spent Thursday evening at my sister's house in North Carolina so he could meet me at the airport early, so by the time I was at the airport he was already on his way to pick me up. Well, apparently a window was broken out of the plane I was supposed to be on, so for awhile they talked about just canceling my flight, but they ended up bringing in another plane from JFK. So I just watched the screen all morning, with the expected departure time getting later and later, while my carotid artery was about to burst out of my neck. Anyway, we finally left LGA about 12:30, and I landed in Richmond about 1:30. So Kevin just drove around in circles for about 3 hours waiting for me. It sucks getting stuck at airports, but it especially sucks having something annoying happen twice in a row (after all, it had only been 2.5 weeks since I spent the night at Reagan airport), AND it sucked getting hours whittled away from the only weekend I would see Kevin until August.
We had planned to go wine tasting in VA Friday, but since my flight was so late, we really didn't have time. We met up with Erikka for her 'bachelorette' party in downtown Charlottesville, so we got to catch up with Erikka, Katrina and Brad, and Anna and we met her boyfriend Peter. Eventually, Vince, Erika, and Amy showed up as well and the U of I contingent had finally made it.
Saturday we decided to go ahead and try to at least go wine tasting at the winery where Erikka's now-husband Brian works (although obviously he wasn't working his wedding day). It was kind of out of the way, but it was beautiful driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains. So we tasted all of their wines, which were all pretty decent, but I especially liked their dry gewurztraminer (Kevin, that bottle better still be there when I get home :). We bought a bottle of wine to drink, and went outside to picnic and enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery. Right after we got outside, Anna and Peter showed up too....so we ended up picnicking with them, which was nice.
Eventually we had to head to the wedding, which was kind of in bu-fu.....Thankfully I had stolen a book from the hotel room (which I returned of course) and found a map that got us to the church in Faber. The wedding went off without a hitch and the reception was right down the road. The highlight of the reception was the microbrew we had - I think it was from Blue Mountain Brewery or something, but it was very good. So we danced and had a good time. Erikka even added 'The Luckiest' to her playlist and so Kevin and I actually danced too....of course while I bawled on his shoulder. But anyway.
After the reception, we headed to Erikka and Brian's favorite microbrewery in C-ville, South Street Brewery. We were pretty tired from the long day, and Kevin's impending 12 hr drive home the next morning, so we only stayed for an hour and a couple beers long.... I like that place though.
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Kevin wanted to leave by 8, but thankfully he was feeling tired and lazy, so I think he actually left about 9:30 (he ended up getting back in like 10.5 hours...damn him for not staying longer). He just dropped me off at the downtown mall, and then Katrina and Brad were going to take me back to the airport in Richmond (I love them! That is a boring, not short drive!). My flight wasn't til 5:30, so we were going to go to a botanical garden on the way. Shortly after we started driving that way, I got an automated phone call saying my flight had been canceled, that I had been re-booked on the next flight to LGA - leaving at 11:00am monday, going through Cincinatti, and arriving back to LGA at 4:00pm. I don't think so. Of course, this convenient automated message didn't give me a phone number to contact Delta airlines....so I called people until my dad found a phone number for me on the internet. The first person I talked to was only able to book me on a 6:30am Monday flight to JFK....again not something I wanted to do. This agent did tell me there were 2 flights leaving richmond that afternoon though, but that they were full. So after I hung up with her, I called back to talk to a different agent, who put me on a 5:00pm flight to JFK. Phew. She also told me that my first flight had been canceled due to 'forecasted weather in New York.' If the airline industry is actually planning based on forecasts, I think we have our problem. I think they probably just canceled it because it wasn't full, and they of course don't care who has to be where when. So we went on to the botanical garden, which was really nice. I took lots of nice pictures, only one of which I'll bore you with below. Then Katrina and Brad dropped me off at the airport, where I was fully anticipating another canceled flight. I guess the weather had been a little bad in NY, and so the air traffic was bad. My flight ended up leaving about 7:30. After what I had been through the last 2 times, this didn't seem bad at all to me. I realize this is probably the airline industry's goal - make everyone's travel so miserable, that when its moderately miserable then they feel lucky. The silver lining was that I ended up in a first class seat, which I had never been before. So even before the flight took off, the stewardess asked if I wanted something to drink. I ended up getting three glasses of wine....maybe she could tell I was stressed and depressed and I needed it. So I was nice and toasted by the time the flight landed in NY....unfortunately I was at JFK instead of LGA (which is practically in my backyard). So I had to figure out how to get home, which took another hour or so, but I made it!!!
Does anyone else want to come visit me so I have something to look forward to other than coming home? Its just not fair that the only fun things I knew of were so soon in my time here.....
College roomies at Erikka's bachelorette party
Me and my very missed hubby
Kevin and I at Afton Mountain Vineyards. There are some vines behind us to the left.
First kiss for Mr. and Mrs. Goff
Katrina giving her toast
Their first dance. I can't remember the name of the artist that played at the reception or the song she sang, but I liked it a lot.
The roomies spiffed up.
Mr. and Mrs. Goff relax at the brewery after their reception. Sadly, this was the best picture I got of the two of them (not that its a bad picture, just that I didn't get a good posed one).
One of the gardens at the botanical garden in Richmond. I don't remember what the place was called, cause it was named after some guy. I was impressed though.
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