September 24th and 25th: Home One and Home Two

We got up disgustingly early the next morning, finished repacking our bags, checked out of the hotel, and made our way over to the airport. It was time to fly back to Philly. Granny managed to get flagged again going through security, this time for her makeup removal wipes. After getting that all sorted out, we made our way to the terminal, got some breakfast, then hopped on the plane.

Another beautiful day in Portland.   :)

My seat was behind a mother with her young (like, less than 2 years old) daughter. I felt kind of bad for them, since they had blankets and stuffed animals crammed into every nook and cranny in front of them, but I mostly hoped the little girl wouldn't spend the whole flight crying. At one point their teddy bear slipped down behind their seat, so I picked it up to hand back to the mother. She thanked me, then immediately turned back around with a handful of ziploc baggies. She had made goody bags for all the surrounding passengers! There were earplugs, granola bars, and candy. I like to think there is a special place in heaven for people like her. (And of course, the little girl was ridiculously well behaved the entire flight back!)

Shortly after we left the gate, our trip came to an abrupt halt. We got put in the penalty box! Luckily, we were only there for a few minutes, and when we finally did start taxiing again, we wound up cutting in front of a whole line of fighters. Neat!   :)

Bye, Portland!

The flight back was about 5 hours long, so I spent the time reading a book on my Kindle, eating the candy out of my goody bag, and getting a head start editing some of the pictures from the trip. We made it back to Philly just fine, grabbed Mark's car, and drove back to NJ. I dropped my stuff off at Mark's parents' house, spent a few minutes hanging out, then walked down to my parents' house to squeeze in a quick visit.

And pizza. OMG, pizza. They really don't know how to do pizza in VA.

...and this is what I get for leaving my phone on the kitchen table while I go to the bathroom. Even better, I didn't find this until about a week after I got back to VA.

After accidentally sleeping in a bit more than we meant to the next morning (guess I was more adjusted to Pacific Time than I thought), Mark and I had breakfast, packed up the car and the doggies, and drove back to VA. Bye, NJ...see you again soon!