What a weekend!

While Geoff was rockin' out to Backspacer and helping to welcome our newest niece into the world, I was on the other side of the country in Miami spending time with my parents and sister.

To start the weekend off my Dad was able to snag some time with one of the flight instructors at PolarAir Cargo in a 747-400 simulator. The four of us and Bill (our flight instructor) spent two hours taking off and landing a plane out of SFO airport in all sorts of conditions. (Folks when its foggy in San Francisco, thank goodness for autopilot). Most amazing flight experience ever. It was so real feeling that I'm pretty sure my mom had miniature heart-attack when we stalled out on our first take-off. Wanna get freaked out? Experience the feeling and sound of a 800,000 pound aircraft stalling... yikes!

I was able to stick two landings (bad landings and not without taking out a couple of baggage handlers)! Kinda proud of myself. Thanks to Bill for all his time and to PolarAir Cargo for a little time in their $40 Million Simulator. It was amazing!

The next day we spent the morning by the pool and beach. Water on Miami beach is nice! We went up to the room for a little lunch and I tried to watch the Husky game. Tried was the main word... ESPN was broadcasting the Ducks game. Really, the Ducks? So, I watched the ducks game, but was really watching the ticker at the bottom of the screen for the updates and score. My dad and I were jumping and yelling everytime the ticker would show UW. Also Geoff was sending me minute by minute text updates. For those of you who have not been tuned into college football, UW (unranked) beat USC (ranked #3) 16-13. Luckily ABC switched to the UW game for the last 30 seconds so I got to see the sea of purple storm the field after the winning field goal. Seriously amazing! I hope you enjoyed being at the game Brad!

The rest of the time was walking around Miami Beach, eating out, having a few cocktails and enjoying the "scene". Really an interesting place, all that old time Art Deco architecture was amazing and the people are fun to watch! It was really wonderful to spend some time with the family in a nice relaxed setting. The only non-relaxing thing about the weekend was the 2:30am fire alarm at the hotel... seriously? Also, the fire department took at least 15 minutes to respond... a little scary.

Now I'm on my way home, literally. Wi-Fi on the airplane (free trial run). Makes the flight go by way faster. Now if only the power outlet worked.... stupid battery.

It was a great weekend, but I cannot wait to meet our new niece on Tuesday and join Geoff for some quality Pearl Jam this week.