Travel is not always, maybe not even usually, glamorous.
Sometimes (this time) it is kind of a beating.
But...always worth it!
My older grandgirl, Madeline, is performing in
Million Dollar Quartet
at the Cohoes Music Hall near Albany, New York.
Shirley (other grandmother) and I, aka
the traveling grannies, were determined to see her!
We were blessed to have younger grandgirl, Susannah,
available to go with us (shepherd us!)
For some reason of which we're now not quite sure,
we made reservations to take off at 5:15 A.M.
Oh well, we thought, at least we should get through
security fast at that unearthly hour of the morning.
So WRONG.
The line was ridiculous.
When the TSA Pre Check line finally opened I very
guiltily left Shirley and Susannah and jumped
over in it. It's a good thing I did.
My new titanium knee has not set off the metal
detector the last two times I've flown.
But it did this time. I had to have the most extensive
and lengthy of pat downs ever.
Then our departure gate was 10 gates away.
By the time I got to there they were loading group 8!
Again guiltily, I got onboard.
A flight attendant assured me the plane would not
leave early without two checked in passengers,
but I was not sure it would not leave on time
if they hadn't made it.
They were the last two on the plane, but...
they made it!
Okay, don't breathe too easy yet.
There were no nonstops to Albany, so we were
making a connection in Charlotte, N. C.
So help me I checked the connection time and thought
it reasonable. Besides, how big could the Charlotte
airport be? Too big for a 51 minute connection!
I think we were last on the plane again,
huffin' and puffin' all the way!
When we arrived in Albany it was pouring rain, and
none of us had an umbrella.
The hotel had graciously agreed to send a shuttle for us,
in spite of the fact that I missed their 24 hour in advance deadline. The driver missed us on his first pass as
we stood out in the rain waving.
But he came back and got soaked loading our bags!
Things really looked up when we got here:
The Century House Hotel
This is one of my favorite places to stay ever!
There was a wonderful chef prepared breakfast,
to which they welcomed Madeline and Susannah
who were not even staying there.
There was the best soup every afternoon.
They brought us warm cookies late one night.
And here I was sitting by the fireplace in the lobby.
We got there early enough (we should have!) to see
the show an extra time.
Here's a little view of the theatre, one of the oldest
in the country.
It is beautiful.
The show was inspired by an actual event in which
Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and
Carl Perkins got together to make music--a
Million Dollar Quartet!
Madeline was Elvis's girlfriend, Dyanne, the
only female in a cast of really great guys.
Their comaraderie and cohesion was very obvious.
We overheard several great comments about the cast.
I was not expecting this to be one of my favorite shows
ever, but it absolutely was.
It was about 2 hours of non stop fun.
And not just because of our girl, who was marvelous!
We loved all 4 of the guys, too.
Here are some shots from the show:
And Elvis and Dyanne:
The traveling grannies and their girls:
How bout these sisters:
"In conclusion" let me tell you about our trip
to the airport.
We were leaving "late" this trip, but late
happened to be 7:08 A.M.
Hotel shuttle hours don't start til 9:00, and getting an
Uber at 5:00 A.M. is not likely. So...
Sweet Madeline insisted she would take us!
She has her car there, a cute Mini Cooper which
seats 4 but does not quite have room for 3 suitcases.
So Susannah and Shirley sat in the back seat with
Sus holding Shirley's bag on her lap!
We were a sight, but the girls wouldn't let me take a pic!
Just one concluding piece of info for you.
Did you know you can no longer park in the passenger
pick up zones at the airport and wait for your person?
Well, you can't.
Active loading and unloading only!
Even if your person or persons' bags take forever
to come off the carousel.
Aunt Linda just about got thrown in the pokey trying to
pick up this motley crew!
And Susannah was trying to get home in time to
teach 5 classes in Grapevine.
Yes, travel is sometimes a beating.
But, boy was it worth it!
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