Le Floride: Oh, god...
Apr. 26th, 2008 09:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bzarcherThis trip didn't start well.
1 hour delay on the flight, threatened with an upcharge if the two people in my row on the plane (my sister and mom, thanks) didn't "feel comfortable due to your weight", and then the real fun began.
It turns out my grandparents' place is actually near Ft. Myers, which I didn't remember. In -theory-, it's simple: About an hour and a half drive on 75 south, take one exit, hotel is about 2 miles from their house.
In -reality-, I-75 was a parking lot yesterday due to an accident that required them to close all southbound lanes, and it wasn't announced on the radio or on traffic alerts until we were on a section of I-75 that had no exits for 4 miles in either direction, and the traffic had already gridlocked.
The hour and a half drive ended up taking almost four hours, even after we said "fuck it!" and made our way to SR 41 instead to find our way around without using the highway.
(SR 41, btw, was a really pretty drive. If you have a reason to go down this direction and don't trust the highway, I reccomend it.)
Even worse, just as we got out of the traffic gridlock and started moving on 41, my phone rang.
It was Scott. Mr. Mac had died.
The next couple hours were spent in a bit of pain and shock, especially since my mom had spent most of the plane ride asking me what I thought would happen during the offseason for the Jackets.
However, eventually, we did make it to the hotel and get settled, and it hasn't been all bad - I was pleasantly surprised that several of my cousins showed up, and rather than being all "We haven't actually talked in 8 years...", they've been "Wow. We haven't talked in -8 years!-".
I'm sharing a room with my cousin Ted (IV), and he, my cousin Katie, and my cousin Rachel were up until about midnight, eating pizza, catching up, and talking.
The fact I own a house scares and impresses them. :D
I think this is gonna go pretty OK. :D
1 hour delay on the flight, threatened with an upcharge if the two people in my row on the plane (my sister and mom, thanks) didn't "feel comfortable due to your weight", and then the real fun began.
It turns out my grandparents' place is actually near Ft. Myers, which I didn't remember. In -theory-, it's simple: About an hour and a half drive on 75 south, take one exit, hotel is about 2 miles from their house.
In -reality-, I-75 was a parking lot yesterday due to an accident that required them to close all southbound lanes, and it wasn't announced on the radio or on traffic alerts until we were on a section of I-75 that had no exits for 4 miles in either direction, and the traffic had already gridlocked.
The hour and a half drive ended up taking almost four hours, even after we said "fuck it!" and made our way to SR 41 instead to find our way around without using the highway.
(SR 41, btw, was a really pretty drive. If you have a reason to go down this direction and don't trust the highway, I reccomend it.)
Even worse, just as we got out of the traffic gridlock and started moving on 41, my phone rang.
It was Scott. Mr. Mac had died.
The next couple hours were spent in a bit of pain and shock, especially since my mom had spent most of the plane ride asking me what I thought would happen during the offseason for the Jackets.
However, eventually, we did make it to the hotel and get settled, and it hasn't been all bad - I was pleasantly surprised that several of my cousins showed up, and rather than being all "We haven't actually talked in 8 years...", they've been "Wow. We haven't talked in -8 years!-".
I'm sharing a room with my cousin Ted (IV), and he, my cousin Katie, and my cousin Rachel were up until about midnight, eating pizza, catching up, and talking.
The fact I own a house scares and impresses them. :D
I think this is gonna go pretty OK. :D
