Three Planes, One Train and a Car Ride Later....

We watched the Goose land and Aidan was very interested to know that I have flown in one before. He thought it would be a good plane to take us to New Jersey.

After waiting all day to head out, our plane arrived and we were soon on board.

The flight to Anchorage was smooth, we had enough time there to grab some dinner and then got on our plane to Seattle. Our seats had been changed to one on the aisle and one at the window. When I questioned the ticket agent, she said, "oh, there's no one in the middle." Sweet! We had lots of room to spread out. I was very surprised that Aidan fell asleep before we hit 10,000 feet leaving Unalaska. I had to wake him up in Anchorage. He stayed awake for about the first hour of the flight to Seattle and then slept the rest of the way.

Then we had the dreaded "sleep in the SEA-TAC airport from 3:30 AM till 7 AM." We got as comfortable as we could in the seats at our gate area and caught a little shut-eye. I was thankful that Aidan did go back to sleep, even after snoozing on both planes. I drifted in and out till about 6, when I got up to check the flight info and noticed that they'd changed us from the C Gates to the D Gates. I woke Aidan up and we trudged to D6. Man, it was a long trek with all of our carryon stuff. I halfway wanted to claim a bad back and get a ride on the passenger cart. We still had plenty of time so we split a pancake breakfast. Our flight from Seattle was delayed due to weather in Newark so we hung out for awhile and finally got ready to go. Unfortunately, we'd scheduled a train trip from Newark to Philly within an hour of our arrival time in Newark. It became clear that this was not going to happen as planned.

Flying into Newark, I thought we might still make the train but then we circled for a good 20 minutes, spent another 20 waiting for our luggage, and had to ride a tram to the Amtrak station. By the time we got there, our train had departed. The woman at the counter was the meanest person I've interacted with lately. She was "helping" (used loosely) another family in front of us and I noticed there was a "closed" sign on her counter but I just figured she hadn't taken it down for some reason since she was obviously working. We stepped up next and she kept doing something else while ignoring us but I thought that was okay, I would let her finish. She was slamming the stapler down as hard as she could while she put some paperwork together. I waited patiently and she pointed at the "closed" sign while slamming it down with her other hand. Nothing like nonverbal communication. I said, "Oh, I am sorry, I wasn't sure if you were closed or not. If you want us to leave, just say so." She then said, with an exaggerated sigh, "What do you want, Miss?" I told her we'd had a reservation for the train to Philly which I assumed we'd missed and just wanted to know if we could get on the next one. If she was not working, maybe she could advise us how to get another ticket. She sighed again and asked for our confirmation number, which I provided. She then did some paperwork, threw some tickets at me and told me to sign them and really didn't tell me anything except that the train left on Track 4. I asked what about our luggage since I have been on Amtrak before where they will check your bags just like on a plane and she said, "You're on your own." Okay, well, thank you very much. It was now 7 PM and the next train did not leave till 8:23 so we started hauling all of our stuff to the waiting area.

I didn't see an elevator anywhere so I thought we had to take the escalator down. I had my huge suitcase, a carryon bag, my laptop, and a blanket. Aidan had a small backpack and his little rolling suitcase. He convinced me that he could go down the escalator with his stuff and I should have known better but I decided it was okay. He stepped on once and his legs started splaying apart so I had to drag him back off. I was going to say that I would take the stuff down in two trips when he said, "I'll step on and you hand me my suitcase, okay, Gigi?" I asked him if he was sure and he said yes. I should have known better (again) but we put this little plan into action. He was all right at first and I got on behind him with everything else. The next thing I knew, he'd lost hold on his suitcase and it was barrelling down the escalator steps on its own, about to careen into an oblivious man and woman in front of us. I began yelling, "Look out! Look out!" as they turned around to see the flying suitcase. They managed to get out of the way, the man stood the suitcase up on the floor without a word and they walked away as I yelled, "Sorry! Sorry!" after them. They were not impressed.

Our train arrived and we had to haul all of our luggage on by ourselves. Not only that, but the train was packed, there was nowhere for us to sit and nowhere to put our stuff. A woman and her daughter took pity on us, saying they were getting off on the next stop so they would take their luggage out of the storage space and let us have it. They also scooted over so we could sit down. The daughter and I tried to get my 49.1 pound bag into a low space and it would not fit so we just leaned it up against the wall. Of course, one of the conductors walked through right after the suitcase fell over and she about had a hissy fit, telling me that it could not stay there. I told her I couldn't lift it into the overhead space and I didn't know what else to do with it. She pointed at the low spot in the baggage storage area and I explained that the girl and I had tried our best but couldn't get it to go. She told me to get out and move it. So I climbed over the only two nice people we'd met so far in Newark and the conductor woman told me to try to get it in the bottom space. I was trying with all my might but could not budge it. She grunted and leaned down to try to shove it in so I stood back and then she berated me to get down there and help her. Finally we did manage to make it fit. She turned to me and said, "See, there's always a solution." Thank you for the Amtrak wisdom. Then I started getting worried about how I would be able to get it back out when we got to Philly and only had a few minutes to grab everything and get off the train before it left for the next stop. Okay, I love Amtrak and I have never had a bad experience before, but I have to say that they had two of the rudest people working for them in Newark.

After our seatmates got off, we had a lot of space to ourselves and the rest of the ride was very pleasant. We arrived in Philly where my brother Bill and his wife Patty picked us up. It's a pretty short ride to my mom's, where we are staying till we go to the shore. Bill and Patty's four kids were at my mom's house and we were happy to see everyone. Aidan hit it right off with his cousins and all had a great time playing till they had to go home to bed.

The week is flying by and we've had all kinds of stuff going on. One day Mom and I took Aidan to a fancy playground where he played and made new friends and we walked the track a few times. He played with cousin Billy one day while the girls were at school (no, school is not out yet in NJ!) We've been shopping and to a doctor's appointment for me (that's another whole story I won't get into today) and out for hoagies and run some errands and I am not sure where the time has gone but it's already Thursday night. Sarah and Elle arrive tomorrow and we are anxious to see them!

We visited at Bill and Patty's tonight and the kids all had a big time. Here's Alex, Becca, Billy and Aidan.

Making goofy faces.

My Mom and Abby.

Bill Rice, RN. Don't you want him taking care of you in the ER?

Abby and their horse of a dog, Toby.