A run to Kingston to attend a spa's grand opening.

 

I haven't seen my friend Maria for over a year, and today was the chance to say hello and catch up with her for a few minutes.  The catch, the spa she owns with two partners is up in Kingston, NY, and we were in Croton.  So going to see her for a few minutes may not have been a cost effective trip.  But it was one I wanted to do to stay in contact with a person I think is worth the effort to know.

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RQS and I got up late, and by the time we left the apartment was 3:15 pm.  This meant we could easily make it to the spa by 4:30 - 5:00 pm, and be able to have a leisurely drive home.  However, we forgot one thing - traffic.  Even with traffic, we were in Kingston (after a couple of stops) around 5:00 pm, and got to the address which was given to google maps.  One problem - the link I was sent had two addresses: the address of the business and the address of one of the owners of the business.  Guess where google sent us?  Certainly not to where we wanted to go, but to a nondescript home in one of Kingston's residential districts.

Once I realized we had a problem, I manually entered the spa's address, and google sent us through the back roads to get to the spa.  And even then we had a little bit of confusion before we got to the spa.  As we arrived, I mentioned that we were looking for Maria, and I was greeted warmly by Maria.  She introduced us to her boyfriend (when is he going to make her an "honest woman?") and showed us around the place.  Then RQS received a complimentary 15-minute facial before we left for home.  Hopefully, Maria will fit us into her schedule sometime early in the new year.

Instead of taking the thruway back home, we came down Route 9.  Even though it was pitch black outside, it was nice to see the lights in Rhinebeck on for the holidays.  On the way back, we stopped into a store to pick up a few sundries, and then stopped off at the bank and the supermarket before reaching home for the night.  

Hard to believe that we'll be on our cruise soon!!!!

DC Trip 2023 - Day 03

 

The "Thing".   

The original "Thing" is a spying device now located in Fort Meade, MD.  Both this "Thing" and that in the former KGB Museum in New York are replicas of a real life device used by the USSR during the Cold War.  Today's visit to the International Spy Museum would refresh my memory of things I've seen before and give RQS an idea about an area of knowledge that I find interesting.

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As usual, RQS and I decided to have our breakfast at the hotel, then take the Metro into DC.  Unfortunately, Google Maps did not give us good information on how to get to the museum and we ended up walking at least an extra half mile or so in the cold before getting there.  (I don't think that Google's maps can handle 3 dimensional routes, as we would have needed to exit the Metro at a different exit, then walk through another building before reaching the museum.)  So we were a little bit tired before starting our tour of the place.

After paying the admission fee, we started our visit on the top floor and explored some of the history of spying - both in America and in the rest of the world.  The museum focused on the risky side of spying, as well as the reasons that many people turn to spying.  We could have spent a whole day exploring this place, but we were too tired to do much more by the time 4:30 came around. 

Since we didn't have the chance to eat lunch, we decided to have an early dinner.  So we had to make a decision - where to eat?  Well, the answer was relatively simple.  RQS wanted to visit the original Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street, and off we went.  Although I am not impressed by Ben's offerings, it is a good place to get a bowl of chili (not my favorite style), a burger, or a hot dog.  RQS wasn't impressed either, and she felt that it was one more experience to be checked off her list.

Hawaii Vacation - Day 01: Flying to Honolulu

When I first learned of Hawaii, it was as exotic to me as it was to the people who could afford to fly on the Pan-Am clipper.  It was the type of place that seemed so far away, and so different from the America in which I grew up.  So, when my Dad died, I figured that it would be good for me to take the small amount of cash I inherited and put it to use in having a bucket list experience.  This Hawaii cruise and tour is that experience.

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So, let me start at the beginning....

The night before the cruise, I took Google's directions to reach the hotel I'd stay at the night before the cruise.  This was a mistake, as the route had me going through one of NYC's worst jams - taking the exit ramp from the Major Deagan expressway to go onto the George Washington bridge.  This jam is caused by trucks slowly coming into the expressway from the far right, and having to cut over to the far left to take the bridge's upper level across the Hudson.  (9/11 screwed up a lot of things, and this interchange is one of those things.)  So it took me 30 minutes to travel less than a mile.  Due to the rain and poor road markings, I almost got into several accidents as soon as I crossed the river. I was very glad that I made it to the hotel safely, as I was concerned about my ability to drive safely in this weather.

After a night of almost no sleep, I headed off to the airport to catch my plane.  The first thing that was fouled up was that United wanted to charge me again for checked luggage, and I was not going to pay them a second time when I had the receipt that proved I paid for a checked bag.  So, after waiting about 10 minutes, this issue got resolved (for the outbound trip) and I proceeded to make it to the PreCheck line, where I had no problems getting through security,  (Given issues I discussed earlier, I had my concerns, and things worked in my favor for a change.)  But then, things began to change....

This was my first time "Flying Pretty", and I had problems that were unrelated to being gender non-conforming. My outbound flights had me flying out of Newark, changing planes in San Francisco, and landing in Honolulu at 3:45 pm local time.  Well, after an hour, they scuttled the flight, as they couldn't supply water to the lavatories.  There was no way that the pilot would fly the plane without water for the loos.  So I had to rebook my flights, and got a route that would go to Los Angeles instead of San Francisco for a connection to Honolulu.  One problem: I had to kill 3 hours at the airport before making my connection. I accepted this change, and rushed over to a gate 10 minutes away before my rebooked connection was complete.  (I had the agent at the second gate print the boarding pass for the second flight.)  

Eventually, I got on the plane bound for the coast, and we had a problem - a passenger had what could have been called a heart attack, and they were asking the passengers if there was a coronary specialist on board.  Luckily, that passenger was in stable condition, and the plane didn't have to make an emergency landing which would have kept me from making it to Honolulu.  What I haven't mentioned so far is that my bags were not on the same plane that I was on.  Instead, they were traveling to San Francisco, and then onto Hawaii.  Someone said that the bags would be at the airport before I was, and I was rightfully skeptical of that.

Once in Los Angeles, I checked my bag's status with customer service and they again said that my bag would be in Honolulu before me.  I was glad that I had a complete change of clothes in my carry on bag, just to be safe.  Then, I called RQS to catch up on things. After a nice chat, I killed more time at LAX, and then got on the plane for Honolulu.  And again, the pilot asked passengers if there was a doctor on the plane.  AARGH!

Eventually, I made it to Honolulu to find that my luggage did make it to the airport before me.  And then I finally heard the dreaded "Mr." word attached to my name when I was obviously presenting as a female.  Luckily, I got my ride to the hotel, and I was finally in for the night