Day Six...and Seven: HOME!

After a very successful engagement, it was time to go home. Here's a photo montage of the process it took to get there.


2:45 PM--Alison Roper and company wait in the lobby of our hotel, the State Plaza, for our shuttle to make a 5:45 PM flight. We play Scrabble, talk, run to the neighboring grocery store to stock up on some snacks for the long flight back to Portland. Estimated arrival time in Portland: 11 PM


6:30 PM--Here, Ilir, Brennan and Yuka wait for our tentative flight. Upon checking in, we learn that our flight has already been delayed due to mechanical problems. As we wait at the gate, the Scrabble games continue, phone calls ensue, and we spend many hours trying to come up with things that will pass the time. Here's one thing to pass the time:

In this photo: Lucas styles Anne's hair. Desperate times call for desperate activities.


9:00 PM--We learn in half-hour increments that our flight is slowly fading away. Here we learn that the flight has now been delayed until 11:00 PM. Naps ensue.



1:30 AM--Here Ronnie, Artur, Anne, Grace, Ansa, and Brennan sport their disheveled looks. It's 1:30 and we're in Chicago, waiting for our shuttle to shuttle us to the Sleep Inn. We are expected to report back to the airport for our flight from Chicago to Portland later that morning at about 6:00 AM.

1:50 AM-- Anne checks us into the Sleep Inn. And all we want to do is sleep in...

2:00 AM--Hunger strikes. And though we know we will probably feel worse after a visit to McDonald's, we need some remnant of food in our bellies to get us through the night/morning. And we were car-less, so we walked through the drive through. Yuka gently knocked on the window and startled the woman working the drive through. We told her that we'd been on a plane all day and were in need to food, but we didn't have a car. She kindly complied with our request for food.

2:10 AM--ordering through the window...


The next morning at 6:00 AM, we all piled into the shuttle again and made our way back to the airport. I thought it kind not to shoot any photos at such and hour. We made our connection, about twelve hours late, but at least we made it!

When we saw Mount Rainier, we knew we were on the right side of the country. Finally!

In other news regarding our fantastic week, the reviews are in!

The Washington Post review:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/15/AR2008061501932.html

The New York Times review:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/arts/dance/17amer.html?_r=1&ref=dance&oref=slogin

It's great to be so well received. Thanks for traveling on with us on our first (of hopefully many) tour to the Kennedy Center.