An early morning and away we go

7:00AM on the day of departure. All packed and ready to go. The problematic neighbors' dog seems to have kept quiet through the night which is good considering our 5am alarm to try and get as close as we can to paris time. The challenge will be sleeping 7hrs on the plane starting at 6pm tonight. Melissa is taking ambien but I'm trying to avoid drugs if at all possible (as usual). The train ride will give us a good chunk of time (3hrs to Penn Station in NYC) to finalize some of our plan based on the poor weather we anticipate. The current forecast is as follows:

Monday: light rain - high of 66
Tuesday: showers - high of 64 (and windy)
Wednesday: morning showers - high of 67
Thursday: Sunny high of 73 (this is ideal - will try to do outside stuff this day)
Friday: showers - high of 73
Saturday: Partly cloudy - high of 72

Unfortunately, Melissa is doing the tradeshow (Maison d'Object) Friday and Saturday, so we'll have to plan carefully to avoid being cold and wet earlier in the week while we tour. Packing for this trip has been an exercise in restraint as we've avoided any checked baggage and kept to carry-on sized bags for the week. The weather has been the biggest challenge there as rain gear tends to take up a bit of space.

Shortly we'll drop off Bear at the Busl's house and be on our way to Paris!