Oakland

I'm sitting at a very brightly lit sports bar called Diamonds.  It's right off the lobby of the second Holiday Inn we tried to check into tonight (we went to the wrong one of the two the first time.  They're more or less right next to each other). These Holiday Inns are by the baseball stadium, cleverly lying in wait to ensnare sleepy A's fans.  Despite Diamonds objective crappiness, former Athletics great and 1989 World Series champion Dave Henderson just walked by me!  Good enough for Dave, good enough for me.

Erica is up in the room pumping and elected not to test the signal strength of the baby monitor and join me in the bar.  James is out.  James was a giant peach today on the plane.  He cooed peacefully for the first forty-five minutes or so before drifting off to sleep on Erica's lap for the next 3 1/2 hours.  Much better behaved than a certain 12-week old in the row next to us (didn't catch her name.)  He woke up about 5 minutes before landing, smiled some, and then more-or-less happily endured the walk to the baggage claim, the wait for the rental car shuttle bus, the long rental car shuttle bus ride, the upselling attempts of the rental car company minion, the drive to the first Holiday Inn, the unloading of the stuff, the finding out that we didn't belong there, the repacking of the car, the getting to the Holiday Inn, the checking in to the right Holiday Inn (whose computer system was on the fritz), the unpacking in the room, and the eating of the bottle of milk.  When I left for Diamonds, he was cheerily yelping in his pack-n-play, but, per Erica's recent text, he's asleep.

Here's the only picture we snapped today:

All hail the Baby Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit!

Air Miles: 1848
Car Miles: 1.5
Total Miles: 1849.5

--Grant