welcome to my mind ...

The whole weekend went by so quickly, it almost felt like a dream.

I got up for work around 6:30am Friday morning. I'd packed my bag the night before, so I really only had to make sure to throw in the last minute items: charger, hairbrush, etc. I got dressed for work, made sure my windows were still cracked, but not open wide enough to flood the place should it suddenly decide to rain while I was gone, and locked the place up. I would be leaving for the airport 4.5 hours later.

I was able to obtain a ride to the airport so that I wouldn't have to worry about making it just barely in time using public transportation. I had more than enough time to get through security and to my terminal. The flight ended up being delayed by an hour, which was just enough time for me to get to the next airport, use the bathroom, and board the next flight. This, added to the issue at the very end of the trip {details later,} I will be taking direct flights from now on.

I made it to DC just before 2am local time and made my way on the shuttle over to the car rental place. Now, I'm sure Hertz is a great car company, but I'm never using them again either. They have a $200 deposit for the car, which would be fine if I was rich, but since I'm not, I'm not using them again. The issue, however, was not that it was $200, it's that the hotel was holding their money so I was actually short the amount that I needed for said deposit.

I ended up staying at the car rental place, off and on the phone between my mom and cousin, for 3 hours trying to figure out how to get a vehicle to drive the remainder of the way to the hotel, which was another 2 hours away. Eventually, after realizing there was absolutely no way to get money in to my account at that time of the morning, I decided to make some phone calls and find out how much other rental car agencies charged for their deposit.

Dollar General and National both charged 15%, but neither location was open until 8am {it was 5am at that point.} Enterprise charged 20%, but they were open at 5:30am, so I went with them. I reserved the car online, since it was cheaper than doing so over the phone and headed back on the shuttle to the airport to hop on the Enterprise shuttle back to the rental car place. I was finally able to obtain a vehicle and made my way south to the hotel.

8am Saturday morning, I arrive at the hotel and, after having been awake for a solid 24 hours and letting everyone I'd been in contact with know that I'd made it, I passed out. 3 hours later ... wide. the fuck. awake. Go figure. At this point, I took a much needed shower and text a couple people to find out if it was cool to go hang out at their hotel, which it was, obviously. I drove a quarter mile down the road and met up with my aunts.

The one aunt I'd seen just last summer, when she was out on business, but the other? It had been at least 13 years, if not longer. I honestly don't remember how long ago it was when I saw her last, but it's been way too fucking long. I met with the two of them in the lobby and hung out for a little bit, until my cousin {the one who was getting married} walked in and it turned in to even more of an on the spot family reunion. Minimum 13 years since I last saw him as well. My uncle was with him and of course, being that he would be getting married later that day, he needed to borrow his parents for related issues.

My other aunt hung out and we continued to converse for a little bit longer until my Uncle mentioned he was going across the way to Applebee's for some grub, since he'd not eaten anything yet. Plus, my other cousins were already there eating and I'd not seen then yet. We walked over and I got a salad, while he got a wrap. It was more lunch at this point, seeing as how it was after 1. While there, my other Uncle joined us and the two cousins left to help their brother set up at the venue, since they were part of his groomsman. I stayed and finished eating my much needed meal.

After that, we made our way back to the hotel and I hung out in the lobby waiting for everyone to get ready {I was already dressed, since I'd taken my shower earlier.} While playing on my phone, another cousin came down and he had no idea I'd be there, so that was quite the pleasant surprise. It was kind of the point, though. I wanted to surprise people, since it's been between 10 and 20 years.

Instead of riding on the already full car with my aunt and uncle, I was talked in to taking the shuttle with my cousin and his brother and most of the rest of the wedding party so I text my aunt then followed my cousin up to his room. I met his new wife and his kids {who were 17 and 14} and hung out until it was time to go. His brother had no idea I'd be there either until we all met up in the lobby to wait for the shuttle.

Once there, it was a beautiful place! I'd have loved to take more landscape pictures, but I was there for my cousin, not to play photographer. That being said, I did take quite a few pictures while on this trip. The wedding itself was amazing. I'm so thankful that I got to be a part of it. His vows made most everyone tear up; I was trying so hard not to cry. Only a few tears escaped. The rest got sucked up by my contacts.

I met my cousin's {not the one who was getting married; his older brother} best friend in the lobby of the hotel and I ended up sitting next to him during the ceremony. We hung out off and on throughout cocktail hour and the reception afterwards. Drinks, many drinks, were had, lots of dancing, loud music, delicious food, funny speeches, toasts, selfies and all around good times ensued. We all got back to the hotel around midnight and the party sort of continued among the guests at Applebee's until they closed at 1.

I crashed with the best friend that evening and we were up early the next morning due to a prior engagement he had. It made me kinda sad, but he said he'd come hang out again before I left so I had that to look forward to. I also knew that I had only Sunday to do any kind of exploring before flying back home on Monday. I went back to my hotel, packed up my shit, checked out and went back to the hotel that my cousins were staying at.

I text the one whom I'd agreed to go have breakfast with and we headed out around 11. They lived in the opposite direction, more towards Norfolk, rather than DC, so after breakfast we said our goodbyes and parted ways. I set up Google Maps on my phone, picked out the easiest, most straight forward route and headed back. Since I'd only gotten approximately 2 hours of sleep the night before, I became super tired about an hour in to the drive. I rolled the windows all the way down and blasted the music... until I realized the heat was just making the drowsiness worse. I rolled the windows up, turned up the AC and continued to blast the music.

Once back in DC, I followed the road signs for Arlington Cemetery. I don't know about you guys, but if you've ever driven in DC, you'll understand why I continually got lost for an hour before finally arriving at my destination. I pretty much made every single turn except the one that actually needed to make... every single time I turned back around and tried again. I ended up at the Air Force Memorial, which was cool. The statues and information there was interesting. It was a good excuse to get out of the car and stretch my legs, give my brain a little bit of a chance to wake up and get oxygen flowing back to it.

I ended up accidentally turning in to the military base; the guard at the entrance was so kind, though. It was ridiculously obvious that I was lost and had no idea where I was going. Not only did I have a WA license, but I was driving a car from Ontario, Canada. He was nice enough to let me in so that I could turn around and then gave me more accurate directions on how to actually get to the cemetery entrance from there. Thanks to this, I finally made it to where I wanted to be.

Once I'd parked, I changed in to walking shoes from my flip flops and headed out, ready to take pictures. The place is beautiful. It's incredibly well maintained. It's peaceful, quiet and *most* people were respectful of the place. Even the tiny humans that were there with families were mostly well behaved. The one thing I had to do while I was there: watch the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. It was the first major point I had to stop at along the route I was following on the map. It's much easier to see this during the summer, as they change out every half an hour. You know, heat stroke is a thing. There were signs up asking people to be respectful and stay silent, which actually happened! I know I shouldn't be surprised, but in the 20ish minutes I was there, I only heard 3 cell phones go off and only two kids had to be shushed.

Afterward, I made my way around the cemetery and eventually made my way to the JFK grave site. The eternal flame was cool to see, but people were far less respectful at this site, despite the fact that the same signs were posted. I'm thinking it's because everyone at that site was dead, while the Tomb of the Unknowns had a live guard. Who knows, but after 3 hours of walking around and taking pictures, I was ready to head back.

I plugged in my aunt's address and only made one wrong turn on my way back to her place. Luckily I'd realized the mistake and was able to quickly adjust and make my way back. Once there, I hung out with my aunt for a bit. My cousin and uncle had gone out to play a round of disc golf; my cousin's wife was taking advantage of the baby being asleep and my other cousin was napping. It was nice being able to just hang out and relax.

Once my cousin and uncle got home, pizza was ordered and we all hung out watching a movie on the big ass TV in the family room, which would be where I'd crash later. Once dinner was complete, I took a much needed shower and got cozy. My cousin broke out a game called Sentinels of the Multiverse, which is a pretty fun game. I see myself playing that again. Apparently one of my coworkers out here actually has the tabletop game so perhaps I'll play with her and her husband at some point.

At around 1:30am, I finally gave in and crashed the fuck out. I slept for a solid 5 hours, making it the most consecutive sleep I'd had since getting up for work Friday morning. The night prior, right before dinner, my cousin asked if I'd be up to playing disc golf with him, his best friend and my uncle, to which I willingly agreed to. It was the hanging out that I'd wanted from the friend before we parted ways Sunday morning.

Monday around 10:30ish, the 4 of us, taking two cars, made our way to the course. I'd only ever heard of the game because of my cousin so I was excited to see how it was played. Being the person I am, I also wanted to actually be good at it by the time I was finished. There's a lot of mechanics involved, but once you get the hang of the basics, you work your way up to the more intricate stuff. I was getting advice from all three of them throughout the course and it was just so much fun! I apparently did quite well considering it was my first time, but I will have to make sure I do better next time around.

I had to return the rental car by 2, but I was running a little behind due to the game. Not complaining at all, though. It was totally worth it. However, when I realized that my flight was being delayed ... and delayed and delayed, I noticed that it got to the point where my flight in Denver would not land until AFTER my connecting flight back to Seattle had already left. Big problem with this.

Once the car was returned, I made a phone call to the airline to find out what I could do about switching flights so that I could be back in Seattle in time to be at work at 8am Tuesday morning. The lady I spoke with informed me that there were no other flights from Denver to Seattle until 7am Tuesday morning ... which would definitely not be okay. I asked what I would have to do in order to get back to my final destination, to which I was informed that it would cost me $200 to change my flight completely, since it would be a different route. {yes, again with the $200} This was bullshit, so I told her I'd call back.

I explained to my aunt what was going on and she suggested I call back and ask for a supervisor. The need to change the flight was not due to me fucking up; the airline fucked up. I had nothing to do with the flight being delayed. At this point we were back at her place and I was visibly annoyed. I called the airline back, got a different person on the phone and requested to speak with a supervisor. The guy I spoke to politely asked me what the reason was and when I explained why, he asked if I was going to be flying out of the same area and going to the same place. I told him yes, there were three airports in the vicinity to choose from and Seattle was still my final destination. He informed me that there shouldn't be a charge for this, since it wasn't my fault and I wasn't exactly changing my route. I was offered a direct flight, but it would be leaving 2 hours from then.

I confirmed with my aunt that if we left right at that moment, we could make it in time. I told the guy okay, booked the new flight, said very quick goodbyes and left for the airport. I was back home 3 hours earlier than I originally was supposed to be and was actually at my place an hour before my original flight was supposed to even land. Altogether, between the time I woke up for work Friday morning and when I crashed out Monday night, I'd gotten no more than 10 hours of sleep. But it was so worth it.

I'm already planning my next trip out there, but it won't be for at least another year. However, this time it'll be a full two weeks. I'm going to be making up for lost time and ensuring that I get to do everything that I want to do and more.