Tuesday, January 13, 2015

"The End" of The Yellowstone Adventure

This blog entry is about one of my travels, so it goes in my travel blog. But it *ends* up in Maine with an adventure that could only happen in Maine and so it belongs in my Life with the Mainiacs blog, too. It's a double entry.

I had 36 hours in Denver and then it was time to pack it all back up and head out again. I acquired a lot of goodies in Albuquerque, so I borrowed a suitcase from my mom. I was able to stuff my purse into my usual carryon, so now I can check two (the black bag and the big orange bag) and take two on board... a carryon bag (the smaller orange bag) and a personal item (the orange striped bag. With enough wheels and straps and creativity and agility, I can actually make my way into the airport without any assistance. What a traveler!


On Dec. 18, when I left, I drove to Boston and Rodney and I did an amazing car swap. I picked him up at Logan's terminal C and he dropped me off at terminal E. Then he had the use of my car for the 9 days he was in town and parked my car at the Portland Transportation Center on Dec. 27. It saved me paying 9 days of parking and he got the use of a car. Pretty cush deal. This is the photo he sent me to show me where my car was parked.

This is what it looked like on Jan. 13 when I arrived in Portland. Can you tell that the holiday travel crunch is over? Can you tell that they had some snow after Rodney left and before I got back?

Check out the snow and ice on my car. Actually, if you're going to have ice on your car, this is what you hope for... a layer of soft fluffy snow first, then a layer of ice. I got the bonus of more fluffy snow on top of that. It made it sooo easy to get the ice off. It was like a reverse oreo...two layers of soft icing with a hard cookie on the inside. I was actually able to lift the ice off in sheet and just toss them on the ground. The top layer of snow went with the ice and didn't add any weight. A simple brush took off the rest. It took some time and in 7 degree weather, it was a little chilly, but all in all, it wasn't bad at all. Except for the part where my doors were frozen shut. I couldn't get into my car! It doesn't matter how clear the outside of your car is if you can't get in.
 

In desperation, I tried the trunk. Well, that opened. Uh oh. Was that really my only choice of solution? Hmmmm. I looked online using my phone to see if I could google any other ideas. There really weren't any good ones I hadn't tried except the one with the blow dryer and the one with boiling water, neither of which I had access to. I could call AAA, but I really didn't feel like waiting 30 minutes or more in the cold in the lonely parking lot. So I plucked up my courage, fought off a few thoughts of claustrophobia, and crawled in. I released the two back seat releases, pushed the seats down, and wiggled and crawled my way into the car where I was able to open the doors from the inside. I was so tempted to take a selfie, but it physically wasn't possible. So we will just have to use our imaginations. Does the picture that popped into your imagination make you laugh? I was laughing the whole time. Fortunately, my car started right up and after the very nice bus station employee let me back into the building to use the facilities and to pay the $4 rate instead of the $6 rate at the exit, I was on my way home.