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| Tea at The Peach Tree |
Just back from a week in the Hill Country visiting my daughter and her family. Must start at the beginning... which was a bit shaky.
Tuesday I arrived at the airport at 2pm with a 3:20 departure schedule.
First thing that happened was for the first time in a long time I didn’t get TSA preboarding on my boarding pass... so I needed to do all the ‘remove shoes, liquids in plastic bag, etc’. OK, I can handle that.
Then they sent my plastic cartons containing my stuff (carry-on, purse, cell phone, etc.) down one aisle and made me and the rest of the people behind me move to another line!
Then when I went to retrieve my cartons, my carry-on bag was missing. Well, apparently they confiscated it because the X-ray showed 2 cans (one Godiva dark chocolate pretzels and one tin of Kona coffee flavored macadamia nuts from Hawaii). I was bringing these to my daughter. So the TSA agent had to unpack my bag and check out those items (but didn't confiscate them).
Then... my flight was delayed (twice).
Finally- we boarded and were on the plane seated about 5 minutes when they came over the intercom and said that there was a maintenance problem and we needed to deplane (Great).
Then we waited in the terminal until they took the first plane away and found us a new plane which we reboarded (of course - from a different gate)
I'm really not complaining about it all... (although it does sound like it). It's just that an hour's quick trip to San Antonio turned into a 6 hour ordeal. (not anyone's fault - just did). But I have to say that the next day I unexpectedly received an email apology from Southwest as well as a $100.00 voucher to be used at a later date. (How about that?)
Wednesday - I got to watch my grand daughter ride at an indoor arena where they're boarding one of their horses and
Thursday - we headed out to Fredericksburg to spend the night and walk the cute little shops and restaurants there.
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| me in our airbnb in Fredricksburg |
Visited my favorite German kitchen store (Der Kuchen Laden) and had lunch at the Peach Tree Cafe and Tea room! Visited more shops, then back to our Airbnb to rest. Then off to the Fredericksburg Brewing Company for dinner. After dinner we headed to Old Tunnel State Park to watch the bats emerge from their cave (old railroad tunnel). The Park Ranger gave us the history of the old railroad tunnel and general information on bats while waiting for them to fly out... which they did around 8:30pm.
Friday morning - we hit Java Ranch coffee shop (really cute), walked town a bit, back to pack up and check out... then brunch at The Herb Farm - toasted faccacia bread with butter and jams, biscuits with white gravy and sausage, and English tea with cream!
Then back home to daughter’s house (about an hour away).
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| daughter's house and land |
Sunday - we visited the little German town of Gruene... just to walk the shops and have coffee... too hot outside to stay long. Home again to nap!
Her mama chicken and baby chick (lone survivor of rat snake that got her siblings) are very friendly. Mama jumped in my lap to get some French fries...
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| Pushy mama and her chick |
And Moose (daughter’s new Great Dane) is a sweetheart.
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| Moose |
That's Moose sitting on grand daughter's lap. He has a very nice profile....
Flight home was delayed also, but only once... and the rest was uneventful (thank goodness).
Cats are happy for me to be back home!
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| See how excited they are to see me back... |
Now catching up on all the blogs I missed...
what a nice visit, love the chick and hen, and the cow creamer, you daughter's home is lovely.
ReplyDeleteThans, Linda. The cow creamer was cute... but very difficult to pour without spilling.
DeleteGood heavens! I'd say the airline got off easy with the $100 - lol! How about $100 per hour? :-D
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm glad you finally made it (with your luggage) safe and sound. It sounds like it was a fabulous visit!
It was a lovely visit... once I got there. And the voucher was an unexpected surprise!
DeleteAir travel these days is the pits. I don't travel more than once or twice a year and I sure don't look forward to it. Glad it all turned out all right and you got a $100 bonus for all your troubles! And I too am glad you are back home safe and sound! :-)
ReplyDeleteI agree, DJan. I love to fly... but the airport ordeal does make it difficult. Once I'm on the plane, I tend to relax (so when they said we had to 'get off' I thought, "oh no")
DeleteI will definitely use the voucher, but not any time soon.
When I hear about airline kerfuffles, it makes me so glad I have a fear of flying and refuse to travel that way. But the trip was certainly worth it and it appears you had a grand visit.
ReplyDeletePatti, I know several people who feel the same. But it isn't 'the flying' part that's the problem. It's the crowded terminals and all the hassle. Don't get me wrong, I want all the security, but sometimes it just gets to be a bit much.
DeleteYour daughter has a beautiful place. It all looks so pretty. Poor baby chicks. We have lots of trouble with rat snakes too and have lost two baby chicks to them this summer.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter put the remaining baby chick up high on the perch in the hen house beside it's mother to keep it safe each night. So far it has worked.
DeleteIn my experience, a lot of flying is "hurry up and wait". Of course, I live where it is impossible to get there from here...at least not without spending a full day getting there. Good on Southwest for providing $100. Our airlines would never be that generous!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a wonderful trip and a great visit with your family. I can imagine the cats were happy to be home.
I guess I don't do a lot of flying... maybe once a year if that much. I prefer taking a road trip, but sometimes flying is the only option. And yes, it was very nice to get the voucher. Kind of showed they cared... (?)
ReplyDelete