To me clouds are the most interesting part of any flight, except for the rising or setting sun. Being up there has an angelic feel to it.

Airport in Philadelphia shows they have not had much snow

This is our plane,a Boeing 767; we are waiting to board in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia from the air

January 29, 2009

It is now 6:25 a.m. and all is well – we are at the airport waiting for our flight which is to leave at 7:10 for Philadelphia. We got through customs without incident, somehow evading the 3 bitches from last year. So far we still have passports in hand and we are moving forward.

Allan is reading the morning paper, yesterday’s storm left millions of homes in the dark, snow and ice put a chill on states from Texas to Maine – we were in the north edge of that – could have always been worse for us. There are times when you have to be thankful for small mercies.

6:09 p.m. Puerto Morelos time – it is black dark here as I am adding to today’s journal.

The flights from Buffalo to Philadelphia and from there to Cancun, were on time and luckily non eventful – no landing on the Hudson! Oh, the plane we flew on from B to Ph was US air and the same type of plane – I should have checked the name of the pilot – ha, ha! Other than for me falling under the spell of motion sickness on the flight from Buffalo to Philly – the flight was a beautiful one no turbulence – go figure!!! I have not had that happen since I was about 8 or 10 years of age! Following a quick unexpected trip to the bathroom, (thank goodness I was close to one!) more gravol and some ginger ale I felt much better. Is this the first stage of age regression? If it is, it’s too bad the body didn’t regress with the mind; I could sure use a little firming up right about now.

We arrived in Puerto Morelos at about 1:45 this afternoon, we were met by Kris the building manager Juan the gardener and Nelly the house keeper; it was so nice to see them again. After a quick catch up on the happenings of Puerto Morelos we went to our favorite hang out – Ed’s “Cantina Habanero” for a couple of cerveza, and met up with friends from last year. It is great to be back! Already we are looking at coming for even longer next winter – possibly a month.

10:15 p.m. This evening we ate dinner at La Petita Seafood Restaurant “good food and inexpensive” – it is a good thing the menu has pictures because we don’t speak Spanish, not even poor Spanglish. Our waitress shared our language abilities –she was very pleasant and tried hard but all any of us could do was smile and nod to each other as we pointed to the pics. Allan was served an awesome huge plate of poached fish with salad and I got a seafood soup both served with a basket of nacho chips. Now I have tasted seafood soups and pies – and no thanks! I have an adventurous appetite – I take pride in my love for something different on the menu – but seafood soup, Yuk! When the dish was put in front of me I immediately thought “Glad I am not really hungry”, was I in for a surprise! It was out of this world! The soup was made with a tomato base broth and thick with shrimp, clams, squid/calamari pieces and a little crab like critter with several tentacles hanging from it. The only disappointment in either of our meals was when our dishes became empty!

I couldn't help but take this one, notice the snow covered trees - picture postcard. That black is not adherent pavement, it is like grease.

The hospitable Barrieian providing free tow service

Allan getting ready to shovel snow - good thing I got a shovel at Canadian Tire a few years back - that's thinking ahead

Timmy's at Parry Sound

Bridge at Little Current - seems we always get the red light - does this happen to everyone or is it just us that have that few minutes to collect our thoughts and time to update the off-island shopping list?