Its another summer day. I roll out of bed sometime well after my 8a alarm goes off (set because, you know, Ive planned to get up early and actually accomplish something), mutter some general words of acknowledgement to my 12 year old who has no doubt been on his computer since 6a, notice that my 10 year old dd is nowhere to be foundmust still be lying in bed, taking after her mama, lol. After Im attacked by my little mutt who is desperate to see me after a long night away from me, her favorite person, I make my way downstairs to gag down some breakfast and read the newspaper. The rest of the day follows in similar lazy fashion. Thats a typical summer day. But today was different! We had a purpose today!

I had a meeting this morning, so before I left, I told my ds that after lunch, we were heading out for a Big Adventure. Hes the type that needs plenty of warning and lots of coercion to do even fun activitiestakes after his dad, sigh. When I returned, we had to eat a quick lunch due to scheduling beyond my control. The kids were not happy. This did not follow our carefree, eat-when-were-hungry summer schedule. In order to get out of the house on time, I had to bribe the kids with stale gum. Whatever it takes, eh?

The kids were intrigued when we arrived at the Park & Ride station. Weve taken buses before in other cities as tourists, but never in our own city. Weve never needed to since we always have a vehicle available. The Park & Ride station serves as a transfer station, so we when we sat at the proper benches, it was pretty obvious from the signage where we were going. The kids took turns guessing whyWere meeting someone at the airport? Were picking up a package from the airport? Were picking up carseats from the airport? Were picking up a package from Ikea at the airport? Were picking up a bike for daddy at the airport?

Can you guess where we were going?

I was pleasantly surprised by the ride. The bus was perfectly on time. It was clean. It didnt have any odors. It wasnt too hot and was pleasantly air conditioned. The bus driver was friendly and joked with my kids and me as we boarded. The other riders werent scary. It was everything I wasnt expecting!

Our grand adventure took about 50 minutes and, despite being an airport express, included several stops downtown to pick up passengers. My dh saw our bus as we drove near his building and texted There you go and Bye as we passed. I saw how the driver secured a wheelchair passenger and my kids saw the passenger sleep soundly as we drove around the city. So, for $6, we had a Grand Adventure to the airport and I didnt have to worry about traffic at all.

OK, I know youre dying herewhat did we pick up at the airport? Cause this sounds like a one-way trip, doesnt it? I picked up my latest review, a 2013 Lexus GS 450h. Getting it home was another adventure, as it always is.