Connecticut...and Natural Disasters

Well, I can't say that my business trip to Connecticut has been worry free, but I can say that it has been interesting, to say the least.

An early flight from Utah lands you on the East Coast in the late afternoon.  At least traveling is tiring, so we didn't have to worry too much about jet lag.  After a detour on the freeways around here (we were actually a little lost) we got to the hotel.  Luckily, the hotel is close to a mall, so finding food wasn't difficult.

At work on Tuesday, things were moving along just as if I were in Provo, which I thought I was for a minute.  There is a lot of construction going on on BYU campus, and because I work so close to campus, I get to feel the vibrations of jackhammers and other construction equipment everyday.  Well, while at my computer (in CT) the floor started vibrating.  I didn't think too much of it because I am used to these good vibrations.  Then I realized I wasn't in Utah anymore.  I got worried.  My boss, sitting behind me, said, "Is anybody else's computer moving?"  Looking up at the ceiling, the light fixtures were swaying and the ground started moving.  I received a text from Libby: "The room is shaking?"  Then we all had to evacuate the building.  Welcome to Connecticut.

Libby and I decided that we would try to make this trip interesting.  So, every night after work we tried to go some place with the few hours of daylight that are left.  On Tuesday we went to Wickham Park (I think Libby wanted to go there because she loves Pride and Prejudice).  It was a beautiful place that had an aviary and big lawns with big trees and some cute little gardens.  Here's a taste:

This one is us...not really of the park.

Cool gate at a garden entrance

I love trees like this

Sunset on the hilltop

A neat bridge in the Chinese Garden

On Thursday we decided to visit Mark Twain's house in Hartford.  It was surprisingly very big.

 I didn't think that authors made very much money.  Well, I guess he didn't when the house was built; it was mostly paid for by his wife because she came from a pretty well-to-do family.  Sadly, we couldn't take any pictures inside.  But our tour guide did tell us that Mark Twain loved playing billiards and loved cats.  He tried to teach his cats to stay in the pockets of the pool table and hit the balls back to him, so that he didn't have to later fetch them himself.

After the tour, we tried our hand at being Mark Twain.  I tried to mix a little Einstein in there too.

Libby might make a good looking grandpa

Then we heard that there was a hurricane that was going to hit over the weekend.  That was the worst news that we could've heard.  We were planning on going to Boston on Saturday.  We thought maybe we could sneak it in early in the morning, but the forecast was just getting worse and worse.

In order for Libby to get back to school on Monday, we decided that she should change her flight to Saturday.  We couldn't get through to the airline for a couple hours.  Everyone was trying to get out of the state.  Even when she was on the plane (Saturday evening) they were trying to hurry everyone on so in order to beat the onslaught.  The flight actually took off early!  I can't remember that ever happening in history.  I bet the Wright Brothers didn't even take off on time...and they were the first ones to do it.

Anyway, so I was left to myself for the storm.  It was weird being in my hotel room by myself.  I felt bad for Libby because I left her here everyday while I went to work.  But, I guess it isn't so bad.  And I started to realize just how stupid some tv shows are.  So I watched football and periodically got updates on the hurricane.

Apparently the term for "waiting out a storm" in Connecticut is "hunker down".  Every news reporter said that word at least every 5 minutes while reporting on the hurricane.

As of 8 am Sunday morning, the eye of Hurricane Irene hadn't even reached NYC and was already being downgraded to a strong Tropical Storm.  That made me (and Libby) worry a lot less, even though there is still be flooding all over the state.

Sitting, lonely, on a Sunday morning, it just seemed like a long rain storm.  There was some pretty heavy wind earlier, but that has mostly calmed down. So, the weather is similar to the rain in Oregon.  Nothing too bad, but I was told that there was still a lot of storm to come.

It never came.  It started to dry out before it hit.  Some rain fell in the early afternoon and the wind was blowing the other direction (a sign that it was passing).  I'm now looking forward to driving slowly down all the roads tomorrow, avoiding fallen trees and power lines, on my way to work.  I hope it'll all work out, because I'd rather be there than spend another day doing nothing.