Trans-Siberian Orchestra was absolutely amazing. They always are but they always seem to find a way to top their last show. This time was no exception. This the sixth time that Tia and I have gone to see them and each time we leave, we vow to return. Trey will be going with us next year. We haven't taken him because the show is a bit over the top with noise, lights, fire, and fireworks. This year was the first year that he really enjoyed the 4th of July and that celebration is timid compared to a TSO concert.
"It's called vacation. You're supposed to sleep in," my wife said to me this morning. I woke up at 5 as usual. No need for alarm clocks for me, thankyouverymuch. I actually did lay there until 5:45 pretending that I was sleeping in but it was eventually too much for me.
Hotels can certainly be a challenge for people where their natural schedules don't match. Trey and I are morning people and Tia is a night owl. It's hard to do anything without interfering with the sleep of the other. I managed to be quiet enough to let Tia sleep until Trey woke up. He must have been tired because he slept until 7. Once he's up, the silence is broken.
Time to starting packing up. More later . . .
And that's how my post started that was supposed to be completed that night.
That night, we stayed in a small motel that was apparently built before there was electricity. There was one plug in the place that had a powerstrip attached to it to run the small fridge and small TV. My wife sat on the bed to use her laptop to take a test for college. I am not a laptop person, when it is literal. I am barely a laptop person when I can put the laptop on a table.
The room did have a table but there were no plugs anywhere near the table. No chair either but I moved a chair over there (before I figured out that there was no electricity anywhere except in the immediate vicinity of the TV). The power cord for the laptop wasn't long enough to reach so I bagged it and planned on catching up the next day where there would be tables, chairs, and electrical outlets.
The place we were staying did indeed have all of those things in good supply.
However, what I didn't have was any cell service so I couldn't connect to the Internet. I shouldn't say that there wasn't any cell service. What everyone found out was that if you went up to the second floor and leaned against the doors that opened onto the balcony and raised your left hand in the air and crossed the fingers of the hand holding your phone and said a quick prayer and waited until you saw the moon crest the horizon, you could get half a bar of service for 30 to 60 seconds.
I also found a spot outside on the east side of the house in the snow where it was 20 degrees where I could maintain cell coverage for quite a while longer (but not connect to the 3G network) so I was able to make one important phone call while freezing my royal rastafarian nay-nays off.
None of this is to complain though but only to explain why there was a lapse in this blog. The trip was absolutely wonderful and it was unfortunate that we had to cut it short because of the blizzard warning.
Now, I'm back, unpacked, and headed back toward my groove (after Thanksgiving/my birthday).
Here are a couple of pictures that I took from our balcony.
There was no snow when we arrived. That night, the skies opened up and it showed hard for the entire night. It was still snowing hard when I took these pictures but the camera wasn't able to really do it justice.