Graceful Parenting in Austin

Yesterday I flew to Colorado and back. I can’t say why because not everything is meant to be shared on a blog. I said something the other day about doing things I don’t usually do making for an interesting day and yesterday was definitely interesting.

It’s pretty easy to pack when you aren’t staying overnight and I thought I had packed well. A carry-on bag for my laptop and a change of clothes, just in case. A book I’m reviewing and a magazine for light reading. My iPod with new music and sunglasses. A coat and hat. (I had to look for the hat, because I don’t wear it in Texas where it has been in the 70s in the afternoons for weeks.) I wore comfortable jeans, a black sweater and my socks and sandals.

The socks and sandals seemed like a good idea at the time. I’ve had a lot of trouble with my toe, mostly because it gets gooey and the bandage sticks, which is equally disgusting and painful. But my new plan has worked well. After I take a shower, I don’t bandage it right away, I let it get some air first and I don’t wear shoes. No shoes ever. Not pressure on the toe. This is very important. No matter how funny my socks and sandals look.

But as I was waiting to board my flight to Denver, I was looking at my sandals and they made me laugh. I looked around at the other passengers and they were wearing big, tough, outdoor shoes for hiking in the snow and climbing mountains. An older man in the row across from me was smiling at me. I’m pretty sure it was because of my socks and sandals.

But then I began to worry that my feet might freeze. I had thought about my big toe, but not about maybe loosing all my toes. Last time I was in Denver I was wearing real shoes and my feet were so freezing cold I stopped in a store in the middle of the tour to buy some skiing socks and my feet still froze. I might make the news. Woman gets frostbite wearing sandals in Denver in February. Everyone wonders, “What in the world was she thinking?”

It was a good flight and there was good news when I arrived, the weather was amazing. No snow. Sunny skies. Not very cold. I might have been a fashion disaster, but at least not a medical one. I picked up my rental car and wondered about the economics of travel. I got a great deal on the flight, only $175 on Frontier Airlines, but the car is costing me $100. It’s so strange that the car and the plane cost about the same.

It wasn’t a very scenic drive. There were no mountains. There were lots of huge apartment complexes that all look pretty much the same, in different shades of brown and tan. Then there were clusters of the modern homes, you know the ones, 2-stories, boxy and close together, with variations on a few floor plans for the neighborhood, all painted different shades of the same color. I wonder if I had just bought my house, if I would remember which one was mine.

I arrived at my destination two hours early, which is a good idea, if you are traveling 1000 miles to get there. I drove a major street looking for a place to have a coffee and write. Normally, I like the Mom-n-Pop coffee shops with the cushy couches and unusual music, but a Starbucks would be all right. I drove for MILES and didn’t see one. I couldn’t believe it. I thought I must be very far from home. But then I needed to go to the bathroom, so I pulled into a Target and then I saw the sign, there was a Starbucks inside. Ah, I wasn’t too far from home. But they didn’t have wireless Internet. Even the Dairy Queen in Austin has wireless Internet. I asked about this and the barista said the Starbucks in the Safeway, 1 block north, has wireless and the stand-alone Starbucks, 2 blocks north, has wireless and more comfortable chairs. No, I wasn’t too far from home.

I leave and my key doesn’t work for my rental car, then I notice it isn’t my rental car so I try all the small, white cars in that row and find it. I remember the time when I first started traveling for work when I left the airport in my rental car and stopped for an errand. When I get out of the store I realized I have no idea what kind of car I rented. I didn’t remember the make or model or color. Then there was the time I remembered the name, but not the location, of the parking garage in downtown Chicago where I parked, only to find that it was a parking garage chain with dozens of locations downtown. That sucked too. (I really should stop sharing this kind of story.)

My morning meetings go fine, so now I’m ready for lunch. I ask the locals for suggestions and they tell me about the McDonald’s, Subway, KFC, Taco Bell, Chipolte and Chili’s. I asked if there was a place unique to Denver and they said well, not that they know of. Hmmm, kind of like the housing, in this part of the city anyway.

My afternoon is done and I’ve got some extra time so I do a little shopping, then I head for the airport and the sign for my exit comes quickly and I don’t have time to read it so I guess and I think I guessed right. I double check that I’m heading on 470 West, since I came in on 470 East, so all is looking well. Except that it just looks different. And there aren’t any toll booths. I double check the directions I used coming in, yep E470. I drive a little longer. I remember another time I was in Colorado on a one-day trip and I missed my connection on the way back and had to fly on multiple flights overnight to get in at 9am the next morning. I’m sure that wouldn’t happen again. (I guess I can’t stop sharing this kind of story.)

Then there are mountains on my left. There weren’t mountains on the way down. Mountains don’t lie. I turn around.

I had taken the wrong exit. The E470 that I came in on is not 470 going East, but the eastern part of the 470 loop heading North/South, which has a special name because it is a tollway. 470 West is the southern part of the 470 loop that is actually heading West, towards Golden, Colorado and away from the airport. Then it all made sense.

This made for a long drive to the airport. But I had some extra time, so all was well. The flight back was fine and I was glad to get back home. And I wonder about sharing the embarrassing traveling story. I run the risk of looking incompetent or silly. In my defense, I can say that I have traveled a lot and I tend to get where I’m going just fine, even in non-touristy foreign countries. But the few times I got totally lost or I did miss my plane, these are some of my favorite stories and I think if everything went as planned, traveling wouldn’t be as interesting, so I’ll take the risk and share the stories anyway.

I’m back in Texas this morning, it is about 65 degrees and muggy outside. Perfect weather for my socks and sandals.