Thanks for the time, Rochester.

Since last we typed, I’ve already missed one half of my flights.  My flight from SF was delayed because of the fog the other night.  I’m not necessarily flying-anxious (I save my anxiety for rational things, like ball point pens and people who walk near helicopters on TV), but I have to say it was NOT comforting to hear the flight attendant say, “Your plane landed an hour ago, but we’re having trouble locating it right now.”  The plane disappeared in the fog.  What the… 

Thankfully, I had already finished my manhattan, and they found the plane!  We were a couple hours late leaving, though, and I landed at JFK just as my flight to Rochester was leaving.  Since this wasn’t my fault, Jet Blue rebooked me on the next flight without any trouble.  I have to be careful, though.  Someone on the All You Can Jet Facebook group missed his flight because he was just late getting to the airport, and he had to pay $550 for another one!  Zoinks! 

I came here to visit Cousin Christina who is going to the U of R for nursing school.  (Shout out and huge thanks to Cousin Christina for hanging out with and housing me!)  We had a very eventful day and a half that was mostly filled with me sleeping.  I honestly think I spent more time asleep in Rochester than I did awake, but jet lag is no laugh.   Note to self: take a Benadryl or some other drug to knock me out before next red eye.   Cousin Christina and her friend Libby and I went to the Strong Museum of Play in downtown, which is some sort of hybrid between the Exploratorium and Mombi’s Hall of Heads from Return to Oz.  It was part play part toy museum—and a lot of fun.  They have a replica Sesame Street and a mini super market.  And there’s a whole detective agency set up.  That reminds me of the time that Jeff, Cousin Christina and I tricked to win a Harriet the Spy kit one night from SNICK.  You had to be one of the first 500 callers to win this kit and we spent the entire day planning our strategy and practicing dialing the numbers.  Well, when the time came for us to actually call the number, Danielle and Cousin Stephanie had unplugged the phone.  We were/are pissed.  As retaliation, we decided to freeze Cousin Stephanie’s underwear… but we forgot to dip it in water first, so instead of freezing it, we just made it cold. 

The museum of play had some really cool old toys and artifacts, like JR Tolkien’s notes for “The Lord of The Rings” (I use the word “cool” in the “if you’re into that sort of thing” sense).  I was excited to see the Harry Potter stuff—Harry’s wand! The Nimbus 2000! The Sorting Hat!—but I was disappointed to see the tags on them—they were just toys.  They also put a generic magic wand in the display and said it belonged to Frosty the Snowman.  And they stapled a throw rug to the wall and said it was a flying carpet…Hm.

We went to the local watering hole and I had a “Genny Lite” which sounds like it’s an alternative to Hannah Montana, but is in reality a Rochester beer.   Then I fell asleep again—for 10 hours. I am nothing if not a great sleeper.

Today Cousin Christina and I went on a bike ride through the U of R campus and downtown.  I’m sure you can imagine the last time I was on a bike… and how my legs and ass must feel right now.

Boarding’s just beginning for my next flight.  Off to NYC for some Broadway and SCU reunions. Leave comments with suggestions of things to do in the Big Apple.  I may go to Good Morning America tomorrow so I can meet Robin and George.  Stay tuned.

G