JAMES: For some reason, nobody got a good night’s sleep. The bed was comfortable enough, but Susan and I tossed and turned all night. She eventually got up at 4:15. I woke up at 2:00 am for a potty break and, against my instincts, decided to check my phone for the Iowa score. I was hoping that it was good news. Otherwise I would be left to stew on a loss as I lay sleepless in bed. To my surprise, the Hawks came through, kicking Washington Huskie butt 41-24. The win was significant because it was in Seattle and on a Friday night. It made Iowa’s record 5-1 going into a bye week. Two whole weeks to savor a Hawkeye win.
I finally got out of bed at 5 am. Everybody else was already awake including Matt and the kids. We are all going to need a nap today. I had to have another piece of pie for breakfast. It has all of the normal food groups of a typical breakfast, so why not?
SUSAN: At 5:45 AM we all piled into the car for our lift to the airport. It’s a Saturday and early morning, so it was a quick ride. Check in was a breeze and we were through security in 10 minutes -- the only hiccup there were Jim's shoes. Despite being x-rayed at security he had to take them off and put them through the conveyor belt to be screened by themselves…they cleared and so did we.
We were at our gate a hour before the flight. Christine and I got went to the donut shop. The donuts looked heavenly so I got a glazed donut. They looked much better than they actually tasted. Waiting for the flight, we were supposed to start boarding at 7:30 am but the people running the gate were standing around and it seemed to me that they were waiting for something. Indeed they were, it ended up that the flight crew came late. I guess their shuttle from their hotel broke down. We left about 15 minutes late.
JAMES: An uneventful flight except for the sudden and shocking jolt we got when our plane “crossed the exhaust path of another aircraft.” That statement clearly evokes more questions than answers. Christine ended up spilling her orange juice all over herself with that episode. Despite that, it felt like a quick flight.
SUSAN: We landed on time and had to go through customs. Since our tickets were all on one reservation we had to go through customs together. It wasn’t hard, but we had to answer the same questions about what we were carrying with us and why we were visiting 4 times. Honestly, I am not sure I read much of it…also had to take our glasses off for our photo to be taken. It looks like mug shots!
We had a significant layover in Toronto and it was compounded by delays due to maintenance on the plane. We had lunch at a place near our gate and got HUGE salads. John and Christine were smart to split one. Mine was so huge there is not way I could eat it all!
We passed the time by playing a round of Quiddler. John won but we were all within 10 points of each other. We all took walks around the airport. Christine and I saw an 8 year old boy (my guess) using his suitcase like a skate board and hurtling down the hallways. Once it was finally time to board I saw that people were lining up to get on the plane. It was really challenging to hear the announcements for boarding so we stood closer to the gate and I started worrying why are they waiting in line? 
John struck up a conservation with a man standing near us with a guitar case. He was tall and broad with white hair but his faced looked younger. He had moved to Nova Scotia from Scotland about 12 years earlier and was an amateur musician. He just loves the area and still works but plays music when he can.
Fortunately, the flight to Halifax was uneventful—except for Jim dropping one of his earbuds between his seat and the side of the plane. He could see it but couldn’t get it out, so he had to wait until everyone else had disembarked before a flight attendant could help retrieve it. Christine, John, and I waited for him at the gate. As expected, he was the last one off, but he had his earbud. Yay! Jim thanked the flight attendant, who asked him to put in a good word with the airline about his helpful service.
Once we reached baggage claim, all our suitcases were waiting for us next to the baggage conveyor belt. We grabbed them and headed to ground transportation where we picked up the shuttle to the airport. We had to wait about 25 minutes (it comes every half hour). The waiting area is a glassed in (unheated) area. But it was right on time and we got on. The shuttle goes to both Holliday Inn and Hilton Garden Inn where we are staying.
Once we arrived there were others in line to check in so we had a wait a little. But once we checked in we got into our rooms quickly, we even had our names on the tv in the room! We quickly unloaded a few things and then met downstairs in “The Cannery” restaurant and ate dinner.
JAMES: John and Christine had the fish and chips. Susan and I had the seafood chowder and the crab and lobster dip. Gotta have fish since we’re so close to the ocean!
SUSAN: Christine and I wanted a glass of white wine and were curious about the ‘tidal bay’ wine. [We discovered later that Tidal bay is is Nova Scotia’s signature, appellation-controlled white wine.] The waitress offered us a taste which we accepted. I was surprised when she came back with a pretty generous ‘taste’ but I didn’t complain. When I tasted it, I said to Christine it tastes a lot like Pinot Grigio and she agreed. So we told the waitress we would like to have it. She came back later and told us, actually she had given us a taste of the pinot accidentally. So she offered to give us a taste of the tidal bay. So we said sure. Then she brought that. It had a nice flavor so that is what we got. I of course ended up getting a second glass but I asked for the small pour (5 oz) instead of the medium pour (8 oz) — when she brought it, it looked like the larger pour and I said I asked for the small she said, I will just charge you for the small pour. We were all full and very tired so we went to our rooms and went to bed!
JAMES: It had been a long day of travel. We were pretty pooped. But I wasn’t too tired to watch highlights of the glorious Iowa blowout of Washington from the previous night! I had tried with the crappy airplane wi-fi to watch while I was on the plane, but alas, it would never work. Now YouTube TV was not letting me watch since I was out of the country. Thanks Trump! Thankfully there were some highlights on YouTube. So I lay in the dark with my earbuds in and silently celebrated.