Welcome to the Hazy days of summer!!
MELVIN AND KARILYN, THE MICHAEL'S FUNNY CARTOON IS FOR YOU....
Michael and Mia Vacation 2008 is still here Just scroll down a bit...
God Bless Everyone!!
Michael's Funny:
So as most of you know we planned a trip to the great northwest to visit my little brother and his wife who live in Vancouver, WA. Check back here daily to see what we have been up to!
ALSO BE SURE TO LOOK INTO THE PHOTO GALLERIES FOR PICTURE UPDATES!
Day 1- The connections.......
So the first leg of this trip was a short 3 1/2 hour drive to Houston to catch a flight from Houston. This was pretty un eventful but we had no idea what was in store for us. We worked all day Wednesday, Mia went to church, I went a took a midterm and we met back up about 10 pm. We loaded cases and hit the road about midnight. We arrived in Houston about 445 am and went to our friend Lisa's who hooked us up with the flight via buddy passes. Wow. So we leave for the airport at about 6am arrive at about 630, check in and wait for our 850 flight to Portland. By now I have been up for 24 hours and I am really starting to feel it. While waiting Mia and I had a gourmet breakfast from Wendy's in the IAH airport, which you guessed it cost about $20 for a burrito and breakfast sandwich. Our plane finally comes and boarding has begun. Now we are flying stand by which means that they load all ticketed passengers first then the stand by people get to fill in the left over seats. So they called the first group of stand by passengers to portland and Mia and I were the last 2 in line. So were ready to go and they started loading the sand by and the lady in front of us had 2 kids. So the airline asked her how old? Then they told her that the kids would be required to sit in 2 seats and that she could not hold them in her lap. GUESS WHAT THAT DID? Those 2 extra seats for the lady with the kids bumped Mia and I from the plane. Dude. So the airline agent tells us that the next flight is at 11am.
The 11 am story.
So about 10 am I decided to take a look and verify that we would make it to the 11 am flight. I start looking around and there is no plane and no portland flight. Everyone we have been up for 27 hours at this point. So I am not seeing the flight anywhere, so I go to the counter agent and ask about it. She tells me that the next Portland is at 355 pm. I about died. I asked about the 11 am and she could not find one. So I went back told Mia the bad news and we sat for a minute. About noon we decieded that we need to get blood flow and began to walk the airport shops. We had another $40 meal.
32 hours awake.
So now it is 2 pm and We are back at the original terminal and waiting but the flight is not coming up on any boards. So I double check and find out that the gate is on the other side of IAH. We gather our stuff and begin the 20 minute walk. We arrive at the other terminal and there are not to many people there. So we sat for a while and about 315 they start loading people for the 355 flight. All the passengers loaded and they call the standbys...but they did not call our names. SO now I am desperate. I go up to the counter and it looks like we did not get added to the standby list for this plane. You have got to be joking! SO next flight out is 6pm.
Lets cut to the chase.
We got bumped from that flight too.
930 is it.
So here we are looking at a 930 flight to Portland and it is the last flight out you guys. We have been up nearly 40 hours and we are just loopy. We are now hanging out with a great lady, Shaunna and her daughter who have basically been in the same boat as we have have. SO the 930 starts to board and everyone is on and they start to call the standbys. Mia and I are the next 2 standbys and 2 people run up and it looks like we are out again. geez. They recount and have a couple extra seats. Then 2 more people show up. Those seats are gone. I really could have collapsed. We are in IAH with no transportation, our car is about 50 miles away at Lisa's house. Worn completely out. Then the ticket agent said " we are not leaving anyone behind on this flight!" and she lined us up ( at this point about 5-6 standbys). She did final call for ticketed and no one showed and she was about to put on the plane and another person came running up with a ticket. Now the plane is late. She still had enough room for all us standbys but she got a call that another plane had just arrived and there were 3-4 people comming to connect. Problem was they were getting off a plane on the other side of IAH ( about 20 minutes walk) so the agent quickly gave us our seat numbers and told us too run. You guys we had the eye of the tiger theme music playing behind us as we ran down the jetway into the plane. We made it!!!!!!! We took off and I woke up just before landing 4 hours later.
We Finally Arrive!!
Be sure to see the day 1 pictures for the digital reference of this day
DAY 2- Seattle....
So We got up early and Hit the Road!
This was a great trip, Seattle is about a 2 hour drive from my brothers house so we decided to make an day and overnight trip of it. The drive is crazy beautiful. I have never seen REAL mountains and there was hardly a mile that we could drive where there were not mountains, lakes or beautiful tree lined hills. We stayed in the beautiful Hyatt Regency Bellvue ( thanks priceline!) and ran across some interesting characters ( you have to see the photos). Lets see there was the 20 year old kid with the $200,000 car, the lady with the crome'd out Hummer and the H1 hybrid. Don't know if that was a joke or real. On this day we also took a trip over to Bainbridge Island, which was a 40 minute ferry ride from Seattle. VERY VERY NICE! At Bainbridge the Island has banned all franchise business so everything there is mom and pop stores. Later that evening we had a wonderful diner at a fabulous resturant known as the Melting Pot where we paid a lot of money to have a waiter bring us cheese, salads and a raw meats. And we had to cook ourselves!! and then we all joked about it!! Anyhow ask us about that place. Don't forget to check out the pictures!
DAY 3- Seattle...Stimulating the Economy, Thank you Mr. Bush! :)
Well we pretty much spent today shopping. On the way out of town did make to pretty cool stops, at the space needle, and guess where else? Come on now? Where does every computer geek want to go? Everybody all together now..... Microsoft! Highlights from this day, Got a pic of me kneeling next to a R8, and S63 AMG, Caught a Ferrari 340 spider (SOrry ladies, all guys stuff). There are some great pics from this day check them out. Saturday evening was great! We went to a famous Jazz club called Jimme Mak's and saw the Phenominal Benny Green in concert. Never heard of him? YouTube. This was a great dinner and a great concert. Check out the pics!!
DAY 4- My first drive.....
Today my little brother finally took me into the mountains for a spin in his BMW........MMMMAAAAANNNN!!!!!!
Base Price $ 36,000
Price As Tested $ $44,576 (Sport and Premium Packages, idrive)
Engine Type inline 6-cylinder, aluminum head and
magnesium-alloy lower block, dual
overhead cams, 24 valves with
Valvetronic variable lift and VANOS
variable valve timing
Engine Size 3.0 liters / 183 cu. in.
Horsepower 255 @ 6600 rpm
Torque (lb-ft) 220 @ 2750 rpm
Transmission 6-speed automatic (6-speed manual
standard)
Wheelbase / Length 108.7 in. / 178.2 in.
Curb Weight 3450 lbs.
Pounds Per Horsepower 13.5
Fuel Capacity 15.9 gal.
Fuel Requirement 91 octane unleaded premium gasoline
Tires (front)P225/45 HR18 (rear) P255/35/18 nexxum, run-flat
Brakes, front/rear vented disc / vented disc, antilock
Suspension, front/rear independent double-pivot strut /
independent five-link
Drivetrain front engine, rear-wheel drive
PERFORMANCE
EPA Fuel Economy - miles per gallon city / highway / observed 21 / 29 / 24
0 to 60 mph 5.7 sec
Sorry Ladies for all that but us guys love it. I have a story to tell about this car. Everything that you have heard is true. FAST FAST FAST. I promise it is velcro’d to the road. I know I have the video to prove it. 15 MPH hairpin turns around Mt Saint Helen at 60mph. So here is my funny story. I was driving in the craziest part of the road, cutting thru the curves when I came upon a small town. There was a cop. I passed him. We went on our way and I came to a curve that I took at about 80, crossed a 1 lane bridge and came to a stop so I could take a picture of the bridge. The cop came around the curve and slowed. At this point he stopped looked at my brother and I. We were like Uh oh. He said “you guys broken down or just taking pictures?” My brother and I looked at each other and said taking pictures. He was like, okay, Have a great one! The car began to talk to me. The evil side of the car. I then told my brother, Hey you know if we had to we could have beat him out of the mountain. My brother looked at me and said, okay that is enough for you. It was great, and I will tell you this car is ridiculously fast and the handling is like nothing I have ever driven.
ADENDUM***- This is an update to the story above. Mia could not stand to hear all of the stories about the car so she went on her own little drive. Now I am not going to write out all the particulars, But if you ask I will tell :)
Don't forget to take a look at the pictures!
Day 5- Well we did not do a lot today, we are mostly trying to get ready for the jet lag and the horrible standby time. we did take a drive to day to a beautiful waterfall, be sure to take a look at the picutres. We are so not looking forward to having to leave this place and go back to reality. A lot of the pictures today will also be from a city called Camas, WA. We went to a neighborhood in the highest part of town and took some great photos of the Portland side.
Day 6- back to Houston...
Well I wish that I could make this as eventful and enjoyable of a story as the trip to Portland, However, We arrived at the Portland airport at 445 am got on the plane at 515 and flew directly back.
The Credits:
Lisa- Thank you so much for hooking us up with the tickets to make this trip and for being our shuttle to and from the airport.
Melvin and Karilyn- Thank you for allowing us to crash your pad for 4 days! It was a blast and you guys are the best. We had so much fun and have got to figure out a way to do this again. We love you two and hope to see you soon.
Shawna from the airport- It was great hanging out with you and your daughter during the many hours at IAH on Thursday. Thank you for being there and understanding us when we were as loopy and completely out of it as can be. Hopefully someday the destiny of life will cause us to cross paths again, and if your ever in Dallas, look us up! (our email is below)
President George W. Bush, and American taxpayers- Thank you for funding this trip. Mr. Bush you asked us americans to take our checks, get out there and stimulate the economy, and we wanted you to know that we did our best civic duty and hope that you find it a job well done, becuase we sure had a BLAST!!!!!
Current Events...
Michael's Classwork is going well just very busy. Less than Two years till Completion and still holding a 3.7 GPA.
Saturday Night Live, Live Worship Experience 2008
Coming September 2008
Please be sure to Get the details at www.truelifeonline.com
You can find pictures of the last event at www.truelifeonline.com under the Media Gallery tab.