The FINAL Countdown (Part 2)

Welp, we are officially at the airport. It has been a crazy week (unsurprisingly), full of farewells and people. Ev's mom came up from Dillingham on Friday. We went to to the airport to pick her up and were pleased to discover that Pete (Ev's stepdad) was also here.

We had a BBQ with one last cabaret show (per Mom's request) on Saturday. It was fun to have a chance to perform my extensive repertoire and say goodbye to people.

Monday night we had a final wine-pairing dinner with my parents, Rose, Scott and Vicky, and Paul and Marybeth. A nice gathering of family and basically-family with delicious food (everyone brought a dish and wine to go with it) and excellent company. Because I'm cool like that, the only picture of the evening is below.

We managed to do lots of climbing the past week and a half, although it was inside or at the tower. Prior to this week we've been out every day when there's been a weather window. Of course, as soon as we get a week of beautiful weather, we're in the chaotic process of packing and figuring out the last minute details. Luckily, our kick ass friends were willing to accommodate and meet us for early morning climbs. Dakotey even opened the tower for me! Granted, he didn't want to rig a top rope, but it let me do a couple leads (including a 5.9). I'm gonna miss those guys. We spent so long trying to find climbing buddies, and now we're leaving them. Luckily, grand climbing adventures are in the works and we'll see them again (in Norway and Greece (if I get my way)).

This morning reality set in.

Reality

is scary.

It was such a relief to get our bags checked and make it through security. Saying goodbye to my parents and Rose was hard. It sounds like Rose and Pete will try to come over for Christmas, so really we won't be seeing them any less than we already do, but there's something about the physical distance that feels so... final.

We did manage to run in to Orianna and Wolfgang (the parents of our German exchange student) as they got off the Condor flight that will take us to Frankfurt. They traded a European USB-power outlet for a US one, which we really appreciate. After an airport selfie, they went down to collect their bags and float Birch Creek with my parents. 

Now it's time to board the plane. We'll fly to Amsterdam, then take a train to Rotterdam, hop onto the metro and walk 300 feet and 9 stories to our apartment, where we'll meet the real estate agent and (quite probably) pass out.

Our phones will not work as of, well, now. I highly suggest Whatsapp to get ahold of us.

Let the adventure begin.