Long Weekend, Still Too Short

(Source)

As mentioned the other day The Missus Herself and Your Humble Scribe ventured forth from Little Rhody down to the surface of the sun, er, I mean the DC area, this past weekend. Yes, it was freaking hot down there, but as juvat is wont to say, at least it was humid. Hot and humid though it may have been, we had a great time. Well, at least I did. I'm sure The Missus Herself might have her own opinions as to the highlights of the excursion, but for me it was all about meeting up with my fellow Lexicans. (A name I still don't really care for, I preferred "Lexian" but was outvoted.)

Anyhoo...

This weekend was also my first time flying Southwest Airlines. I was attracted by the competitive fares but the deal was sealed with the phrase, "No Bag Fees." Yes, I was a bit leery of the "no assigned seats" thing, but if you check in 24 hours in advance, you should have no problem. We didn't. I've been told that you can go the auto-check in route for an extra 25 bucks, but I'm all about the cheapness.

So, After Action Report for the weekend - Arrived Friday morning at DCA, hit a nice Korean BBQ restaurant in Annandale after stopping by The Nuke's to pick up some stuff for the trip up to Annapolis where we would be spending most of the weekend. (The Nuke's place is undergoing renovations, why didn't we fly into BWI? I don't know...)

Most of Friday was spent goofing off, well, I goofed off, the ladies did stuff and...

Oh, wait...

Yes, there is an announcement to be made, The Nuke is getting married in October. We were staying at the son-in-law select's place (select when given after a rank indicates that one has been selected for the rank, just haven't put it on yet) in Annapolis. The lad is an aviator nearing the end of his career in the Navy. Started life as an NFO in Prowlers, became an F/A-18 pilot, then moved on to Growlers.

Call sign is Tuttle. Research a particular episode of M*A*S*H for the reference. No, I haven't watched that one in a while, so I don't remember most of it. At any rate, I started calling him Tuttle, which The Nuke did not care for. So I have stopped. For now.

Yes, Big Time still calls him Tuttle, it's an aviator thing.

On Saturday we hit Red Robin, for the burgers which were in it. Unfortunately I had to do a mall stroll afterwards, the ladies insisted and I can but obey.

Eventually it was time to head back to Alexandria and Murphy's, the lead in photo and the place for the Gathering of my tribe on Saturday eve. I was surprised that I had not melted yet given the massive amounts of heat and humidity oppressing me. The Nuke assured me, "It was a lot worse a couple of weeks ago." Worse? How could it possibly have been worse?

Then I remembered, I spent some time in Mississippi back in '87. The Nuke told me, "Yeah, Dad, it was Mississippi Gulf Coast hot."

Dang.

But in the summer, when you get lots of heat and humidity, all that energy has to go somewhere. Into the atmosphere is where it goes. As we set off for Alexandria on Saturday afternoon to rendezvous with the other Lexicans at 1700, it was just a bit before 1545. Plenty of time (normally) to get from Annapolis to Alexandria on a Saturday.

Nope.

The Heavens let loose on us twice in the space of a half an hour. Towering thunder boomers dumped mass quantities of water upon us, slowing traffic to a pace where a snail would be competitive. Once things cleared out weather-wise, they balled up people-wise. Apparently there was a convention of horrible drivers in town last weekend, and...

What's that? That occurs every day?

Well then, never mind.

Upon arrival at Murphy's I noted that the venue has an upstairs and a downstairs, what to do, what to do. Then I saw a sign for the upstairs: "A Celebration of Carol's Life." Thinking it odd that someone had misspelled Lex's name (Carroll LeFon), we headed aloft. To discover a crowd of people who I did not know and a photo projected on the wall of a nice looking lady who, I assumed, was the late Carol. So we headed below, entered the downstairs bar and lo' and behold, there was my Tribe. The Hobbit and Kat were holding court with perhaps 15 to 20 of my Tribe.

The place was crowded, it was loud, but it was fun. A number of Guinness were consumed and a taste of Jameson's was had. All in all it was, as I mentioned the other day, a damned fine craic. (I'll leave the looking up of that fine Irish word to those who need to.)

Home at a reasonable hour after some frozen custard, my first time, certainly not my last. To bed we went, The Nuke suggested an early go on Sunday in order to hit a very nice breakfast place in Annapolis, The Missus Herself and I suggested that a quiet morning of sleeping late would be just the thing. So we stayed in, coffee and cold pizza for me, fine fare for those into such things.

Sunday afternoon was a neighborhood party near Tuttle's abode. Though it was hot enough to melt steel and turn the asphalt to liquid, we went. A taco truck was involved, that's all I'm going to say.

"Sarge, we need a man to lead an expedition to the surface of the Sun, interested?"

"Are you kidding, we'll die before we get within..."

"There's a taco truck."

"When do we leave? Are we going at night? How about in the winter, the sun isn't as hot then, right?"

I daresay I nearly melted. But I hung in there long enough to get my tacos. It was worth it. Damned good Mexican-style tacos. Yum.

Then off to the airport, somewhat dried off from standing around in the Sahara (with a taco truck mind you). Plane was on time, on time until a line of storms formed to the west kludging up air traffic up and down the entire East Coast.

We boarded too damned early, then taxied out after about 30 minutes where we sat in the conga line of aircraft awaiting their turn to slip the surly bonds (oh, they were damned surly that day) and carry us back to Little Rhody.

Eventually it was "home again, home again" at far too close to midnight for a fellow planning to work a normal shift on Monday.

Arriving at PVD, the pilot announced, "We're here. Finally." He got a cheer for that he did, though rather a weak one, we were all a bit shagged.

Went to work a couple of hours late but it was worth it.

A lovely weekend, a fine weekend.

Though shorter than I would have wished.

I think I'll talk about battleships tomorrow.

Hey, juvat started it.