there and back again!

Hello! I have returned from the land of my birth (that sounds way cooler and more epic, right?) all in one piece and am glad to be getting back to the norm. I had a GREAT time, but it was sort of a whilrwind three days. And that's ok, because I get to go back again in 6 weeks and stay for a long enough time to actually catch my breath while I'm there.

A few things of note from the trip:

My flight left Boston at 6:00am on Saturday. This means that I needed to get to the airport before public transportation started running, and I don't have a car. This really isn't a huge problem, I called the local cab company and scheduled a pickup for 4:15am. I actually managed to finish packing and go to sleep fairly early so I could be up in plenty of time. It all went off without a hitch until we actually started driving to the airport and I was afraid I wouldn't even make it that far (I only live a few miles from Logan airport, it takes like 10 minutes to get there). My cab driver was chugging coffee like it was his job, driving like a bat out of hell and I believe the tires were completely bald, if the constant squealing was any indication. Good thing for me it wasn't at all slippery on the road. Anyway, I did, in fact, make it to the airport, where...

Security had not yet opened for the day. While admitting that I am slightly to moderately obsessive about making sure I have plenty of time when traveling, it's not unreasonable to get to the airport an hour and a half before your flight leaves, and in fact they TELL you to get to the airport at least that early. Therefore, I do not think it unreasonable to expect security to be open accordingly. While waiting in line for the checkpoint to open, I was standing in front of a couple headed on vacation somewhere (I'm guessing). It's amazing to me how some people stay together, for example: These two were standing in line, she was yelling at him for not making her breakfast and complaining about how hungry she was. She then magically pulled some food out of her bag and ate it, stating she had intended to save that for later but then she was sure they'd take it away from her during security. He explained that it was probably fine, since it wasn't liquid and she snapped that she has no idea what the rules are and for him not to even touch her. At this point I wanted to turn around and be like, "whoa buddy, are you sure about this chick?" and that was before the real kicker. This girl turns to her boyfriend and says to him, "you know, for your birthday I was going to buy you a nice trip somewhere, but I decided on something better. I'm getting you rhinoplasty because I hate looking at your nose." This clearly surprised the guy and he asked her why she would say that when she's always said he's cute, to which she replied, "no. I have NEVER liked your nose." I'm sorry to tell you that I thought it would be kind of rude (and obvious) for me to turn around at this point and look at them so I can't tell you exactly how bad his nose was, but wow. I realize it was 4:30 in the morning and people can be a little cranky at that hour, but I can't think of any situation in which it's ok to tell the person you're in a relationship that you hate their nose and they should have surgery. Seriously, if it's that bad, break up and find someone with a less offensive face!

Anyway, aside from that and the girl sitting next to me on the plane who didn't understand about personal space, it was a great trip! I actually managed to have some down time to relax and just enjoy life, although that doesn't stop me from being incredibly tired.

I'll leave you with a few pictures:

A view of northern Michigan starting to change colors.

The wedding tables, very fancy.

My little brother and me (I stand corrected, Mom) at the wedding.