My cousin, Todd, turned 40 last Thursday and his wife, Christine, planned a surprise party for the weekend. When we got the invitation, D and I decided that we would not make the weekend trek to Philadelphia for the party. However, my mom asked me to go with her and my grandma who is 86 years young. So, the three women made reservations and headed east for the weekend.
Friday morning dawned windy and rainy in San Diego, but also with a winter storm hitting the Northeast. Mom and Meema came to our house and we headed to the airport following some breakfast. We check in and head to security for the first of many hiccups of the day! My grandma (aka Meema) has been having issues with her eyes, so she has no current license and as luck would have it, Meema's passport expired in January. TSA was nice about it, but Meema had to go SSSS (my mom and I called it her Super Secret Strip Search) where they frisked and patted her down (she sets off the alarms with her knees and hairpins) and went through her purse. Meema was quite the trooper with her arms and legs spread for the search! We head to our gate to find that our flight is delayed about 45 minutes....which later changed to us leaving 3 (yes 3) hours late. Apparently, the plane ran low on fuel and was diverted to LAX before coming to San Diego. We were a little concerned about the delay and its impact on our connection in Atlanta, but we were told that the delays were systemwide and we should be fine because there was a later flight to Philadelphia that we could make. Finally, after lots of airport walking and a hot dog, we leave for Atlanta.
We land in Atlanta to find that our flight has left, but are sent to the gate with the late flight to Philadelphia. The woman at the counter refuses to look at me and tells me that the flight is overbooked as are all the flights on Saturday. In a nice, but frustrated way, I tell her that we are late because the stupid plan ran out of gas. She then has the nerve to tell me that it's not her stupid plane and not her fault...basically, the big middle finger waving at me! She finally snatches our boarding passes and says she'll see what she can do. I left my mom at that gate to talk to the agent...she used Meema (who was perched on a bench with carryons, coats and her cane) as an excuse...basically, don't deny our 86 year old Meema...and went to wait in the massive "missed flight customer service" line. I pulled out my cell phone thinking that the phone agents might be able to help me quicker...wrong! After being on hold forever, I was told that my options were to be sent back to San Diego on Saturday night or to Philadelphia on Sunday night. Wrong options considering the surprise party was Saturday night! I start crying feeling overwhelmed and tired and like we'd made it this far, we weren't giving up that easily! My mom was doing that same thing...finally, I see her waving at me. The "overbooked" flight had room and we were able to get out! We board the flight and land in Philadelphia at 2:00 a.m. Our trek from plane to baggage claim (yes, we had luggage) to taxi stand (we took a town car) to hotel took over an hour. Mom and I were starving so we headed to Little Pete's in Center City Philly for some takeout. This place is iconic...a tiny place with the host who is reminiscent of the Seinfeld Soup Nazi full of drunk people (with half closed eyes) fresh from the bars eating big plates of breakfast and grease to stave off the hangover. Finally, with a full belly, we all crashed at 4:00 a.m.
At 11:00 a.m., the hotel phone rings...it was Joel and Carol (also from SD, but they left early aka Todd's dad and stepmom) calling with muffins and coffee. While in our room, Christine called Carol...they all had dinner the night before, but Todd did not know we made the trek. They come up to the room and Todd is genuinely surprised! Then, what Todd thought was his last surprise was arrived...Jeffrey (his half brother) drove in from Cleveland. After some chit chat, Mom and I got ready (Meema was tired) and we all head into the city for some exploration and of course, a Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich! Let me tell you...that sandwich was amazing and worth the walk and standing in line. We went to Jim's Steaks in Center City. I demolished my cheesesteak with Cheez Whiz, onions and mushrooms...so good! Following lunch, we headed back to our hotel for a quick nap before the last surprise for Todd...the party!
Todd was genuinely surprised with his party at Barclay Prime steakhouse. Christine did such a great job setting up our table...she has place cards with pictures of Todd throughout his life (mine was us with our grandparents) and she had napkins that had been silkscreened with more pictures of Todd. Dinner was so good...we had an appetizer choice (crab cocktail, tuna tartare or lettuce wedge salad...I had the tuna..yummy!) and dinner choice (filet, strip or salmon...I had the filet) and then sides of creamed spinach and lyonnaise potatoes topped with poached eggs. For dessert, Christine had gone on The Knot and searched for cake vendors. She had a cake made that looked like a bottle of wine in a box with shavings. It was soooo good! I will post pictures once I pull them off the camera. Following dinner and a near coat check fiasco, most of the group headed to Mahogany Cigar Bar. Let me tell you that after spending less than 30 minutes there, I felt (and smelled) like I had smoked several cigars!
Sunday morning, the family headed to the White Dog Cafe near the campus of University of Pennsylvania (Todd's alma mater, Christine's employer) for brunch. It was fun for us to all decompress and tell stories. After breakfast, we all headed to Todd and Christine's home in the suburbs. We all bonded and checked out the home of Baby E (due to arrive in the world in early April) until Jeffrey left to head back to Cleveland and Carol and Joel headed back to the city for the night. Mom, Meema and I stayed at the house for the night. Todd picked up some food from Buca di Beppo for dinner and we vegged on the couch watching the Academy Awards.
Monday morning, Christine took us to the airport. The trip home was relatively uneventful. We even got lucky to have a sparse flight to San Diego, so we could stretch out! And now I am home!
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