Scattered Thoughts from a Quick Trip to Wickenburg

Last year, Mal and I went to visit James's mom a couple of weeks before Christmas. This year we went back, and James was able to go with us (he'd just started a new job this time in 2018). We were there for his birthday, and we had a good time visiting. Here are some highlights and non sequiturs from the past few days.

1) The $85 5-year TSA Pre-Check has been a freaking travel game-changer. Thus far, we've only used it to fly to Florida, and then Phoenix twice (and James might have flown a time or two on business)... but, man. James gets stopped for "random" extra scrutiny every dang time we are at the airport, which isn't a great relaxing start (or finish) to what is supposed to be a fun trip. In addition to how easy it is to go through security and move along when you don't have to put your shoes back on and your laptop back in your bag, the fact that there's never a line means that there's no standing in a snaking security line stressing that you might not get to your gate before they give your seat to someone on standby. Five stars. Highly recommend.

2) Technology is great. We parked at The Parking Spot, which allows you to scan your custom QR code to enter and exit, and even to call a shuttle (though we haven't needed that yet, because they've been right there every time so far). We used Avis to rent our car, and though we still did have to pop into the garage-based rental office to swipe a credit card for some reason, we were able to view the reservation, make changes, immediately see the gas fill charge upon return, and we'd even have been able to check the car in ourselves if there hadn't been any attendants in the vicinity. We flew Southwest, and were able to use digital boarding passes; I was able to add all three to my Apple Wallet for easy scanning. We could monitor the flight status, and even watch movies in-flight for free, if we'd wanted. Of course, we used GPS (Waze, typically) for directions.

In the past, I'd print out physical maps, as well as all pertinent reservations emails and numbers and combine them into an exciting (to me, no one else) vacation binder that accompanied me on all trips. I'd fold over a page once it was irrelevant, so I was ready for the next thing. Having it all on a smart phone is another game-changer. I know everyone else has done this for a decade, but I have not. I'm still in the honeymoon phase.

3) Mal didn't want to do anything to pass the time on either flight. He cried when we took off from Austin; he was so scared. He did fine after about ten minutes, but spent the first part of the flight crying that he wanted to go back home (and of course he cried our last night that he wanted to stay in Wickenburg). Other than that, he wouldn't play Lego Star Wars on his iPad. He wouldn't play with any of the activities we'd packed to keep him busy. At one point I asked, "So you want to do nothing but just sit here and complain about how long the flight is and ask how much longer it is?" He affirmed, "Right."

He DID seem to get a kick out of making up stories about what the folks in the safety brochure are doing, saying, and thinking, though.

Really, those pictures are ridiculous.

4) "The Rise of Skywalker" has a lot of similarities to "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" (the movie, not the book; though some of it is in the book, too). If you don't want any spoilers, move on to the next item. I'll try to be as vague as possible, but wanted to list the things that made me go, "OMG, it always goes back to Harry Potter!"
a) A main character and a conversation with a deceased person: Basically both deadies said, "Just because it's in your mind doesn't mean it's not real."
b) Death of a baddie: Hero refuses to actively murder the bad guy, who ends up killing self by rebound... including disintegrating into ash or something! (Which I HATED in HP but was okay with here, because I didn't have a book to compare it to.)
c) Randoms show up to turn the tide; even those who didn't want to get involved originally. "That's not an army; that's just people."
d) Hero has formerly unknown close physical connection to baddie that meant the hero could choose the same path to "ultimate" power.
e)

Also: Thanks, Star Wars franchise, for keeping the important aspect of family members smooching each other alive. Was really afraid that died in "A New Hope." But no. Nice bookend. /s

5) Here are some pictures from our trip that you can scroll through and make the above references disappear from your browser window!

Happy birthday, James! It's number forty-eight!

Our house from the air! It took two hours to get there from the time I took this picture.

6) Our last night in the hotel, I packed up what I could and set the carry-on in the floor, opened until we finished adding stuff the next morning. Moments later, I freaking ran into one of the wheels with the SAME TOE I injured on our cruise. It was just finished healing after nearly nine months! Now it's purple again, and super tender. I really do have spatial issues with my feet and protruding wheels. Darn.

But, I was pretty excited that we fit all of our gear for a 4-night trip in one carry-on and backpacks for us all (my backpack is my purse, and I only put my laptop in in addition to my normal stuff). Mal didn't use his backpack much at all, so I probably won't worry about lugging that around on our next trip.

7) Mal woke up with a sinus infection/ish the last night, as well. He was coughing something terrible, and couldn't breathe when he laid down. He didn't have a fever, so I wasn't too worried (although someone with measles traveled through our airport on December 17, two days before we did! So if we'd had an accompanying fever, I would have been more concerned... even though it was technically too early for symptoms to present); but I hated his being so uncomfortable. I guess he's going to be like D, who gets sick every time we travel somewhere dry. I knew he'd have a hard time last night, too, but expected it to be more of the same, with the coughing. Instead, he just woke up weeping two or three times. It is so sad! I just gave him some water and hugged him and kept asking if he could tell me what was wrong. He could only say, "I love you so much." Hopefully tonight will be easier on everyone.

8) This is not a separate thought, but it's not connected to 7 so I wanted to differentiate it. We had a nice time and I'm glad James got to visit with his mom this time. They even had a special night out to go see Star Wars... Mal and I ended up seeing it, but we weren't sure that would be the case as the local theater didn't indicate that they'd be showing the movie at all until a week or so out, and even then, they don't presell tickets. I think we spent more time indoors as it was a bit cooler this visit, but we still visited three parks, including one we didn't get to last year. We spent significantly less time at the labyrinth that Mal loves. He also stayed with Ronnie and Patsy one evening while James and I went out to dinner, so that was cool.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

PS Yesterday was the 9-year "gotcha" anniversary for Rudy and Carol!