The Southwest Scramble: That really sounds like it should be some sort of breakfast preparation involving chipotle, but it actually refers to the mad dash onto the fully-booked airplane. (For those who haven't flown Southwest: it's lovely, but you don't get assigned seats. Instead, you get assigned a numbered boarding pass when you check it, up to 24 hours in advance. You line up in order, and then grab seats as you get onto the plane, so strategy is important.) Neither
msmemory or I are terribly fond of rubbing shoulders with a potentially 300-lb stranger for five hours, so we make a beeline for the two-seat exit row. It doesn't recline, and it doesn't have as much leg room as the exit row behind it, but the elbow room is lovely.First Night in the New Place: Just for tonight, we stay with Dad and Sandy in E2, our new condo. A few years back, Dad bought a rental property here on Sanibel, and it's been his toy ever since, gradually turning it into quite the luxury joint -- lovely decor, fine appliances, and all the toys a geek is likely to want. So a month or so ago, he took some of my sister's and my trust fund, and invested it in another unit.
It isn't as fancy as Dad's original condo at this point, and it'll always be slightly smaller, but it's ground floor -- practically right next to the pool, and feet from the beach -- so it looks like it's going to be a popular rental. And of course, now it is Dad and Sandy's new toy. They're already having fun with a little redecoration, and the family will be talking this week about what we're going to do with the big renovation next year.
Anyway, it's already pretty nice, but a bit odd for
msmemory and me -- we get the kids' room for the night, so we're in separate twin beds. First time we've done that in a bunch of years... 