Good trip down, starting with a 9:35am flight out of Ithaca (quite civilized time to fly) and then an automatic first-class upgrade from Pittsburgh to Tampa. I like being a frequent flyer. :-) Just in case there wasn't going to be food on the relatively short second flight, I had a snack at the Oyster House at PIT. Mmmmmm, oysters. But first class passengers got turkey pastrami sandwiches... and those would've been available for purchase in coach. (But in a cardboard box, rather than on a real plate.) I've also decided that, in a pinch, Chivas 12-year-old blended Scotch whisky is perfectly drinkable. But I'm also going to let USAirways know that it would be nice if they upgraded their whisky options. They have top-notch vodka and gin, why not bourbon and scotch?
We drove the hour and a half south to Venice and the hotel through a massive, dark thunderstorm, but there's no sign of bad weather down here. We all spent a little time by the pool, and now we're all getting dressed to go have a casual dinner. There are a few other relatives at the hotel as well, but they're planning a kid-friendly dinner and my parents aren't into noisy kid-full restaurants. My mom says they're taking their kid somewhere better. ;-)
My cousin Kirsten is reportedly very glad to hear I'm here for the weekend. I haven't seen her in years! (And never thought of her as Kirsten. Alan, you may remember her as Keri from her camp days in the mid '80s.) She's married and has two (?) kids. And, she's actually only my cousin if you zig-zag a few times. It's an interesting family tree on this side. (Short form: they're all related to my mom's half-sister's father, who wasn't my mom's father, and so technically aren't related to us by blood at all.)
More after dinner...
