Friday, January 9, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Astoria, Oregon
I just got back this morning at 2 am from my trip to Astoria, Oregon. I went out there to be a bridesmaid in my dear friend Leslie's wedding. It was only my second time flying and my first time traveling alone!
On Friday, I left home in the afternoon to drive to Wichita. I had a hotel room there so that I could get up at the crack of dawn to make my flight. Of course, I ended up being sick that day. (It spread from Nora to Joe to me...yay). It made for a long drive down, but I survived. More importantly, I felt a lot better the next morning.
On Saturday, I got up at 4 am and headed over to the Wichita airport. We flew on a prop. plane from Wichita to Denver. In Denver, I changed planes and had a much cushy-er ride the rest of the journey to Portland. After we landed, I made my way to baggage claim to pick my bags up and to meet Leslie. Her dad was our taxi service. Portland had received several inches of snow, but the city was unable to remove the it. That kind of snow is not normal in the area, so proper snow plows are non-existent. A lot of roads were either closed or should have been closed. We made our way to Maxx's (Leslie's husband) parent's house to regroup. While we were there, we all went out for burgers at a local place. I had fish and chips. LOL! We took several cars to fit everyone for the trip over to Astoria. It was a beautiful drive, but the fog was very thick, so Major Stelljes had a stressful time of driving. When we finally arrived at the hotel, I was awestruck. The town of Astoria is gorgeous and the hotel we stayed in was very upscale. I originally had plans to stay in the hostel in town, but Leslie's mom insisted that I stay in the suite that they had. After settling in, the group had a good time visiting in the suite. The bridal party decided to go out on the town and ended up dancing the night away.
The next day was all about the rehearsal and finishing up the last minute things for the wedding. After running through the wedding, we went to the restaurant Clemente's for the rehearsal dinner. The food (gourmet pizza) was amazing! We each stood up and talked about Maxx and Leslie. I unintentionally bawled. Oopsie! It was a really sweet and touching dinner devoted to the soon-to-be marrieds. Most everyone went back to the Pilot House (penthouse at the hotel) to continue the party. I went to bed "early," but still had a great time.
The day of the wedding was a lot of fun. The weather was crazy, though. It was very windy, but it would rain for 5 minutes, then the sun would come out, then it would hail for 5 minutes and clear off...so weird. We spent a better part of the morning and early afternoon at the hair salon. Leslie had a giant wedding party, so there were a lot of ladies having their hair done. Most had their makeup done, as well. (I did!) As soon as we left the salon, we went back to the hotel to get dressed. Leslie had Maxx come into the hotel room before the pictures so that they could have a private moment of seeing each other in their wedding clothes. I thought that was so sweet! We had all of our formal pictures taken in the hotel lobby. It was such a beautiful location. I cannot wait to see how they turned out! Everyone looked so lovely--especially Leslie. The wedding went off without a hitch and was a very nice ceremony. It went by so fast! The reception was an absolute blast. I danced until the music ran out and had a great time chatting with everyone.
The next morning, I got up early to make sure I had everything packed. There were 6 people staying in our room at one point, so it was a little bit messy. The people that made the pottery on Les and Maxx's registry offered to give me a ride to the airport, so I relaxed on the sofa in the room and enjoyed the view until it came time to leave. I got to the airport about 3 hours before my flight, so I got a lot of reading and perusing of the airport shops done in that time. The first leg of my flight was from Portland to Phoenix and it went off without a hitch. I got off of one plane in Phoenix and almost immediately boarded another headed for Wichita. Everything went fine on that flight until we began to land just outside of Wichita. We hit some major turbulence. Woo. That was scary for a few minutes! Luckily, we got out of it before we touched down. Ours was one of the last flights for the night, so the airport was mostly empty when I made my way through. (Which was nice!) I hitched a ride to the parking lot on the bus and was ready to go home. When I went to leave the parking lot, the automatic pay station would not read my debit card. That is the only option to pay with and I had no other cards. I called for assistance and they allowed me to pay with cash, but someone had to come out to "save" me. It was a huge relief to get on the road after that and an even bigger relief when I pulled into our driveway at 2 am!
All in all, it was a fantastic trip. I had so much fun and reconnected with old friends. I missed Joe and Nora terribly while I was away, though, so the homecoming was a sweet one! Stay tuned for pictures.
On Friday, I left home in the afternoon to drive to Wichita. I had a hotel room there so that I could get up at the crack of dawn to make my flight. Of course, I ended up being sick that day. (It spread from Nora to Joe to me...yay). It made for a long drive down, but I survived. More importantly, I felt a lot better the next morning.
On Saturday, I got up at 4 am and headed over to the Wichita airport. We flew on a prop. plane from Wichita to Denver. In Denver, I changed planes and had a much cushy-er ride the rest of the journey to Portland. After we landed, I made my way to baggage claim to pick my bags up and to meet Leslie. Her dad was our taxi service. Portland had received several inches of snow, but the city was unable to remove the it. That kind of snow is not normal in the area, so proper snow plows are non-existent. A lot of roads were either closed or should have been closed. We made our way to Maxx's (Leslie's husband) parent's house to regroup. While we were there, we all went out for burgers at a local place. I had fish and chips. LOL! We took several cars to fit everyone for the trip over to Astoria. It was a beautiful drive, but the fog was very thick, so Major Stelljes had a stressful time of driving. When we finally arrived at the hotel, I was awestruck. The town of Astoria is gorgeous and the hotel we stayed in was very upscale. I originally had plans to stay in the hostel in town, but Leslie's mom insisted that I stay in the suite that they had. After settling in, the group had a good time visiting in the suite. The bridal party decided to go out on the town and ended up dancing the night away.
The next day was all about the rehearsal and finishing up the last minute things for the wedding. After running through the wedding, we went to the restaurant Clemente's for the rehearsal dinner. The food (gourmet pizza) was amazing! We each stood up and talked about Maxx and Leslie. I unintentionally bawled. Oopsie! It was a really sweet and touching dinner devoted to the soon-to-be marrieds. Most everyone went back to the Pilot House (penthouse at the hotel) to continue the party. I went to bed "early," but still had a great time.
The day of the wedding was a lot of fun. The weather was crazy, though. It was very windy, but it would rain for 5 minutes, then the sun would come out, then it would hail for 5 minutes and clear off...so weird. We spent a better part of the morning and early afternoon at the hair salon. Leslie had a giant wedding party, so there were a lot of ladies having their hair done. Most had their makeup done, as well. (I did!) As soon as we left the salon, we went back to the hotel to get dressed. Leslie had Maxx come into the hotel room before the pictures so that they could have a private moment of seeing each other in their wedding clothes. I thought that was so sweet! We had all of our formal pictures taken in the hotel lobby. It was such a beautiful location. I cannot wait to see how they turned out! Everyone looked so lovely--especially Leslie. The wedding went off without a hitch and was a very nice ceremony. It went by so fast! The reception was an absolute blast. I danced until the music ran out and had a great time chatting with everyone.
The next morning, I got up early to make sure I had everything packed. There were 6 people staying in our room at one point, so it was a little bit messy. The people that made the pottery on Les and Maxx's registry offered to give me a ride to the airport, so I relaxed on the sofa in the room and enjoyed the view until it came time to leave. I got to the airport about 3 hours before my flight, so I got a lot of reading and perusing of the airport shops done in that time. The first leg of my flight was from Portland to Phoenix and it went off without a hitch. I got off of one plane in Phoenix and almost immediately boarded another headed for Wichita. Everything went fine on that flight until we began to land just outside of Wichita. We hit some major turbulence. Woo. That was scary for a few minutes! Luckily, we got out of it before we touched down. Ours was one of the last flights for the night, so the airport was mostly empty when I made my way through. (Which was nice!) I hitched a ride to the parking lot on the bus and was ready to go home. When I went to leave the parking lot, the automatic pay station would not read my debit card. That is the only option to pay with and I had no other cards. I called for assistance and they allowed me to pay with cash, but someone had to come out to "save" me. It was a huge relief to get on the road after that and an even bigger relief when I pulled into our driveway at 2 am!
All in all, it was a fantastic trip. I had so much fun and reconnected with old friends. I missed Joe and Nora terribly while I was away, though, so the homecoming was a sweet one! Stay tuned for pictures.
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