Jane and I took a quick trip to Austin, Texas this weekend for nephew Joe's wedding (I took a Sunday off, but not a week off). We arrived Friday evening just in time for the rehearsal dinner, and left bright and early Sunday morning (8 am) to come back home. We didn't have time to see any of the Austin sites, but still had a good time at the wedding and visiting with family, and it's always nice to just get away for a little bit with my sweetie.
We flew American Airlines out of Fort Wayne Friday just after lunch and it took 2 hrs. 5 minutes to get to Dallas. We had about an hour layover and flew from Dallas to Austin in like 33 minutes. Jane's brother Terry and his wife were on our flight from Dallas to Austin. They rented a car, so we just rode with them straight from the airport to the rehearsal dinner at The County Line in Austin. I was glad Terry was driving because 1) I had no idea Austin was this huge (like a million people), and 2) trying to get through traffic at 5 pm on a Friday was probably not the best introduction to the city. But he did a swell job and we made it fine. We had a nice meal and then rode back to our hotel (Comfort Suites South) with Jane's brother Mark and his wife (we were staying at the same hotel). We got our room and then went and visited with Mark and Christine for awhile in their room.
Saturday we slept in a little bit and had a scrumptious hotel breakfast (waffle and rolls) and visited with some of the people from back home who were there for the wedding. Then we took a walk around the area. It was unusually chilly for this time of year, so I'm glad we brought our winter coats. It was only like 40 degrees, but if did finally warm up to like 60 later in the day. Of course it was supposed to be 75 on Sunday and 80 on Monday. Oh well, it was still nice. We kind of just lounged around and then ate lunch with M & C at the Subway next door to the hotel. We rode with them to the wedding just after lunch. It was a Catholic wedding, and was very nicely done (I thought). There weren't a lot of people, and not a lot of fanfare, but everything was very nice. After the wedding we left for the reception, which was in Kyle, Tx (about 20 miles away). We again rode with M & C, and arrived just as it was to start, at 4 pm. It was held under a pavilion sort of thing, with some plastic sides draped down around parts of it. They also had a couple of portable heaters set up, because it got rather chilly rather quickly. But we all survived. It was a nice reception with an open bar and a good chicken meal. They had a dj for most of the night and then for the last hour (9-10) they had a mariachi band. I'm not big into that kind of music, but the band was a blast (I thought). Couldn't understand a word they said, but all of Ana's family (they are from Mexico) really seemed to get into it. Anyway, it was a real nice time, and we left probably around 10:30 or 11 and headed back to our hotel with M & C. We just went to our room and went to bed when we got back.
We got up at 4:45 am Sunday morning because we had a taxi coming at 6 to take us to the airport. At 5:45 they called and said they were waiting for us downstairs. So we grabbed out things and headed out. We were only like 5 miles from the airport, but it still cost $28 for the cab. But it was nice to have a ride and he dropped us off at the curb. I didn't think there would be too many people out and about that early in the morning, but the airport was just PACKED at 6 am. We checked in and went through security, then found a place to grab some breakfast. The Austin airport was pretty nice and it didn't seem like we had to wait very long before our flight. However the flight did not start off too well. They were overbooked, so they were trying to talk people into getting off the plane. Then they didn't have enough room for everyone's carry-on luggage, so they had people trying to go both ways down the aisle of the plane - one of which was me. I had to check one of our bags. So... it ended up we were late leaving Austin. We were flying back through Chicago (O'Hare) and we only had a 40 minute layover to begin with. It was a 2 hr. 20 minute flight and we figured out where we needed to go, so when we landed we made a mad dash for our connecting flight. I was lugging 2 bags and worked up a pretty good sweat. We arrived at our gate with what we thought was 1 minute to spare, but the plane had actually left early. There were four of us on our flight that missed the flight to Fort Wayne. One lady who was ahead of us was not very happy and she asked for the supervisor. We kind of just stood there and another lady helped us. She finally found us a flight on United that would go to Fort Wayne at 6 pm (it was 11:30 am), and she also put us on stand-by for a 2:05 pm flight. So we went to the United counter (which was another long jaunt), and that lady actually got us ON the 2:05 pm flight. So it ended up working out okay. We had time to grab some lunch, and we ended up being in an exit row, so we had a little extra leg room. It ended up we were on the same plane as the IPFW men's volleyball team, so it was a little rowdier flight than some of the others. We arrived in Fort Wayne at 4 pm and Carrie and the kids were there to pick us up. The best part of the trip for me was when Anna saw us and came running and jumped into my arms and gave me a great big hug. :)
So, that was pretty much the trip. No site seeing, no Austin nightlife, and not a lot of time; but it was a good trip and a nice wedding. Unfortunately I still have this rash on my back and arms, but didn't scratch myself to death; and the new meds didn't seem to negatively effect me in any way.
Our flights were all really good. From Fort Wayne to Dallas was a 2 hr. 5 minute flight time; Dallas to Austin was 33 minutes. Austin to Chicago was 2 hrs. 20 minutes; and Chicago to Fort Wayne was 29 minutes (those are in-air times). The two shorter ones were both an hour total. The first flight was on a smallish plane with just one seat on one side and 2 seats on the other. From Dallas to Austin was on a bigger plane with 2 seats on one side and 3 seats on the other. Jane and I didn't get to sit together on that plane. We were both in the center seat, and were in the back of the plane. It was really noisy, but only lasted a half hour so it wasn't too bad. Leaving Austin was on the same type of plane, and we were still towards the back (row 25), but we at least got to sit together, and on the 2-seat side. The United flight back to Fort Wayne had 2 seats on both sides. We were in row 8, right over the wing, and it was kind of nice having the extra leg-room of the exit aisle.
There is probably more I could write, and I'm sure I'm leaving out a lot (like a lot of the wedding details), but this is probably enough for now. All told it was a good trip and I'm glad we went. I used to really dislike flying, but it doesn't seem to bother me at all anymore. A good time.
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