We’re Having an Adventure

     We should have gotten to Lexington yesterday, but if you read yesterday's blog, you know that we were stuck in Philadelphia for the night. We had to go out in a horrendous storm, and after we got back to the hotel we basically just hung out for the night. 

      This morning, after we checked out of the hotel, we had some time before we needed to go to the airport so we went to the visitors center near Independence Hall. This mural was outside (but also inside) the parking garage. 

    They had a squished penny machine, and I happen to love squished pennies. It also is incredibly simple to swipe your card and get all 4 coins, without having to search for any coins at all. 

     We got this picture because it was fun. 

      And we saw these very old things on the way to see the Liberty Bell. I was so focused on the bell I didn't even check to see what these old things were. But I liked them. 

     And then we got to see the bell! The guard (guide? Not sure who he was) near the bell said there are no lines for the bell, just move up. So people moved up near it, on all sides, and got photos or selfies. Lots of selfies. 

     I did get in to get this quick photo of the crack in the bell. Maybe another time we will spend more time looking around. There was a lot to see once you got through security. Not just the bell (we skipped pretty much everything because I had a goal and limited time). 

     We also saw Independence Hall. There were no more tickets for tours so we didn't get to go inside. I did catch a video of the bell tolling at noon. It was really cool to see it, even if just from the outside. 

     And because we were in Philadelphia, we got Philly cheesesteaks. From a food cart that was basically a tiny food truck. It was really good and we fed some really brave little birds that came to hang out with us where we ate in a shady spot in the park. 

    We were running short on time so we headed back to the visitor's center. I got this cool picture of Travis. 

     And this one, because my friend said I needed a picture of Travis getting a hug from the Green Monster. So I did. 

     We headed back to Hertz to drop the car off and got the shuttle back to the airport. We almost made it through security, but Travis got another pat down (almost always now) which he was cool with. One of my bags was also flagged again. The TSA agent asked if I had anything fragile in it and I said yes, a model horse. He said he would be really careful and he was. Though when he took her out, both her ears were broken (crap!). He said it looked like that was the only damage and he said he just had to test her (OMG!) but he didn't do anything that would mess up the model so that was fine. He has to do his job after all. I asked if I could repack her and he said yes, absolutely, and let me come around to his desk. So I got to see the x-ray pic too. 

     So as is typical for us these days, we got flagged at security. But we weren't doing anything wrong so I had no concerns. The agent was very pleasant and seemed happy that we were nice and cooperative. But why not? He's just doing his job and we had so much time before the flight. Clearly, since I am currently sitting at the gate waiting for boarding. We didn't have a whole lot of time in Philadelphia, but we got to spend a bit of time there. I am already planning another trip there at some point, so I will see the things we didn't get a chance to see when we go again. Travis said he's still having fun. And he's still saying he wants to go to a horse show. He will get his wish tomorrow. 
 

Missed Connection

      Sometimes everything goes right with a flight. It's on time, smooth, and you have plenty of time to catch your connecting flight. And then sometimes things don't go right. We are dealing with one of those situations right now. Things started off mostly OK. We got to the airport, Travis got a pat down, and our carry on luggage got flagged (twice) going through security. They had to test my protein bars. That was a new one on me. But since they were in fact real protein bars, they were fine. They also flagged the bin with the carry on full of dolls and Travis's backpack. But they didn't open either, so I don't know what that was about. And we didn't have to take our shoes off. That was cool. 

     We got to the gate and had more than enough time. The boarding time came, but there was no plane. We waited some more. And then a bit more. Finally, there was a plane at the gate. Eventually, they even let us get on it. It was a little plane. They had everyone valet check their roller bags, because they don't fit in the overhead bins. OK. 

     So we found our seats and we waited. And then waited some more. Apparently, another flight to Philadelphia had been canceled and they were trying to get as many people as they could from that flight onto our flight. But then, they decided the flight was overweight because the wind had shifted and the long runway was closed. So then they needed a bunch of people to volunteer to get off the plane and book a different flight. That took over an hour. People would ask for more information, people got off the plane and back on it again. Eventually, we took off. 

    I remembered we needed an airplane selfie. The flight was pretty quick, only about 45 minutes, and I took a nap for most of it. When we landed, it was 7 minutes after our connecting flight had taken off. Crap. So we went to the gate to talk to an agent and see what could be done. Apparently nothing could be done until tomorrow. We are rebooked on a flight to Lexington tomorrow afternoon. And the airline won't pay for a hotel because they say they only do that if the delay was for mechanical issues. Well, I didn't cause us to miss our connection so I will have to call and get them to pay for my hotel here in Philadelphia. But that is a problem for a different day. 

      Since the airline still has our luggage we are missing some essential items so we had to run out to Walmart. We also needed to get something to eat. So we went out in a horrendous storm. If the need for certain items hadn't been an immediate need we might have waited. There was a lot of road flooding, but we made it safely. It was not a big Walmart so they had some food, but not a ton of options. When we got out of the store the rain had slowed to a drizzle. And we had an uneventful trip back to the hotel. 

     I said to Travis that we are having an adventure and I asked him if it was good or bad. He said it was good. So that's something. He also said he wanted to go to a horse show. He needs to wait, I don't show until Thursday. 

      So we don't need to be to the airport until about 1:30 so maybe tomorrow morning we can find something to do in Philadelphia. Tomorrow we were going to go out to Mammoth Cave and to the dollhouse museum. But now we won't get to Lexington until those are closed. I am not sure if we will have time to go out and do those things on Monday. I am vaguely annoyed to miss out on those things. But we're having an adventure. And I guess we're just going to roll with it.