No Pets Allowed

Brent and I broke up the trip between our two houses by spending a night in Cortland, where we went to school. I decided it deserved it's own blog because, well, it was just that much fun. Some things had changed, but it seems that some never will. Which if you ask me, is a good thing.

My friend Leanne and her husband Tim got a hotel room where we were staying to go out with us for the night and hang out with Brent before he left. Funny story about the hotel... so the night before we were to arrive in Cortland I start calling around to hotels to make our reservations. Every one I called was either way too expensive or completely booked. By the time I found one that was reasonably priced and had two vacant rooms, I didn't dare ask if they allowed pets. Brent and I just figured we would sneak the dogs in- they're small enough right? So we get there and luckily we were on the first floor, but unluckily we were right around the corner from the front desk. Like literally maybe 30 steps away. So we bring everything in out of the car and save the dogs for last. Brent takes the screen out of the window, gets the dogs and proceeds to hand them to me from the outside through the open window. Luckily our dogs aren't big on the whole barking thing, but just in case, while Brent, Leanne, and Tim went to get dinner I shut the dogs in the bathroom with me while I showered. We did not need to get kicked out. So in and out, in and out, we put the dogs through the window to go to the bathroom and what not. The next morning, Leanne and Tim leave before us. I get a phone call from Leanne just moments after they leave, "Margaret you will not guess what just happened. The guy in the room next to you just walked out of his room with a big yellow lab on a leash- just walked out and down the hall no big deal." Figures. They allowed pets the whole time. But just in case that guy was sneaking his dog in and out too we used the window one last time, you know, to err on the side of caution.

Anyways, so we go out to the bar and it was so much fun. We met up with a couple of Brent's wrestling coaches and our good friends, one of his old roommates, and a few girls Leanne and I played hockey with. I also saw a couple old friends from the athletic training program and one of the football players who I used to help rehab his thumb. He still owes me an autographed New York Rangers' puck, but I guess that is neither here nor there. TJ just happened to be in Cortland that night visiting a friend and we got him into the bars with us because, well hey- we know people. Ha ha. There were still some of the same bartenders and bouncers from back in our day and it was a lot of fun visiting the old stomping grounds.

For whatever reason, it was the one night of the whole vacation that Brent's deployment was not looming over my head, and I wasn't worried about getting home, or the dogs, or anything else. It was just a darn good time. Big thanks to Leanne and Tim for making the trip and to all our friends that came out to see us. We miss you all and our nights out in Cortland very much.

Hockey girls- Me, Heather, Leanne, Amanda

Look, already lost the watch (bummer)

Tim and TJ

Me and Katie

Me, Reynolds, Brent, and Bruhn