An interim trip report, of sorts. Son Number One, TFMP, and I arrived in Brunswick early this morning (just after 0100) after the two hour drive from Manchester, New Hampshire. It’s cool, bordering on cold, here in the Great Nor’East. And it’s been raining non-stop since I arrived in Manchester late yesterday afternoon. Quite the change from New Mexico! Water from the sky. What a concept!
Tuesday’s drive from P-Town to ABQ was uneventful and hot. I decided to do the drive top-up, and I’m glad I did. The temp was in the high 80s when I left Portales and eventually hit 100 in Albuquerque. Ya just can’t beat air conditioning when it’s unGodly hot outside…
I stayed with my step-granddaughter and her boyfriend in ABQ Tuesday night; they took me to Tucanos, a Brazilian restaurant, for dinner Tuesday evening and it was wonderful. The dining experience was extraordinary…the wait staff just keep bringing grilled food to your table until you’re sated. Grilled pork, grilled beef, grilled chicken, grilled vegetables, and on and on in a never-ending stream until you say “no mas!” (or the Portugese equivalent). Good margaritas, too.
My travel day Wednesday wasn’t quite as bad as I anticipated, but I DO have a bone to pick with the Transportation Safety Administration. I need to preface this mini-rant with an admission: It’s mostly my fault. I didn’t review the current list of prohibited items before hitting the airport on Wednesday, and as a result my treasured Zippo was confiscated. This wasn’t just any old Zippo, it was a cool brass Zippo with the unit crest and a small picture of the USS Mason, SN2’s old ship. I picked up that Zippo the day the Mason was commissioned in Port Canaveral, Florida. You can’t imagine how angry I was, but I held my tongue. There’s no sense venting on the low-level minions that enforce the rules; they’re just doing their job. But it sure was tempting… I cannot, for the life of me, understand just how one could commandeer a plane using a Zippo. I must be missing something here. Either that, or the rule is FRICKIN’ STUPID.
SN1 and I are guests in the US Navy Visiting Quarters at Brunswick Naval Air Station, and the quarters are pretty nice, for the Navy. (Had to put that qualifier in.) We each have a two-room suite that is pretty good size and fairly new. The only downside to the experience so far is the fact the front desk at the Billeting Office doesn’t sell beer. The Air Force does… Oh well. There are liquor stores in Maine.
It’s still rainy and cold today. I think our high will only be in the mid-50s. An interesting transition, to be sure. Half the temperature of New Mexico. And it’s still raining.
More later, as time permits.
Tuesday’s drive from P-Town to ABQ was uneventful and hot. I decided to do the drive top-up, and I’m glad I did. The temp was in the high 80s when I left Portales and eventually hit 100 in Albuquerque. Ya just can’t beat air conditioning when it’s unGodly hot outside…
I stayed with my step-granddaughter and her boyfriend in ABQ Tuesday night; they took me to Tucanos, a Brazilian restaurant, for dinner Tuesday evening and it was wonderful. The dining experience was extraordinary…the wait staff just keep bringing grilled food to your table until you’re sated. Grilled pork, grilled beef, grilled chicken, grilled vegetables, and on and on in a never-ending stream until you say “no mas!” (or the Portugese equivalent). Good margaritas, too.
My travel day Wednesday wasn’t quite as bad as I anticipated, but I DO have a bone to pick with the Transportation Safety Administration. I need to preface this mini-rant with an admission: It’s mostly my fault. I didn’t review the current list of prohibited items before hitting the airport on Wednesday, and as a result my treasured Zippo was confiscated. This wasn’t just any old Zippo, it was a cool brass Zippo with the unit crest and a small picture of the USS Mason, SN2’s old ship. I picked up that Zippo the day the Mason was commissioned in Port Canaveral, Florida. You can’t imagine how angry I was, but I held my tongue. There’s no sense venting on the low-level minions that enforce the rules; they’re just doing their job. But it sure was tempting… I cannot, for the life of me, understand just how one could commandeer a plane using a Zippo. I must be missing something here. Either that, or the rule is FRICKIN’ STUPID.
SN1 and I are guests in the US Navy Visiting Quarters at Brunswick Naval Air Station, and the quarters are pretty nice, for the Navy. (Had to put that qualifier in.) We each have a two-room suite that is pretty good size and fairly new. The only downside to the experience so far is the fact the front desk at the Billeting Office doesn’t sell beer. The Air Force does… Oh well. There are liquor stores in Maine.
It’s still rainy and cold today. I think our high will only be in the mid-50s. An interesting transition, to be sure. Half the temperature of New Mexico. And it’s still raining.
More later, as time permits.
It's been a little cool here too, after the heat wave we had the week before last, but it hasn't been raining non-stop. Glad you got there okay. My mom is on her way to Cape Cod with my brother, as I type.
ReplyDeleteI accidentally surfed my way over here, from Google (looking up info about Albuquerque), and I have to say you're pretty darn funny for an ex Marine... (had to put that qualifier in there...)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip about the Brazillian restaurant experience, and some of your anecdotal references. Being an ex-Navy wife myself, I find my outlook on travel, moving and culture shock to be approached with some level of cynicism as well.
As for your Zippo, everything lost/unclaimed, and confiscated ends up in Scottsboro, Alabama, at the "Unclaimed Baggage Center" -- a huge warehouse type of store where everything is sold to the public. Perhaps if you call them with your information and description you can get your lighter back, or at the very worst, have to "pay" for it and have it shipped to you.
Good luck on your trip, if you want sauna heat, try the upper midwest (Chicago?) during summertime. Egads.
Jeez, I am so sorry..
ReplyDeleteex-Air Force..
Shame on me....
Hey S...Thanks for the info about the unclaimed baggage center (and your kind comments, too)! I'm going to try and get that Zippo back coz it means quite a bit to me.
ReplyDeleteLaurie: It's back to the sauna tomorrow, and believe it or don't, I'm looking forward to it. It has rained *non-stop* since we arrived here (well, there have been occasional short breaks...) and the high temp so far has been 61. I'm still not used to the change, as in I've been cold most of the time I've been here.
I *will* miss the green, though. As you know, there's a price that must be paid for all this green, and it's spelled w-i-n-t-e-r (alternatively s-n-o-w)!
:-)