10 Year High School Reunion!

This weekend was my 10 year high school reunion! Going into it, I really had no idea what to expect, but I knew one thing - I had to be there!

After flying into Philly around noon on Friday (flight slightly delayed), I picked up the rental car for the 4-hour drive to Elmira. This turned into a 5-hour drive due to an accident on I-81 near Scranton, PA. Once in Elmira, Stacey and I checked in at the hotel to get ready for the Friday night event, happy hour at the Pioneer Sports Bar (formerly the Old Pioneer).

I ran into a couple of old classmates while parking the car and then went into the bar. Once inside, it was great to see so many familiar faces - many that I haven't seen since graduation day!

We hung out at the OP until about midnight, at which time we went back to the hotel for some shut eye.

On Saturday, we tried to see the family during the day, though it's really hard to spend much time with anyone. Everyone is spread out across the area and we just didn't have much time. Before we knew it, we were out of time and needed to be at the "main event" for the reunion.

This was held at Bernie Murray's, a bar on Elmira's Southside that arguably has the best wings in the area (the Elbow Room is my personal favorite).
A DJ was there and a great buffet dinner was provided for the event. More people were able to make it to Saturday's event and I think we ended up with about half the class in attendance. I think that's a great turnout!

I think that I was able to talk to everyone at the reunion (at least for a while). That was my goal, so I feel good that (I think) I accomplished it. In high school, I was a little on the shy side (which I regret now), but people change and mature and I'm no exception. It was great to see what everyone is up to in their lives. I took some great pictures of those who were able to make it and (with Stacey's help) will get them posted, along with anyone else's who wants to share, to the NDHS alumni site.

On Sunday, we got Wegmans subs for lunch and then visited more family and the Corning Museum of Glass. I haven't been to the museum in about 15 years, so that was great to see again. After leaving the museum, we visited my brother and his family, as well as my dad, and had dinner at Tag's.

On Monday, we decided to leave early in case we ran into traffic on the way back to the Philly airport. This turned out not to be the case, as we made it in the 4 hours it should take. Little did we know we would end up regretting this early arrival. Due to thunderstorms and air traffic control delays, our flight back to RDU was delayed over 3 hours! Since we had arrived early, we spent almost 8 hours in the terminal before boarding our flight. That means that we could have DRIVEN back to Raleigh in only another half hour! Oh well, such is traveling in the summer.

All in all, I had a great time at my reunion and am glad I was able to make the trip. I know of others who really wanted to be there but could not be, so I am especially glad that it all worked out for me to be there!