My Trip to NC, Part Two (Maggie)

Here I am as a crab. =) This shot was taken at the Aquarium in Emerald Isle, North Carolina, where my kids and I spent a glorious Sunday afternoon. We went to the beach, we hit the shops, we did the aquarium, then we went out for ice cream.

The weekend was great. We managed to squeeze in a week's worth of vacation into a couple of days, also hitting the malls, several restaurants, a couple of nightclubs and having an all around good time.

These are my kids, Lisa, Stacie, and Lisa's hubby Steve (the Marine) on the beach.

The traveling, on the other hand, was brutal. It took us 14 hours to make an 11 hour trip. The reasons? Several very long delays along the way. We traveled on I-81, I-95, and I-83. And every one of them was under construction. The cones start showing up. The right lane, the signs tell us, is closed. So we all mush until the left lane, and drive along for miles and miles and miles, fifteen to twenty of them sometimes, at a speed approximating 10 mph, and while the right lane is blocked by cones, there is nothing else in it. No equipment. No men working. No torn up pavement. No reason whatsoever why we couldn't be in using it. It's just darn ridiculous.

In only one case did we actually see any construction going on. In all the others, the lane was blocked, traffic jammed, travel delayed for no less than a full hour in each case, and we never did see any reason for it.

Besides the "invisible" construction going on, there were the usual fender benders causing additional delays, and then there was the ridiculous traffic situation in and round the DC Beltway. Just due to ordinary, everyday conditions, we spent an hour traveling about 10 miles through that mess. I cannot for the life of me believe people actually deal with that every day. No wonder everyone in Congress and the House is insane. Someone needs to fix that mess.

So aside from the travel though, the trip was great.

The dogs, however, didn't fare so well. Sally, the great dane, spend the weekend with my oldest daughter Jena, her husband Mike and their baby boy. They were Sally's previous owners, so we didn't expect a problem. However, problems there were. Sally gobbled up a sausage Mike had been about to cook, Mike shouted at her, startling her and she tried to bite him. Their other dog, an even more geriatric case than mine, Coda, apparently bit Sally on the hind leg. She came home shaking, nervous, and with a gash in her leg. Poor thing.

Wrinkles had a little too much fun. Son in law Tony took her for the weekend, and she spent much more time outdoors than usual, on a runner, with lots of kids around playing, which I'm sure she loved. But she's never outside much, has never been tied on any leash or runner in her life, and isn't used to kids, though she loves them. She came home limping pretty badly on one leg, and so exhausted she slept for 24 hours straight. The limp was gone by the next day, so it was nothing serious. Probably just overuse.

Anyway, here it is a day before my next trip. I've found a kennel that comes highly recommended by a friend who also has aging, delicate dogs. She says they're great. It's 45 minutes away, so that makes traveling a bit more complicated, but if they end up being the perfect place for my girls, it'll be worth any journey!

As I type this I'm getting ready to leave for Atlanta, and the huge convention known as Dragon Con. I'll be dropping the dogs at the new place this morning. So we'll see how they do. Wish me luck!

I've missed reporting on a lot of fun stuff, because there's been just so much of it lately. I went to a Godsmack Concert with a great pile of friends and relatives, and had a blast. Then just yesterday, took my Ella to the State Fair where we rode all the rides, ate all the junk food, and even say a Hilary Duff concert! That was a riot, too.

I think Dragon Con will be an adventure all its own, so I'll report on that. I'm bringing my camera!

Maggie