Getting away from Gustav
To kick off my travel season, for Labor Day weekend my cousin and I flew to Shreveport, Louisiana, to house- and pet-sit for my aunt while she went on vacation. This is the second time we've made this trip together to lounge in the sun by the pool, grill on the patio, and take care of some cats and dogs while we're there.
And this is the second time that our flight to Shreveport was significantly delayed. I'm now 0-for-2 in making it to Louisiana on time. The first time I honestly don't remember why we got stuck in Dallas, but we ended up staying there overnight. This time, we got stuck in Chicago because of weather in Dallas, but luckily our flights were early enough in the day that we did make it to Shreveport before the next morning.
Ironically, the weather that delayed us was in Dallas, and it was unrelated to Hurricane Gustav which, as you may recall, was making its way toward Louisiana. To kill time at O'Hare airport I did a lot of Tweeting and e-mailing about our status, and overwhelmingly, the replies I received were along the lines of, "You're traveling in the wrong direction!" I thanked my friends for their concern, but tried to reassure everyone that Shreveport is a city that people evacuate to, not from. The worst we'd get hit with would be rain, which is a small price to pay to ensure my aunt's pets get fed, watered, and medicated for the long weekend!
And so we eventually got to Dallas, and then hopped a little flight to Shreveport, where I sat across the aisle from a woman from Best Friends Animal Society, one of the two major organizations I claim as "my charities". (The other being The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, where I once spent a day painting elephant fences.) I believe she was getting into position in northern Louisiana to swoop down to New Orleans after Gustav did its future damage. And rescue animals, they did!
So we spent Saturday and Sunday lounging in the sun by the pool, grilling on the patio, and, oh, did I already go over all of that? Well, here are my favorite scenes from the weekend:
There, by the grace of god, go some amazing great danes. The two black/white ones are Maggie and Jerry Lee, and the brown lady is Zoey.
In the end, my aunt did end up coming home one day early because her husband's work is affected by heavy rain, and he needed to prepare for it before it hit. Subsequently, we came home a day early, both because our services were no longer needed, and because there would be less chance of being caught in a rain delay on Monday than Tuesday. Having an extra day off after a vacation is never a bad thing, and we didn't want to needlessly risk missing any additional work on Wednesday or even Thursday.
And our flights home went off without a hitch: I am now 2-for-2 in making it out of Louisiana on time. We got home safely, everything in Shreveport was tended to, and Hurricane Gustav wasn't the storm of the century as previously billed. Gustav, I know you did a lot of damage and respect your power, but we thank you for not being worse than you were.
And this is the second time that our flight to Shreveport was significantly delayed. I'm now 0-for-2 in making it to Louisiana on time. The first time I honestly don't remember why we got stuck in Dallas, but we ended up staying there overnight. This time, we got stuck in Chicago because of weather in Dallas, but luckily our flights were early enough in the day that we did make it to Shreveport before the next morning.
Ironically, the weather that delayed us was in Dallas, and it was unrelated to Hurricane Gustav which, as you may recall, was making its way toward Louisiana. To kill time at O'Hare airport I did a lot of Tweeting and e-mailing about our status, and overwhelmingly, the replies I received were along the lines of, "You're traveling in the wrong direction!" I thanked my friends for their concern, but tried to reassure everyone that Shreveport is a city that people evacuate to, not from. The worst we'd get hit with would be rain, which is a small price to pay to ensure my aunt's pets get fed, watered, and medicated for the long weekend!
And so we eventually got to Dallas, and then hopped a little flight to Shreveport, where I sat across the aisle from a woman from Best Friends Animal Society, one of the two major organizations I claim as "my charities". (The other being The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, where I once spent a day painting elephant fences.) I believe she was getting into position in northern Louisiana to swoop down to New Orleans after Gustav did its future damage. And rescue animals, they did!
So we spent Saturday and Sunday lounging in the sun by the pool, grilling on the patio, and, oh, did I already go over all of that? Well, here are my favorite scenes from the weekend:
There, by the grace of god, go some amazing great danes. The two black/white ones are Maggie and Jerry Lee, and the brown lady is Zoey.
In the end, my aunt did end up coming home one day early because her husband's work is affected by heavy rain, and he needed to prepare for it before it hit. Subsequently, we came home a day early, both because our services were no longer needed, and because there would be less chance of being caught in a rain delay on Monday than Tuesday. Having an extra day off after a vacation is never a bad thing, and we didn't want to needlessly risk missing any additional work on Wednesday or even Thursday.
And our flights home went off without a hitch: I am now 2-for-2 in making it out of Louisiana on time. We got home safely, everything in Shreveport was tended to, and Hurricane Gustav wasn't the storm of the century as previously billed. Gustav, I know you did a lot of damage and respect your power, but we thank you for not being worse than you were.
Labels: vacation
posted by Jen S. at
2:30 PM
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