secret travel

As many of you know by now, I ended up in California for the weekend. I was just as surprised as many of you may have been to find out, since I did not find out myself until I was at the airport. Here is how Thursday's events transpired.

After enjoying my lunch by the fountain, I headed to the benches outside the E-Quad to read my Economist. It was hot, so I sat in the shade. Around 1:30PM, Tom approached me with a plain manila envelope. The envelope was sealed had my name typed on it. He said he was instructed to give me the envelope at this time, then left. As he walked away I opened the envelope. Inside the envelope was a single sheet of white paper, and upon this paper was typed "http://www.geocities.com/agent_bellows". I laughed. This looked like it was going to be fun.

I encourage you to click on the link and find out what my next instructions were. I was to meet someone at "the docks" and mention I wanted the "special with no onions". I knew where "the docks" were, they were these wooden benches by the fountain. I must have re-read the instructions 3 or 4 times, because I was unsure if I was to meet this agent that day, or the following day, and if I really was to pack up and leave work. After talking with Mart, I decided to risk it.

In order to investigate who I was meeting, I circled around the building before the fountain, coming to the fountain by a different direction. Along the way, I looked for clues as to who I was meeting. I found it in the form of a Colorado license plate on a nearby parked car. I saw the agent (Luc) sitting on the "docks" and approached him and gave him the code-phrase. He immediately got up and told me to follow him. We approached his car and got in. He asked if I had my wallet/keys/cellphone with me, then we drove off.

We stopped at the "safe house" (his apartment), where I dropped off my laptop and lunch box. We got back into the car and started driving.

I was obviously being taken somewhere, so I started to try to puzzle it out. First I thought we might be going to New York City, but we got on Route 1 South, not North, so that ruled that out. Then I thought maybe we are going to the Jersey Shore, or even Delaware or Maryland, but we got on 95 S, not 295 S, so that ruled those out. Now we were obviously headed toward Philadelphia, but I couldn't fathom what we would do there. As we passed through the city itself, I saw highway signs for the Philadelphia International Airport. Surely not.

We got off the highway an exit before the airport and proceeded to airport parking. Oh my goodness. I couldn't believe it. We were flying somewhere. After we parked, Luc popped the trunk and in the back was my luggage, all packed and ready to go. I had no idea. We hoisted our bags and made our way to the shuttle stop, and from there, to the airport itself.

At the check-in counter I anxiously awaited hearing our destination ... LAX. We were going to California. I couldn't believe it. I was thinking Providence or something. Not clear across the country.

The plan was to stay with Luc's dad, who was on sabbatical in LA. Luc had wanted to visit him before classes start, and oddly enough, plane tickets were half as much during my birthday weekend than during any other weekend, so he took me along and surprised me.

Once in California we went swimming in Santa Monica (saw the ocean for the first time), went to Disneyland on my birthday and I got to wear a pin that said it was my birthday and everyone wished me a happy birthday that day, and we went to Hollywood before hopping on a plane back to Philadelphia.

It was the best surprise ever. I put up pictures, so I direct you to the "travels" page and from there to the "photos" page.

relaxing weekend

All I have to say is that I took a nap in a pool. It was wonderful. For pictures, go to the usual spot. I also saw Vassar College this weekend (spent the long weekend in upstate New York with Luc and his friend Malissa).