Oh, that's right! I traveled for a week from June 5 - June 11, followed by three days in the office, and then this weekend. And THAT is how it became June 16th in the blink of an eye.
From Wednesday, June 5th through Friday, June 7th, I was in Alexandria, VA for the ERAPPA summer board meeting. We stayed at the Embassy Suites in Old Town and conducted our meetings at "the mothership" - the APPA offices. Old Town Alexandria was pretty neat. I liked how everything was so walkable. It was just quaint enough for me to start thinking, "I could live somewhere like this." Then I left Old Town Friday afternoon on my way to Baltimore, and the precious bubble of quaintness was burst. Traffic, traffic, and more traffic! I'll stick to Central PA, thank you very much!
Friday afternoon, I traveled to Baltimore to stay with my parents and visit with my family for the weekend. That night, we all met at Pizza John's in Essex for dinner. Apparently, when you can't enjoy the delicious Pizza John's pizza, it's easy to get bored.
Saturday morning, my mom and I drove out to the Baltimore Coffee and Tea Company for breakfast before meeting Bill, Casie, and Mallorie at Smyth Jewelers in Timonium. At Christmas, Mom promised Casie and me a new Pandora charm once the baby was born. It was time for us to pick out our beads. Mom and Casie picked out the Pandora baby carriage; I selected the Pandora "M" block bead for Mallorie. Following our bling-shopping, Mom and I returned home to pick up Dad and met Bill, Casie, and Mallorie out at White Marsh Mall for some more shopping and lunch.
Later that afternoon, I decided to take a walk to Walther Gardens for a snowball. I worked at Walther Gardens during the summers of 1991 and 1992. Back in the day, a small chocolate snowball with marshmallow was $0.90. Last weekend? $2.25! Holy smokes! Nonetheless, it was delicious!
Saturday evening, Bill and Mallorie came over for dinner (Casie was out for the evening with her friend, Amy). Earlier in the week, Mallorie rolled over for the first time! Bill brought her play mat and I hung out with her on the floor. She rolled over a few times and then we took some pictures.
The next morning, I packed up my stuff for the third time (first: when I left my house, second: when I left Alexandria), bid my parents farewell, and headed up the road for Atlantic City. But first, I met two of my high school friends - sisters Debbie and Brenda - for breakfast at Sunshine Grille in Fork, MD. It was great to spend the morning catching up and chatting over omelets and coffee! Debbie (R) and Brenda (L) even gave me some pointers for Atlantic City.
Once breakfast was over, it was time to get on the road again. Three hours later, I arrived in Atlantic City.
I went to Atlantic City for a site visit and host committee meeting with the ERAPPA 2014 host committee from NJAPPA. I arrived at Revel, checked in, and settled into my room on the 42nd floor. I had the itch to get outside and get my toes in the sand, so I headed out for a stroll on the boardwalk. I walked 2.5 miles down the boardwalk, out onto the beach, up the beach to the shops at Caesar's Pier, and then back to Revel on the boardwalk.
Sunday night, I enjoyed a wonderful meal of Spanish tapas at Jose Garces' Amada restaurant at Revel. Monday, we spent the day touring the resort and visiting offsite venues for potential special events locations. That night, we dined at American Cut by Marc Forgione. Tuesday morning we had a host committee meeting and saw a two final venues. Following lunch, everyone went their separate ways. I took all of my stuff to my car, but then returned to the casino. I couldn't leave Atlantic City without doing a little gambling. I played the slots for a little while; was up, down, up, down, and up again. I finally cashed out having won a whopping $0.30...but I still won!
I hit the road for home at 2:15 PM and pulled into the garage 5.5 hours later. Unfortunately, my route home put me through Philadelphia and Harrisburg at 4 PM and 5:30 PM respectively, so I did hit some traffic. When I arrived home, Chris had dinner ready so we sat down, ate dinner, and got caught up. After dinner, I unpacked my stuff and just chilled for the rest of the evening, happy to be home!
Come back for Part Two these chaotic ten days - a ride for Father's Day!
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