Across Five Time Zones
Tuesday, 2 November 2004It's one in the afternoon; our final sunrise/sunset was Saturday, and winter has reclaimed his arctic domain; snow surrounds the land now, and the archies' fur is as white as the land.
I've just returned from my off-island vacation, a fantastic visit to the west coast where I visited with friends and relatives, soaked up some sun, and took in the fresh aroma of green foliage, which lacks in the frozen tundra.
After 4 weeks of almost continuous work building up to the Year End closure of the finance books, I left for the States on Friday, 24th of September to finalize the year in Colorado Springs.
On the way there, I stopped off to visit with cousins Matt and Laurie, Tom, Nick and Daniel down in Virginia. Over that weekend, we checked out one of Nick's soccer games, saw the Jet Li movie "Hero" and I went down to DC to see the new World War II memorial.
Then, on Monday, I flew over to Phoenix, where I had a long lay over, so I called up ole "Chief", who I knew back in England. He took me out to check out his place, followed by a trip downtown for some brewskis before heading back to terminal to fly up to Colorado.
Work began fairly immediately, and for the next 3 days, we spent many hours in the office reconciling all the money and buying all the final things we needed before the hours of Fiscal Year 2004 came to a close. The last night (30th) kept us in the office til just after 2AM. Now don't get me wrong, I still had some fun. My friend Tracy came down from Denver for a visit, and I went to check out the Garden of the Gods. Also went to see "The Forgotten" - great scary movie!
Just a few hours after closing the books, I had a plane to catch, so I went back to the room to catch a few hours of shuteye. I set the alarm for 5:30, but it didn't go off! For whatever reason, I still woke up at 6:30, realized I was LATE, and called the front desk to rush my check out. After a quick shower and threw everything in the car and took off for the airport. Thankfully, it wasn't as crowded as the major airports, so getting through security and ticketing was a breeze and I got to the gate within a few minutes of boarding. Ahhh...
Next stop was Boise Idaho, where my friend from Langley Virginia, Carlos, was retiring from the Air Force. He had a fantastic ceremony followed by a great series of parties that lasted through the wee hours of the night. The whole family was there, and we all got caught up while having a few beers and singin' karaoke. Carlos, here's wishin' you the best of luck on your new career in sales!
Early the next morning (Saturday, 2nd October) it was off to the airport again, off to the land of Canuuks. Destination: Vancouver Island, British Columbia, home to my Uncle Tom, Aunt Tammy and cousin Steve. The first day I was there, we went to see Steve in a soccer game, and the next day was spent at Tom's place near the beach, and we took a tour of Sooke. But the next three days were on the road; I accompanied my uncle to the upper end of the island, where he had some business (and let me tell ya, if I can get the kinda "business" where I work for a half hour then spend the rest of the day goofin' off, I'd snatch it up in a heartbeat!). The next couple days into the weekend I spent at Steve's new place, where he shared a house with 4 other roommates. The first night we spent almost the whole night at the local pub (Maud's) and Steve had to be up for work at 4AM the next day! He got off early though, and he showed me around Victoria. That night his roomies had a great all-nighter party at the house. After sleepin' in the next morning, we went out to check out some stereos, and also found ourselves ogling over the new Crossfire. The last few days were relaxing as we just spent time around the house at Tom's. But we did get to one of Steve's "must-dos": he finally got the tattoo he'd been talkin' about for the past couple years, and I went into a barber for my first straight-razor shaves. Tom and I went runnin' a couple times (5k!) Tom, Steve and I also went sea-fishin' where we caught 5 nice-sized fish and fed some seals afterwards, and celebrated the Canadian Thanksgiving Day. Mmm Mmm--Turkey!
After a relaxing week and a half, and repeated suggestions from Tom that the West Coast is the place to live, the time had come to head back to the States. And who should be waiting at the Reno airport, but my Great Uncle Don. It was great talking to him and my Great Aunt Susan, both of whom will celebrate their 76th birthdays next month, and just celebrated their golden anniversary last year. I got a good ear-full of stories, both old and new, from Uncle Don, and learn many things about the family I never knew before. Also got to visit with my cousin Adam, who lives just a few miles outside Reno (we went out to see "Team America" and hung out downtown for a while). Don took me around Reno, where he knew just about everyone in town. We also drove up to Lake Tahoe, but the gorgeous view I've heard of was skewed by smoke from a recent forest fire. Don imparted some quick piano lessons--coming from one of the kings of the ivory keys, I was taken back by how easy he made it seem.
Going back east (now Monday, 18th October), I had to stop in New Jersey to get my Jeep in for some last minute repairs before it gets shipped to Iceland. Not that I didn't expect it, but the dealer said I didn't have an appointment. They managed to squeeze me in though.
Drove back down to Baltimore, and went to visit again with Matt. The plan was to catch the flight back to Greenland on Wednesday night, but that plan quickly changed when I called the airport and there was no listing for my flight. I called HQ and was told the flight was delayed for 48 hours. Whoo hoo! Extended vacation! That extra 2 days turned into 5 when all was said and done, and all the delays pushed my flight back to Monday morning on the 25th. During that time we went rock climbing, I went to a national park, we went out for some beers, and went Halloween costume shopping.
Now I'm back "home", and tonight we're in StormCon Bravo (winter storms with high blowing winds and low visibility). We had a Halloween party over the weekend, where, to include drinking much beer, dancin' and partyin', I came away with First Place in the costume contest! On the downside, the base has done away with our internet service in the dorm rooms, so no more web-surfing or chatting online. But I still get email at work, so it's not a complete loss. And, though the sun won't be up by then, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it's careening this way. Less than 3 months left to go before moving to Iceland. Yeee Haaa!