Home Again

The Enchilada Production Line
TFMP, SN2, and Granddaughter Angelina

I got home at oh-dark-thirty this morning, 0440 to be exact. The return trip from Maine was pretty smooth up until the last leg of the flight from Manchester, NH to Albuquerque. The First Mrs. Pennington, SN1, and I left Brunswick on schedule and had an uneventful drive from Brunswick to Manchester. We grabbed some lunch at the airport after turning in the rental car, and then caught the flight from Manchester to Minneapolis-St. Paul. The three of us had a two hour layover in Minneapolis before catching our respective flights to Salt Lake City and Albuquerque. I assume TFMP and SN1 got off on time from MSP; I did not. My departure was delayed an hour due to “problems with one of the doors on the aircraft.” We finally were herded on to the aircraft after much coming and going by the maintenance personnel and perfunctory apologies by the gate crew. Just sayin’, but doesn’t it just make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside when that happens? The aircraft isn’t safe to fly, and then it is… OK, if you say so. It’s pretty damned hard to hold your breath all the way from Minnesota to New Mexico.

But I digress, as usual. My scheduled arrival into ABQ was originally 2300; the maintenance delay pushed touchdown back until midnight. My granddaughter Felicity and her boyfriend Rene picked me up at the airport and we went back to their place on the northwest side of ABQ where I collected my car, said my thank-yous and good-byes, and hit the road for P-Town at 0130. The drive home was uneventful, albeit a bit slower because it was night time (cruise control set at 80 mph vs. 88 in the daylight). Half the drive between ABQ and P-Town is interstate, the remainder is two-lane roads from Santa Rosa, NM to Portales. It was warm (70 degrees) and clear, perfect weather for a top-down cruise in the moonlight. Surprisingly I had no problems staying awake and alert on the return drive (this also assumes the consumption of much coffee and such), but I did crash almost immediately after putting up the “Happy Birthday TSMP” post, below. I got about six hours of sleep and feel none the worse for wear.

So. Here we are... back to “normal,” whatever that is, after a wonderful time with the family in Maine. The understatement of the day would be "I had a great time!"

Random Notes: A tequila worth checking out: El Jimador. Incredibly smooth and tasty sipping tequila; the shots go down so well it makes you wonder what hit you after the fourth one… Thanks to TFMP for turning me on to this!

Boy, did we ever eat in Maine! TFMP prepared her signature enchiladas (79 of ‘em) and home made chili beans Thursday; Saturday SN2 barbequed tri-tip (a beef loin cut, tender and tasty), along with more enchiladas. Of course there were all the trimmings, including some of the best chili (some call it “salsa”) the world has ever seen. Liquid fire, but oh-so-delicious. All the fixins were hand-carried from California and Utah, including what had to be 25 pounds of tri-tip. Maine isn't known for its Mexican food, ya know. It’s no exaggeration to say TFMP, Grandma Alvarado, SN2, and daughter-in-law Alisa fed over 50 people during the course of the week-end.

I can’t believe I flew all the way to Maine and didn’t eat lobster. Next time.

It rained all day, every day, the whole time I was in Maine. There were occasional breaks in the rain, followed by downpours that punctuated an ever-present sort of misty rain. I saw the sun just once, on Sunday morning just prior to our departure. And it was chilly, too. I think the absolute high temp was 62, and that was a nice break from the triple-digit temps we’ve been experiencing in P-Town. Speaking of Portales, if we received just ten percent of the rain that fell on Brunswick this past week we’d be flooded out. Seriously.

SN2 is not going to Cairo. It looks like he’s going to draw a joint assignment to STRATCOM HQ at Offut AFB, in Omaha. SN2 didn’t appear to be too pleased at the news, but SN1, who spent a couple of years in Omaha, says he’ll like it fine. Confirmation should happen this week. I have mixed emotions. On the one hand, Cairo would be quite exotic and the work would be interesting, to say the least. On the other hand, it’s Cairo. I think Egypt is the next potential fundamentalist Islamic flash-point in the Middle East. So the father in me is glad SN2 and Family won’t be “exposed.” There are a helluva lot less bomb-throwing terrorists in Omaha. And I can drive there, too.