Feb. 7th, 2014 Planes, Trains and Automobiles is the start of our 2014Adventure

We are on our way to Santa Rosa for a month.  We are house-sitting for this couple who live on this little farm in Sonoma county, and have a rental cottage on the property.   We stayed in the rental unit last year, and in talking to them, we negotiated to pay them a minimal fee to stay in their house so they can take a vacation from their house duties and go away.   The house duties include taking care of their animals, which include the dog Murphy, some chickens, goats and sheep, as well as overseeing the rental unit.     So really, this blog should be entitled, "Farmer Dan and Farmer Pat take on Sonoma". Wine Country Cottage
 We left the cold, snowy Northern Michigan early this morning.  
We are talking about 202 inches of snow in Leelanau County  Snow fall in January in Michigan

I barely slept last night, knowing I'd have to get up early, plus being excited.  Salt Lake City is our first stop, so we can see Matt, Rachel, and Isaac, then rent a car from to drive out to Sonoma.
We got to the Traverse City airport, and they had oversold the plane, so we offered to be bumped.  This would get us to Salt Lake City two hours later.  it was easy, except we had to take a transport van to Grand Rapids, fly to Mnpls,, then fly to SLC.   Well, we are intrepid travelers and decided to do this.
It actually all went well, and we arrived safe and sound.  We took the light rail train downtown to pick up our rental car, a Chevy Spark.   The crew at Enterprise left something to be desired, as the guy who picked us up was probably 90, and was not able to help us with our luggage.  But he was a sweet old guy who knew Michigan because he had motorcyled across the U.P. I did ask him when that was as his motorcycle days must have been long ago.  But he was a nice old guy.   The other guy couldn't figure out how to lower the shelf in the hatch back, which was essential to getting all our luggage in.  We finally figured it out and took off.
We ended up meeting Matt for dinner, as Isaac was sick, and so was Rachel.  Disappointing, but we will see them tomorrow and get some good Isaac time.

So, farmers Pat and Dan begin a new adventure. Pat

We want to be in Brooklyn, NOT Detroit!

Our first trip of 2014 was a cold one. A visit to Brooklyn to visit Adam, Emily and Wolf. The visit was great, we got to spend
time with them and it was fun. Wolfie is such a good boy. The travel was a different story.
We began our trip the day after we had our new hardwood floors installed in our house, so we were rather unorganized and a little stressed getting out. We have had around 100 inches of snow so far this winter in Leelanau county and the temperatures have been ranged in the teens to below zero most days. It's been a bad patch of weather. We were concerned about getting out of the Traverse City airport, but that really was no problem.
All went smoothly, we got to Detroit, and had ample time between flights, ate breakfast, boarded the plane for NY and were all belted in and ready to take off. Then the flight was cancelled.  Every airport in the NY area was closed due to weather. After considerable scurrying around the airport, we finally got rebooked for the next day, and decided to get a motel room at the airport rather than inconvenience any of our friends in Ann Arbor. This was on Tuesday.
Next step was to get a car. With the Auto Show in town, and all the cancelled flights it was a daunting task.  We finally got one of the last cars available from Dollar.  We then checked into the Spring Hill Suites, did a little recreational shopping and had dinner before we turned in early.
The next morning's trip (Wednesday) to NY was uneventful, and we were able to move our hotel reservations back a day and rebook our return trip from Friday to Saturday.
The focus of the trip was to visit with Wolf, who we hadn't seen since the summer. He is now 10 months old, and quite a sweet baby. So most of the trip was spent visiting, with them, and taking care of Wolf (we had him by ourselves for a few hours).
This was our first visit to NYC in which we did not go to Manhattan.  The entire trip was spent in Brooklyn.  We really like Brooklyn, and when we had a little time, we went to the NY Transport Museum and also to the Brooklyn Museum. Both were very  good.
Our return Saturday was another adventure. NY to DTW went smoothly, and once again on time. We got to our gate, checked in and were waiting to board, when we were told that the fight would be delayed for a few minutes while they fixed a slight mechanical problem, a seat belt.  A few minutes later, they said that we would be delayed because of high winds in Traverse City, then a few minutes later, the flight was cancelled.  This time, we were told to sit still, and wait until we were rebooked.  In our case that would be Sunday night at 9:45pm.  That would mean two days in Detroit (or Ann Arbor).

We decided to rent a car and drive one way back to TC.  Because of blowing snow and whiteouts this took about six hours of driving.  Enterprise upgraded our car to a VW full size, and it was comfortable enough, but made another long travel day.  13 hours from the time we left the hotel until we got to our house.  We arrived home to find at another foot or two of snow had fallen.  Our deck is completely covered with a four foot snow drift, and the old Explorer which we park in the driveway is completely buried. We are home, it is still snowing, and we are looking forward to leaving on Feb 7 for California and the drought that they are experiencing.

Just a note here  from Pat, since Dan was very complete. Oy vay!  That probably says it all!    On the plane, off the plane, making new arrangements, oh my.    It was also very cold in Brooklyn and we were walking all over the place.  And oh, did Dan not mention the heating issues in our hotel?    Walked into a freezing lobby, everyone had their coats on.  Got to our room, which was warm, but so tiny we kept bumping into each other.  And this was an upgrade!   anyway, by the next morning, the heat was no longer working, so they gave us another room, that was twice the size.   Hint, people, when you are in a small place, ask for a double room instead of a king!    That was cold too, but better, and they gave us a heater for it.   We were not moving again!

Also got to see my cousin Rick, and his S.O., Nancy, so that was good.  Went to the Mile End Deli, which is famous.    We also went to the Brooklyn Transport museum, which is very cool.   also went to the Brooklyn museum to see the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit, which i LOVED!   a wonderful exhibit!

The best was seeing Wolfie and Adam and Emily and made it all worth it!  He is just adorable, and it's such a wonderful feeling to see how good they are with him, and how happy they are.   
But next time, it won't be in january!