Boston to Dallas by way of San Francisco!

Ahhh, the joys of flying standby! To begin - I did finally make it to New Hampshire. It was way too short a trip, but I am so happy that I was able to be there, if only for a day and a half. On Friday, a week ago, I packed my bag and went to school. I drove straight to the airport from school, parked in long-term parking and stood by for the last three flights to Boston. Of course, I got on the last flight and it got in at 1 AM. But my wonderful brother Steve picked me up and drove me to NH in his Miata, in the wee hours of the morning, in the pouring rain. We got there at about 330 AM. My sister, Susan, had arrived Friday evening. The next morning Susan and I went out in the canoe. We paddled down to the museum and back. In the afternoon we drove to The Old Print Barn, an art gallery near Meredith. The drive was beautiful. I think the leaves were about at peak. Then that evening our mother took us out to eat at the Woodshed and it was lovely. Susan left Saturday evening. She had a rehersal for the orchestra for Rigoletto on Sunday and she needed to practice the cello solo. Steve and I watched the Red Sox game at camp Saturday evening. It's fun to watch baseball with a real fan - especially when your team wins! So having gotten into the mode, I have actually watched the first 2 World Series games. GO Red Sox!!! But I digress. On Sunday morning I just hung out at camp with Steve. He worked on the Young Lady (the boat) which was having mechanical problems so we couldn't take it out. They took the Four Winns out of the water after I no-showed 2 weeks ago. But at least I got out in the canoe. Too cold for swimming! We had lunch at my mom's and drove back to Boston that afternoon, getting to Logan in time for me to stand by for the 4 o'clock flight. Which I did not get on. Nor did I get on the 5:25 flight; nor did any of the 20 plus standbys, of which I was number 16. The last flight was at 8:20 and was sold out. I was checking out the obvious alternatives, like going via Chicago, New York or Washington, but they all looked just as bad for standing by. So, here is where we get to the title of my post. I walked by a gate and noticed only one name on the standby screen so I looked at where it was going - San Francisco. I called and checked the schedules and availability from SFO to DFW and found there was a 12:45 AM flight that actually had open seats. So I asked to be transferred to the standby list for the SFO flight, got on it, made the connection and arrived at DFW at 6 AM monday morning! By the time I got to my car and got on the road, it was too late to go home, so I went straight to school (and changed clothes there). I was glad not to miss a day of work, since I will be asking for time off in January. Anyhow, I was glad to make it to New Hampshire and glad for the chance to see my mother, sister and brother. Too bad my brother Rollin didn't fly in from Alaska. Then all four siblings would have been there!

I really need to get a camera, so I can post more pictures... but here are some photos of camp, taken last June by Rene. The first is the view out the front door and the second is the view of the side as you drive up to the camp.