Commodore Nicole's Blog: And you ain't fooling me with that Fort Sumter story.

Yep, this is two months ago.

For our annual Spring Vacation, the Kinnunens raided Raleigh, North Carolina!

Last year we really didn't make an extended vacation - and boy was I itchy for a vacation this year. So as is our usual method, I looked over a map, found the places that have people we know and blindly dropped my finger. North Carolina ended up being the place.

I say I know people there, but that isn't exactly the truth. When it was confirmed that Fiona was on her way, I joined a internet message board of moms who were expecting babies in August. I quickly found myself in a group of great people. Over the course of 3 years, we have shared so much that it would be impossible for me NOT to call these women "bossum friends". We talk almost every day...but a lot of us have never met face to face.

So when all the stars aliened, and the moon was in the seventh house, and all the plans came together and the opportunity came along for me to meet of the two ladies. I jumped.

Pre-trip Reservations
Getting everything organized was not too bad. I used the internet for everything and I feel like I got some deals. I started out with the comparison sites - but found the best price on the official site. The hotel was a little difficult only because I'm not sure what to trust. My instinct or the reviews. And no matter what place I picked there was always great and horrid reviews. "Great service/moldy smell". In the end I just picked a place that had a good location - next to the mall.

My only real hassle came with flights. I used reward miles from a card, and flight miles from my NWA account. Coordinating the flights, seats, and what not took almost 2 very frustrating hours, and a couple of phone calls. And these issues kept popping up! For instance, when I was checking us in on Tuesday before departure - I realized that I never got an email CONFIRMING Mikko's ticket. Talk about a kaniption! Needless to say - I got it worked out. I'm thinking of canceling our account though.

Wednesday
We dropped Ronnie off at the kennel with his recently cleaned teeth, and made our way to Metro. Since I'd planned our time pretty close, we didn't spend all that long at the airport before boarding.

I was anticipating Fiona's reaction to getting on the plane. She was hesitant but did pretty well. Stopping a couple times down the ramp to make sure it was stable. Fiona really did great. She got into her own seat just fine, listened to the Stewardess and put on her seat belt, and was very patient the whole time. Take off went great. She leaned into me for comfort. Holding my arm but that was it. The flight was spent snacking, reading, coloring, and playing with her blanket and her doll Mamie.



We landed in Raleigh around 11am and went about getting our baggage and going to rent the car with plans to head to the hotel after. As for the car, we got a Chevy Malibu. Decent car - but not our Accord. The pickup lacked, the turn radius was ridiculous, and the turn signal sound was beyond annoying - think the Popcorn techno song from the 70's-80's.

Did I mention it was 80 degrees? Bright sunny beautiful spring day? It was great! A nice preview of the season to come. After checking in we decided to get lunch at a local southern bistro. You know one of those places that just "is" local food - Chick-fil-a. The food was really good! I wish we had one here. From there, we decided to take a drive and check out the area.

Finding our way around was made sooooo much easier by the GPS feature on Mikko's phone. We just punched in an address or even the name of something an a few seconds later we've got a destination.

Downtown Raleigh is very nice; beautiful buildings, clean streets, decent traffic. Looks to be your average city that has it's act together (opposed to Detroit that COULD be awesome, but isn't). Lots of historical buildings mingled in with modern and new style. I love that contrast.

One thing not lacking in Raleigh and the surrounding cities - Colleges and Universities. During our driving tour it seemed we couldn't go 5 miles without passing by another School sign. That starts to explain why things are a little competitive down there.

After we'd looped the city about 4 times we headed back to the hotel to let Fiona nap in a bed and to get ready for dinner. For dinner we'd be meeting up with my friends from the board - which we call the Island. To be honest I felt really nervous, and excited and just really giddy. I felt like I was going on a blind date. I felt like I had to have make-up on, and my hair done just right. Very thrilling.

I kept thinking, how will I know them. We've often posted pictures on our board, but not that many of ourselves. But as we walked up to the restaurant I immediately saw Morgan and Kristen waving frantically at us. I could have picked them out of a crowd with one eye.

Dinner was fabulous! And I'm basing that solely on the conversation and guests. I remember almost nothing of the food. It had to be good because Mikko liked it and Fiona ate a few bites. Talking with Kristen and Morgan face to face was no different then when we are online. Except the conversation goes soooooo much faster. We gabbed and talked, and laughed, and made plans for the next few days. Mikko, Fiona, and Morgan's husband Kenny and son Duncan soon gave up the table and went to find more entertainment then us three ladies jabbering.

Once the kids had had enough, we all said our goodnights, and shared hugs all around. And confirmed plans to meet again. It was a wonderful night. And not something I'll soon forget.

To be continued.