Joys of Traveling

I was up at 5AM and showered and dressed before J. woke up.  My plan was to head downstairs for one more try at a machine I hit for $550 on Saturday evening and then hit again last night for $850. Those wins gave me plenty of room for more play and we came home with money which is a win, considering we take what we plan to lose.  Coming home with anything is a great thing.

My morning play did not result in a big win but oh well.  We were packed and headed downstairs just after 7:10 for a shuttle to the airport departing on the half hour.  We were there very early for our flight (which was then delayed - they left Tucson this morning in our plane and had a bird strike so had to take extra time to get that checked out before proceeding on to Las Vegas, then Reno, then Oakland and finally Seattle.

J. forgot to check in online at exactly 24 hours ahead (he did so stupendously on Thursday for our Friday flight, we were B01 and B02 for our trip to Reno) so we were B44 and B45 for this flight.  I took advantage of the open middle seat between two guys in the very front row and all I had was a purse so it worked out fine.  It's a very short flight so I can hang anywhere when I'm not going to worry about something to read or do.

The older gentleman I was seated next to was a retired high school history teacher in San Lorenzo. He now travels all over the place for stamp shows and has quite a collection.  Reminded me of my hobby in my school days - and I'm going to dig out my collections and revisit them.  I asked what genre of stamps he collected and he said 'Airmail, Butterflies, Madonna and Child, Trains, Baseball'. Neat that he picked things he loves and then collects around that.

It was a fun 30 minutes of chatting with this person.  His entire family (wife, daughter, son) are teachers and it sounds like he's had a great career.  He's enjoying retirement and traveling.  I asked if he stayed at Atlantis in Reno and he said 'no, they wanted $139 a night for a room - I stayed at Circus Circus for $39-$49'.  I chuckled 'cuz we (almost) stayed at Circus Circus in Vegas once with my Mom when B. was little and I took one look at the room and said to J. 'no - I'm not staying here'.  We moved to the Mirage and never looked back.  I haven't set foot in a Circus Circus since - and never will.  It's just not my 'type' of hotel.

The stamp show was at The Atlantis (where we stayed) and I sort of wish (now) that I'd gone to the show to check it out. He said anyone is welcome and attending a stamp event is what got him hooked. I collected for a long time and I know how much fun it can be - to get a stamp order in the mail and to hunt and search for the one stamp you need to finish a series.  It's a great hobby and I need to revisit it.  I think I stopped because the possibilities were endless.  I have a lot of foreign stamps and there was never any rhyme or reason to my collecting - I picked things I liked and ended up with quite a variety.  It got overwhelming, I think.

We were home just before one and that included making a stop to get some lunch to bring home.  The dishwasher was running and the left side of the sink is full of dishes.  The floors look OK but they need to be swept which I plan to do shortly.  The cleaning ladies come tomorrow but I can't leave dirt and debris from outside on the floors just because they are due to arrive in the morning.  I'm pretty sure we were the party capital of Tracy over the weekend 'cuz there's candles, etc. outside.  Not sure why -

I've updated our Quicken registers; opened the mail and written checks to the exterminator and the cleaning ladies.  Now it's on to emptying my suitcase of dirty laundry and taking my suitcase upstairs. Two weeks from today will be our first full 'at sea' day on our cruise to Mexico - looking forward to the cruise.  Not the drive to Long Beach but the cruise will be lovely.  Have to figure out what to pack and start making lists so we take only what we plan to wear.  There's no room to lug a bunch of extras.

Work looms tomorrow.  And the time change this weekend.  My cousin is happy 'cuz we'll be on the same time now and we miss each other a lot during the months of the time change.  But I dread the missed hour of sleep and know the house will feel it for at least a week.

Chicken pot pies for dinner!  And You've Got Mail is on to ease into getting ready for work tomorrow.  Clothes picked out; breakfast and lunch to go planned.