I spent last weekend out-of-state and had lots of adventures. All week I've been trying to find time to write about them, but my schedule has been crazy and it's also hard to know where to start...
First Layover: Denver, CO
Saturday en route to Kansas City, I had a 90 minute layover in Denver. (For lunch I had a fresh mozzarella and tomato sandwich on ciabatta with broccoli-basil pesto -- SOOO good : ) Reminded me of Italy.)
While waiting to board the plane, I called my sister. I had my back to the counter and loading area. Long into the conversation, I became aware that NO ONE was sitting near or around me. It was very quiet. I turned around. The entire waiting area was empty, and the door leading to the gangway to board the plane -- CLOSED! Yikes!!
Internally panicking, I quickly ended my conversation (sorry Jana!) and asked the attendant if they had boarded the plane for Kansas City yet (sometimes it's good to play dumb...).
She glanced at me and said sassily, "Yes. Where have you been?"
"Right here! I'm sorry!" I replied. "Can I still get on?"
"Yes." She rolls her eyes. "Ticket please."
WHEW! Seriously a first-ever in my life... thankfully, the plane wasn't scheduled to take off for another 10 minutes... and 2 other fortunate souls straggled in a few minutes after me.
Second Stop: Kansas City, MO / Olathe, KS
The whole reason I went to Kansas City in the first place was to see some family friends who I hadn't really seen for about 5 years when we were both living in CO. I deplaned into a small waiting area. Just beyond the glass wall in front of me, I almost immediately saw the smiling faces of Ken and Lynn. Then a few steps more, we were completely outside the airport and in the parking area! Back in the days before mega-security, the airport was built so you could literally walk on and off the planes quickly and conveniently.
Ken is a retired (he says recovering) lawyer who now works as the Exec VP of the Nazarene Foundation. Lynn works for an antitrust lawyer in KC. Both are near my parents age and they love to spoil kids like me. : )
Did you know KC is the city of fountains? I guess they're second only to Rome in the number of fountains... (Personally, I found Rome's fountains much more impressive, but I guess they're just comparing the number of fountains, not size and artistic craftsmanship.)
We enjoyed dinner at Houston's in the Plaza. It must have been prom night for all the high schools in town, because I counted at least 15 limos and saw hundreds of "kids" in evening apparell and rented tuxes everywhere. The latest fad seems to be coordinating with your date. Too low and tight for the girls... and brightly colored Vans, Sketchers, or other street shoes for the boys.
The next day we went to church at this little country church in the middle of nowhere somewhere in Missouri. This church with about 50 members, most of whom have been attending there all their lives, was quaint with a white steeple. All ages represented, though mostly older, each person could be a character in a book with the strong, unique personalities and little quirks. If you've never experienced a country church, you need to. It's heartwarming and a great picture of community and simplicity. And because it was the first Sunday of the month, there was a basket dinner (potluck) following the service.
Then, one of the highlights of the weekend, seeing the spoils from a sunken wrecked ship..er..steamboat. Ken and Lynn took me to this awesome museum in downtown KC: Treasures of the Steamboat Arabia. It was GREAT!!! It totally fired up my treasure hunting adventurous spirit. I could go on and on about this because I totally loved it... but, for your sake, I'll try to limit my comments and give you this link to the website.
I will say, though, this is one of the largest intact pre-Civil War collections. They dug the boat up in the middle of a corn field a 1/2 mile from the Missouri River (because back in the day the river didn't have dikes and levies to keep in on a set course). AND, it's not federally funded -- just a private, completely family-run operation. So... the tour guide was the grandson of the man whose idea it was to look for the sunken boat. AND the man himself made an appearance and we got to talk to him!! How cool is that?!? Ok... I'll leave it at that. If you want to know more, email me or call me and we'll talk! And check out the cool website.
After the museum, Ken and Lynn took me back to the airport. I flew Southwest Airlines for the first time ... it was cool how quick and efficient they were. We left and arrived on time. No frills, but it was really nice. And they actually served peanuts -- which I haven't had on an airplane for years. Really a smart snack... unlike a 1/2 oz of pretzels or those random snack mixes you've never seen in a store, a 1/2 oz of peanuts has a lot of protein and can realistically hold you over until your next meal.
Third Stop: St Louis, MO
The flight was quick... only 50 minutes. But the most uncanny thing happened when I got off the plane. The airport didn't look anything like the St Louis airport. Did I somehow get on the wrong plane?!? I've flown into St Louis a bunch of times... and this didn't seem familiar at all.
Then the pieces started to fall into place... My boss John was supposed to fly in about half an hour after me on a United flight. I went to the boards to see if his flight was on time. The only flights listed were Southwest flights. Ahh... I get it. Southwest has it's own separate terminal in St Louis. That's right... there is an East and West Terminal -- and the two terminals aren't connected except by a shuttle bus. So, really, I did fly into an airport I hadn't seen before.
I took the shuttle to the hotel in Clayton and enjoyed feeling relaxed and refreshed for the first time in a long time. I've been having trouble sleeping the past few weeks (something about stress-induced insomina?), so I went into the weekend very tired and wishing I wouldn't be traveling. As fun as it is to get out of the routine, seek adventures, and experience new things, it can be exhausting... Unlike what I expected, I really felt refreshed and ready for work training the next day.
I didn't feel so refreshed the next morning when my alarm went off super early (4:30 am Portland time), but generally I love early mornings, so it wasn't too bad. I met up with John for an early breakfast interview with a possible candidate for our field rep team who happened to live near St Louis. I'm glad John invited me the join them for the interview because I love learning from him when he's in action.
After breakfast, we went to Bill's place for our day of training. We made good progress and covered some new territory. I have my work cut out for me big time for the coming months, but it was a really productive time. Bill brought John and me to the airport in time for our 6:40 pm flight.
Final Layover: Denver, CO What should have been a 55 minute layover turned into an almost 2 1/2 hour layover. I had hoped we would be on time so that we would land at 10:45 pm in Portland... but with the delays we didn't land until midnight. Oh well... it could have been a lot worse.
Home!
Overall, it was a good weekend. It's tough to get in so late and still have work the next morning... makes for a crazy rest of the week where I operate in a fog for at least 2 days until I start to catch up.
The next time I'm scheduled to travel to St Louis is July 4th weekend...
The next adventure? I'm not sure... but I hope it's soon. : )
Other news...
After my soccer team bailed on the Spring/Summer season during sign-ups in March, I was back on the waiting list hoping a team would have an opening. And, fortunately, as of two weeks ago, there was an opening in another division. So, I'm playing soccer again. We had a casual practice this week, and it was so fun to handle the ball again. The season runs until the end of July, so my Thursday nights for the next few months are taken. Fun times. But I'd better start conditioning again, or I might die at the first game in a few days...
We had sent him off to get "donuts for breakfast" while us girls turned the house upside to get brunch ready for the crowd that would be there in an hour. Then Dad got back to the house and saw all the food and stuff everywhere, so we gave him his invitation right before the guests were arriving. 
