Arrival in Tampa

We are now in Tampa.

After a wonderful sendoff from Sarah, Rob and Scout, with a nice cameo from Jamaica and Nelson, our 5am wake-up wasn't too jarring as I am not sure we actually slept all that much. Our cab to the airport actually showed up which was nice considering when I ordered it the night before the guy initially told me "we aren't taking any orders between 4am and 7am due to the marathon" but when I asked him how he would suggest we get to the airport, he took our info and said "we'll try."

My recently won premier status with United from all my to-ing and fro-ing to St Louis put us in the short line (and allowed us to check our two enormous bags for free), giving us time to share an omelet and greenish home fries at an SFO greasy spoon before heading to our gate.

We connected through Houston, which meant 3 1/2 hours for flight #1 and 2 hours for flight #2. Emerson partied the whole first flight and slept the entire second one. During the layover, Emerson got to pretend to drive one of those electric carts and it seems to have been one of the highlights of his life so far.

On arrival, our bags were among the first to come out (thank you United!) and we got an upgraded rental car, which was lucky because the one we had reserved would almost definitely not have fit all of our stuff and us in it.

We checked into our hotel and got an upgrade there as well! Or so she said: it feels like a normal room and doesn't have any separate space like one might expect from a suite, but it does have a great view and Emerson is fascinated by the glass box known as the shower. I'm not asking any questions.

As Eric went down to the lobby to pick up his Domino's pizza, he learned why there are Tampa Bay Buccaneers balloons and signs everywhere: they are staying here for training. Eric rode the elevator with one of them and was impressed by his "athletic build."

We have a full day tomorrow looking at day cares, homes to rent and homes to buy. We will dress appropriately given the warm weather, which could mean towels like one might wear in a steam room, or maybe just the Westin robes included here in our room, though I don't know if they match any of my shoes.