Evelyn got back in Austin on Thursday evening, safe and sound.

She took Jet Blue, which was a surprisingly pleasant experience. They fly out of the small Aguadilla airport (toward the north west of Puerto Rico). It’s a big hanger-like building, and you walk out to the tarmac to board the plane using good-old-fashioned stairs. MUCH less frantic and busy than the San Juan airport, and a lot closer to her parents home.

For those of you fearing a smaller airport, remember that this one is an old US Air Force base. That means it was designed for huge planes. In fact, the main runway is 11,700 feet long. That’s longer than any runway at SJU and only two runways at ORD are longer.

She flew in an Airbus 320 (good legroom, TVs at the seat) from BQN to Orlando, had an hour layover, and then another ride into Austin. Everything was on-time and smooth sailing, which seems to be the exception these days.

This was the first time that we’d gone to the AUS airport, and it was fine. Pretty small, kinda like an old Midway, except not so 1960′s feeling (they did have those classic black 60′s waiting chairs, though). Only one terminal building and baggage area, so it’s easy to meet up and find people. Easy to get in and out of, too. Good, close-in, parking, too. It too was an old Air Force base, converted to commercial. (Our old commercial airport was right in the middle of the city, kinda like Midway, but even closer in. It’s now being converted to a subdivision.)

Unfortunately, Evelyn got a cold about two days before her trip, so she was pretty much exhausted and feeling very sick at the end of it. She spent yesterday resting, and seems quite a bit better now. Hopefully the cold will be gone before our trip to the Smokies next week.

Speaking of the Smokies, we’re driving out there for a week. Sharing a chalet with my parents and Mike. Since it’s a long drive from Austin, we’ll do it in two parts. On the 18th we leave and then stay overnight at Vicksburg, MS. (We’ve stopped there before, in 2006, when going between Atlanta and Austin.) Then the 19th we drive out to TN to meet up and relax.