So Far So Good

This morning I arrived in Baltimore after having a red-eye flight from Los Angeles with a layover in Chicago. During the first leg of the flight I was sitting in between two high school boys who were returning from a baseball tournament in Hawaii. They were a little talkative, probably the lack of sleep combined with the red bull, which in turn meant I didn't get much sleep. Luckily I was able to sleep for two hours on the second leg of the flight and then for another hour at the airport as I waited for Michelle's flight to arrive. Then, attempting not to acknowledge just how tired I was, we headed off to Thrifty car rental. Being the high rollers that we are, we had booked ourselves an economy car for the week. Unfortunately there was a wait for the economy cars so instead we were upgraded to a sophisticated minivan for the weekend. Let me just say there's nothing like cruising in a minivan.

First on our agenda was making our way to Virginia, a very quick one hour drive, and checking in to our guest house for the weekend. It's in a remote area of Alexandria but it is very quaint and I had the opportunity to practice my Spanish with the caretaker of the house. After fueling up with lunch in old town Alexandria, Michelle and I hit the road to explore the area. We called into a couple of apartment complexes but all in all it was just a drive by. Luckily J & P were their standard welcoming hosts and had us over for dinner. My task for the evening was to look up apartments to visit tomorrow, thank god for internet access! So now, with a fully belly and a list of apartments to look at, I am back at our "home" for the week ready for a good nights sleep.

My impressions so far:

• Humidity: To me it feels tropical. It reminds me of the weekend I spent in Veracruz Mexico last summer and as long as you know you are going to be in air conditioning soon, it's not so bad.


• My hair: So far it's manageable. Luckily it is now at a length so that I can tie it up if it gets unruly. So at least I know I won't be looking like Monica in the episodes of Friends in the Caribbean. Today I had it straight and tied back. Tomorrow I'll test the curly hair style.


• Nature: The guest house we are staying at for the weekend, read hostel for non-rowdy travelers, is located outside the beltway in Alexandria. It's a cute little house with a very sweet caretaker. But the best part is watching the fireflies dance around the garden. This is only the second time in my life I have seen fireflies, and they still are able to make me squeal in excitement. The first time I saw them was with A at the field of dreams in Iowa.