The Trip Back East

I flew to Maryland yesterday to attend an AFPA conference in Ocean City.  I haven't posted in awhile, so I wanted to just jot down a bunch of random thoughts I've had about my trip so far.  (Not so much the conference...that may come later).

I love flying alone without having to worry about any kids (not that I get to do it very often).  Several years ago I flew to Toronto alone from Denver.  On the way, my connection out of O'Hare was canceled, and I had to spend the night sleeping on the airport chairs with all the rest of those people who had no place to go in Chicago.  While there, I noticed a woman who had several very large suitcases and I think 3 kids under the age of 7, including an infant.  I wish I could remember her story, but the gist of it was that she was essentially moving to Toronto and her husband was already there and she was bringing the kids and all of their stuff.  And then her flight was canceled.  She looked panicked (as I think anyone would have in that situation).  I didn't have any of the worries she was dealing with, so I at least helped her drag the suitcases around and keep the kids corralled while she made some calls and tried to figure out what to do.  In the midst of complete chaos and unbelievable stress all over the place, it had no bad effect on me.  I think she eventually found a friend in Chicago to drive her up to Toronto.

I have heard about the flooding in the Mississippi River basin.  It looks horrendously bad from 33,000 feet.  This is going to be a tough spring for much of the middle of our country.

The boardwalk area of Ocean City is a little disappointing.  Completely tourist trappy, which I guess makes perfect sense, and I'm not sure what else I was expecting.  What is sad, though, is that it isn't tourist season yet, and the workers here look, I dunno, bored.  One young girl was running the carnival game in which a bunch of people squirt a water gun into the nose of some clown or something, and this makes a balloon rise, and the winner gets the prize.  No one was coming.  You could actually hear her sighing in exasperation as no one volunteered their marksman services.  Oh, and she was texting as she was trying to lure people over.  It is "Springfest" here, which as far as I can tell means a handful of fraternity and sorority boys and girls are in town to do spring break type stuff.  The rest of the people seem to be the people in this country who want to come to a popular tourist area but are too cheap to do it during tourist season.  It is an interesting mix of people, let me tell you.

I ran a mile for time.  Figuring it was at sea level, and there was a strong wind at my back, I thought there wouldn't be a better time to see what I could do.  7:03, which is the fastest mile I've ever run.  And it really hurt bad.

I ate at two restaurants today, and at each one, my waitress had the unfortunate honor of waiting at a table where the customers had no clue what they wanted, and had a million questions about every little thing on the menu.  "What is the difference between Dungeness crab and king crab?  Is that like soft shell crab?  Which one tastes better?"  I didn't really care, but it was interesting to see two sets of such completely clueless individuals in two meals.  On the other side of the coin, though....waitresses tend to treat you really well when you eat alone.

My hotel is right on the beach, and the sound of the waves (coupled with no kid or pet duties) is remarkably soothing for me.  I could never live up here, but it is nice to get away every so often, and this weekend is doing my mental health just fine.