Sunday, March 15, 2009

Oooh, it has been too long!

I have been so lax in keeping up my blog. But for good reason....
For my birthday my dear hubby gave me a plane ticket to Colorado Springs to spend some quality time with my daughter Beckie. We had so much fun just talking and playing, and talking, and shopping, and talking and eating, and talking and talking! We really do have fun ...even if we aren't doing anything really...just spending time together.

My flight down to Colorado was ridiculous!
First, you know that we all have to be to the airport early, but since our airport is so little they are through with everyone within a few minutes, then you wait....and wait....and wait...like for an hour and a half. Finally some time AFTER we were supposed to take off they tell us that our flight will be delayed because (get this) the flight crew is sleeping! Seems they got in late the night before and since they don't have anyone else to cover for them (due to such a small airport) and since they have to sleep a certain number of hours, we have to wait while they sleep. Now, I don't see why they couldn't have told us that when we checked in? There is a lovely restaurant where we could have had a nice breakfast while waiting instead of going through the security gate (And since we had to be there to check in by 6 AM I had not eaten) ...but now we were stuck in there with no refreshments, and no bathroom, just twiddling our thumbs and waiting. Sheeeezzzhh Sometimes the reasoning behind things just like this just amaze me.

But...this was just the beginning...
Once the crew was on the plane (over an hour later) we had to go for de-icing due to the cold weather. I don't know why that couldn't have been happening while the crew was getting ready, but apparently it was not to be.

Finally we were in the air! YAY! It was kind of a rough flight because of the weather and lots of wind and snow, but otherwise uneventful, unless you count me spilling my soda because the plane bumped just as I set it down and over it went. Just a little spill...a few napkins (OK a lot of napkins!) and all was good as new. Because of the wind at our tail we made good time and were approaching Denver well ahead of my connecting flight. Great! I think, because I had a layover and would still make my flight to Colorado Springs. The flight attendant said that they were holding our flights for an extra 20 minutes so we should be fine.

Then we land... and we sit, and sit, and sit on the tarmack... because there are no available gates for us to deboard. For half an hour we sit and wait. Finally we get a gate (it is no further than to the end of my driveway from where we are sitting in the plane) and they pull the plane up about half that distance so we can all disembark onto the tarmack and traipse up to the door of the airport between two ropes to keep us going where we are supposed to go. Now, I do not know why couldn't they have just put the ropes out to the plane in the first place rather than making us sit? No one knows, I am sure.

I bet you know what happened next, don'tcha? Yep, I missed my connecting flight. So, I had to do a bit more waiting in the Denver Airport before I was able to finally get on to my destination. Fortunately I had called Beckie so she knew I was going to be late and she wasn't just sitting around the airport there waiting for me all this time. What should have been a quick 3 hours turned into most of the day, but once I was there it was all worth it! I had a BLAST and much needed R & R.

I was in Colorado most of three weeks. Beckie had to go to work most days, but she did get to take off a few for us to spend together playing...and of course there were the weekends and evenings. The weather was so warm (in the 70s most days!) it was like summer when I was there. I know that Colorado is hurting for moisture, but it was nice that Mother Nature gave us nice weather for my vacation....especially since it was below zero here when I left, and also when I came home.

Now it is good to be home again...my dear hubby missed me a lot he said! :-) ...but there is so much to catch up on around here. Ah, vacations are so great, but then you pay for it with having to really get down to business when it is over!LOL