I’ve had such a wonderful time here in New York City with Susan, and I don’t want to go back to Vermont. I owe so much to Susan who has supported me through thick and thin. I have grown very close to Susan since I moved to Vermont, and she has been a lifeline. When my friend Ethan died just after I moved to Vermont, she helped me pick up the pieces from such a devastating loss. She did the same when my friend Jerry died. And purposefully or not, she kept me so busy Friday, which was the anniversary of Ethan’s death, that I didn’t have time to dwell on the sad event. Susan means the world to me because of all she does for me and the love she gives me, and I love her too.

Thank you Susan for making this such a wonderful Thanksgiving and birthday and just wonderful week in general.

Yesterday, I just posted pictures, but I wanted to explain them today and tell you what all Susan and I did. We started the day going to the 9/11 Memorial and the Freedom Tower. The Freedom Tower is amazing as is the 9/11 Memorial. They have to be seen to believe. It’s very emotional, especially seeing all the names of those who died. We also went to the observatory of the Freedom Tower. The views are beyond spectacular, though it’s very crowded.

We left the 9/11 Memorial and went to the Stonewall Inn. We saw the monuments in Sheridan Park and then headed across the street to the Stonewall Inn. It’s such an iconic place and it too is quite emotional because it’s where our fight for rights began. I’ll be honest, inside looks like every other gay bar I’ve ever been in. To be a people who are so artistic, there is little imagination that goes into gay bars. Gay nightclubs are a bit different, but not the bars. While there we walked down to Gay Street. How appropriate that there is a Joe Coffee on Gay Street!

Tuesday night, we headed to Broadway to see Chicago. I cannot express how much I loved seeing it. It was fabulous in my opinion. There is one actor in it named Gary Cooper. OMG, one of the most perfect men I have ever seen. If you’ve only seen the movie and not the live version, you are missing a few key things. It’s well worth seeing. After the play, we walked down away from the theater to get a taxi and walked passed Radio City Music Hall. As you can tell from the picture, it was all lit up.

Today for Thanksgiving, Susan and I are having a Thanksgiving dinner at I’ll Mulino. The menu looks delicious. This will be the first time I’ve ever been to a restaurant for Thanksgiving, but it should make the day more special and relaxing. Afterwards, we may go see St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It should be another really nice day.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!!!!

I didn’t fully realize this had happened until last night. I had carefully packed everything I needed for my trip. However, when I got to Pensacola I realized that my glucose meter to check my blood sugar was not in my bag. I distinctly remember picking it up and taking it to my suitcase. I checked all through my luggage and it just wasn’t there. I did notice one thing off though, my bag that I’d neatly packed was in disarray. I didn’t really think much of it at the time because TSA always seems to check my bag and leaves a little note saying the did so. This time though, there was no note. I just thought they may have forgotten.

Then I got home. I searched all over my apartment and my glucose meter is nowhere to be found. I’ve looked everywhere. The only thing I can think that happened is that someone rifled through my bag and stole my glucose meter. I have no idea why someone would steal it, but someone apparently did. Just one more problem to add to my travels.

My flight Saturday from Pensacola to Atlanta was delayed due to bad weather. My flight arrived in Atlanta just minutes after my flight to Burlington had left. There’s only one flight from Atlanta to Burlington a day, so I got stuck in Atlanta Saturday night. Delta originally rescheduled my flight to send me to Memphis then Detroit and finally to Burlington. After an hour in the Delta service line and on the phone with Delta I finally got my flight rescheduled so that I flew straight to Detroit and then to Burlington yesterday. Not the best situation but it’s the best they would do. Then I got to the service counter to find out what they had done with my luggage only for the bitch at the service counter to yell at me when I enquired about my bag. I told her she needed to settle down, gave her my ticket, and again asked where my bag was. Delta had locked it up with my CPAP and wouldn’t let me have it back assuring me that it would be on the next day’s flight with me.

Next, I had to find a hotel to stay for the night. I settled on the Hilton Atlanta Airport. Big mistake! I checked in got to my room and went down to get dinner. I was starving. After waiting forever for a waitress, someone finally took my order. I ordered wings and fries. The wings came out eventually and were basically all fat with a little bit of meat. I went back up my room and went to bed. I woke up at 6:30 the next morning and headed down for breakfast. I got the buffet because everything looked good. It was not. It was barely edible and the coffee tasted burnt. I went back to my room because I was nauseated and wanted to lay down for a bit before checkout. That’s when I found a bedroom slipper in the middle of my bed under the covers. I could only surmise that the cleaning crew had only made the bed but not changed the sheets after the last person checked out. To top off all of that, they over charged me for the meals I’d had to the tune of an extra $90. So when I did check out I let them know my issues. To compensate me for my troubles, the gave me a hot ginger ale. Ugh! I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

The trip to Detroit was fine. It’s a fairly nice airport.  I ate at Cat Cora’s Taproom for dinner. It was delicious. If you do not know who Cat Cora is, she’s a Mississippi chef who became the first female Iron Chef on Food Network. She’s also a philanthropist, a lesbian, and a fellow alumni of The University of Southern Mississippi. Subsequently, the flight to Burlington went without a hitch. We even arrived early. However, after I’d been assured my bag would be flying with me, it did not. Instead, it took a direct flight to Burlington in an airplane that arrived after mine. So I had to wait an extra 30-45 minutes for my bag. Finally, I was headed home, but it rained the whole way. I hate driving at night in the rain, but I made it home safely to a very happy Isabella when I walked in the door.

I made it to Pensacola. It was quite a trip down. Yesterday was so crazy, I never got a chance to post a devotional. I got to the airport in what is usually plenty of time. However, there was only one clerk working the Delta counter, and the line was halfway down the airport to check your bags. Luckily, I was Sky Priority and the line was shorter but it still took at least half an hour to check my bag. Then the TSA was down to one machine in security so that took forever. It was also terribly annoying because some guy from New York behind me kept trying to inch in front of me and continually screamed for a TSA manager because he was afraid of missing his flight. Even after being told they were holding the planes he continued to complain loudly. I get very annoyed at impatient people. Finally, I got through security in time to board my 6 am flight at 5:55. We then sat on the plane for over an hour waiting to take off. I got off the plane in Atlanta just in time for my next flight to start boarding. Luckily, we landed at gate B28 and my gate was B27. Sometimes I get lucky. Some people were not as lucky. The lady next to me missed her flight completely, and two other ladies had a flight boarding in ten minutes on concourse D. I hope they made it, but the Atlanta Airport is a big place. Finally though, I got to Pensacola only to find my hotel room wouldn’t be ready for several more hours. Luckily, my parents were there and we went and had lunch. When we got back, they’d just finished with my room. 

My training classes begin the morning. I sure hope they aren’t boring.

I’m going home today. I always hate leaving Montréal. The food and drinks are always good. The men are hot. The saunas are fun, even if all you do is watch. Campus and Stock Bar are so much fun, with their nude dancers and lap dances. Ludwig at Campus is so sexy. I doubt I spelled his name right, but he was obviously of good blond German stock. He’s training to be a fireman, and he could rescue me any day. It’s great to get to know the dancers a little bit and have some fun with them.

Those were all things I did in the evenings. During the day Saturday, I walked up Mount Royal which is about a mile up stairs. It’s quite a hike, but the view is breathtaking. During the day Sunday, I went to the Museum of Fine Arts, which has an absolutely stunning collection. Today, I’ll probably just have breakfast, pack, and head home. By the way, I stayed at L’Escogriffe B&B this time. Denis, the proprietor is absolutely charming and makes the most wonderful breakfasts. It’s not expensive and while the rooms are small and there is a shared bathroom it’s well worth the stay. I recommend it as it is also in the heart of the Gay Village.

One of these days for Labor Day, I’ll go to Southern Decadence in New Orleans, but until then Montréal is a nice alternative.

First, I want to say thank you all for your positive comments yesterday on my “Doc” post. It meant a lot to me that you guys shared your stories.

I’m going to be traveling today. I’m headed to Montreal for the weekend. It’s going to be just a nice relaxing weekend out of town. You see, my little town has a huge Labor Day Festival and Parade. It’s so chaotic for this little town, and I just want to be away from it all.

As I said Monday, it rained on us all day. We mostly relaxed, though we did go see the Flatiron Building. What a magnificent piece of architecture it is! While in the area we had lunch at Maison Kayser. We both ate the croque monsieur and some of the wonderful desserts that Maison Kayser has. Susan had the chocolate cake, and I had the salted caramel eclair. Both were out of this word delicious. We then took home some apple, pear, and lemon tarts, along with their special Father’s Day cake. Susan said the pear tart was juicy and delicious. We both tried the apple tart with was also juicy and delicious. The lemon tart was, well, tart and delicious. The Father’s Day cake was indescribably good. We ate dinner at Coppola’s East again because the restaurant we wanted to go to had suddenly closed the week before.

On Tuesday, I got on the train with sad farewells to Susan and headed back to Vermont. The trip home was a lot less eventful than the trip down.