There and Back Again - An Adventure

"An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered." ~G.K. Chesterton

The past couple of weeks have been, to say the least, an adventure! Last Tuesday I bought plane tickets for my daughters and to fly to Louisiana for my grandmother's funeral. We left on Thursday. Due to such short notice, the cheapest tickets I could find included 4 flights with lay-overs in 3 cities. Not only that, it was an overnight journey.
We left Spokane at 3:30pm. As I printed out our boarding passes we noticed that we had seats together for all the flights except the one from Phoenix to Las Vegas. I asked the ticket agent about getting that changed, but he said that the flight was full so he couldn't change it for us, but to ask at the gate in Phoenix. The girls enjoyed the novelty of the first flight. In Phoenix we talked to the gate agent, who wasn't able to get us seats together, but he moved us around a bit so we were closer together and with 2 aisle seats which made it more likely someone would be willing to trade as we boarded the plane. We were in the last group to board and it was so crowded that I didn't have the heart to ask people to trade with us, so I began to stow our carry-ons and tell the girls where to sit. I was so grateful when 2 ladies who were sitting in the row with one of my daughters offered to trade with us. I had the impression they were together, but they were willing to sit in different rows and give us their seats.

The funny thing about that flight, from Phoenix to Las Vegas, was how short it was. The flight attendants barely got the drinks served before they were coming through taking up the cups again. Another interesting thing was the sunset. It was dark when we left Phoenix, but as we flew west we watched the sun set again! It lasted for a long time, too. I suppose because we were traveling with it.

We knew we were in Las Vegas as soon as we stepped off the plane because of all the slot machines in the airport. We were to change airlines there, and we had a 3-hour layover. I did not see our flight listed on the Departures monitor yet, so I had no idea what gate to head for. I knew it was not the concourse we landed at, as those were all US Airways flights. We walked to the end of the A concourse and when we got to the security checkpoint I asked a security guard where the Delta gates were. He told me they were in D concourse, and to get there I needed to go through B concourse, then C, before I would see signs for D. We walked and walked and walked. Some portions of the airport were completely abandoned at that time of night. Finally we got to the end of the C concourse and while I could see signs for D concourse, I still couldn't find where to go. It seemed like every sign either pointed to a dead-end or had us walking in circles. So I asked someone else. Turns out there was a train we needed to ride, but the normal doors to the train were closed for construction and it was a quite obscure detour. No wonder I had such a time finding it. So we rode the train and walked and walked some more. I was beginning to wonder if it would take us the full 3 hours to get to our gate! It didn't. We still had plenty of time. The girls stretched out on the floor for a bit before time to start boarding.

The flight from Las Vegas to Atlanta was a red-eye. It was over 3 hours long. My under-the-seat bag did not fit under the seat in front of me, so I just put it under my legs for take-off, and then held it in my lap during the flight. It made a good platform to put my pillow on! Our sleep that night consisted of mostly cat-naps on that oh-so-very-long flight. I know, 3 hours is really not all that long... but when it's the middle of the night and you'd like to be sleeping, it seems endless.

The first order of business in Atlanta was to find a Starbucks. I felt much better after I had a cup of coffee. And I could tell we were in Atlanta because the airport announcer sounded just like Jimmy Carter!

Our flight from Atlanta to New Orleans was uneventful, but we were sure happy to get off the plane for the last time that night. As we stepped outside to wait for my mother to pick us up we were nearly knocked over by the heat and humidity that is standard summer weather in southern Louisiana.

We had a special time together with my dad's family the next few days. The girls stayed with my parents to go home with them for a visit, while I flew back home. My return flight was supposed to be much shorter, leaving New Orleans at 6:45pm CDT, with only one layover in Denver, then home by 11pm PDT.

As soon as I walked into the airport in New Orleans I noticed that my flight was already delayed by 45 minutes. Since I only had an hour to change planes in Denver, I was concerned about making the connection, but I knew that sometimes they can make the time up in the air. They didn't. We were nearly an hour late getting into Denver, and the last flight to Spokane for the night was the one I missed.

The airline put me up in a very nice hotel and gave me a $15 voucher for a meal. I would have much rather been home, but I decided to consider it an adventure. The meal voucher had to be used all at once. I couldn't use half of it for supper that night, and the other half for breakfast the next day. I didn't need $15 for one meal, but the restaurants would not give change. So I decided to see if I would be allowed to spend it at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory on candy. Sure enough, I was! So I blew the whole thing on chocolate to take home to my husband!

And I finally made it home by early afternoon the next day. Whew!

That's the end of that adventure... but stay tuned! We are setting off on another road-trip (our long-planned summer vacation) this evening, and I'm sure there will be many adventures along the way!

Getting My Kicks on Route 66

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Route 66

Day 4 of our roadtrip (see previous days below) called for an uneventful 10-hour trip from Williams, Arizona to San Luis Obispo, California. We continued to see signs about Historic Route 66 as we drove along and we talked about how much fun it would be to try to follow the old route sometime. We stopped in Kingman, Arizona for drinks (at Sonic!) and saw a museum about Route 66. I was just dying to go in, and we would have taken the time except it didn’t open until 9:00 and it was only 8:30. We decided we shouldn’t just wait around for the museum to open. So DH decided to get off the interstate right there and follow the old highway to Needles, California (about 50 miles) before resuming our originally planned route.

As we angled away from the interstate the highway began to look just as I had always pictured it in my mind. Narrow two-lane highway, no shoulders, sand right up to the pavement with the ribbon of road stretching across the desert as far as the eye could see. It was a surreal experience, especially as there was very little traffic and no buildings or other signs of human life for miles at a time.

We could see mountains ahead of us and I wondered how the highway crossed the mountains. We soon found out! This narrow two-lane highway twisted around and around and up and down, with hair-pin curves and sheer drop-offs (still no shoulders!), winding it’s way over the mountains. Now I could understand why the Joad Family in The Grapes of Wrath waited until night to cross the mountains so their car wouldn’t overheat! Did I mention it was already 100 degrees by 9:00 a.m.? Well, it was!

We passed through an authentic ghost town, somebody’s old car (from back in the day) that apparently hadn’t made it around one of the curves and was just stuck in the brush half-way down the mountain, and another “live” town that looked like something from the Old West with wild burros wandering through the streets. This stuff was REAL, too! Not staged for tourists.

By the time we finally made it back to civilization I was in desperate need of a bathroom! (Remember the Sonic drinks?) So we were happy to find a gas station, even if gas was $3.89 a gallon for regular! By then the temperature was 110.

We somehow lost the old highway about 10 miles before we got to Needles. The signs we tried to follow just led to a dead-end road, so we just got back on the interstate. I hadn’t noticed before how wide California is down in the southern part of the state. We drove across that wide expanse of desert, past Edwards Air Force Base, and gasped to breathe the next time we stopped at a blistering 114 degrees!

The rest of the drive was uneventful, and the coast was blessedly cool (mid 70s) by the time we got to our motel about 5:15 p.m.

I was just thrilled to get to experience this small portion of the historic "Mother Road"!

Grand Canyon

We spent the first day of our trip traveling. We enjoyed southern Utah on the second day (see previous post). Day 3 was our day to see the Grand Canyon. DH had planned our trip to allow for plenty of time there. Our first stop inside the park was at an overlook that had a watchtower we could climb for great views of the Canyon. I was impressed to find plaques with verses of scripture (psalms of praise to the Creator) at various places... With it being a National Park I'm surprised they don't consider it a violation of "separation of church and state" or something stupid like that.

The next stop was at some Indian ruins, showing where the natives had lived 800 years ago. All that remained were piles of rocks showing where the walls had once been. It's hard to imagine how the human race has survived on the face of the earth for centuries before the modern conveniences we enjoy today.

From there we drove on to the Grand Canyon Village. We parked and took the shuttle bus to the Visitor’s Center, then back through the village to transfer to another bus that went along the rim of the Canyon to “Hermit’s Rest”. The bus driver on our way back told us about a mama mountain lion that had been seen in the area with 3 cubs. Apparently they were crossing the road in front of one of the buses one day and one of the babies just sat down in the middle of the road. The mama growled and fussed at it from the side and it wouldn't budge, so she finally had to go pick it up by the scruff of the neck and carry it off! I would like to have seen that! Sounds like some kids I know!

When we got back to the village we went to the post office for stamps and to the general store for ice cream and drinks. Then we hiked a half mile out to the rim one more time before we left the park. I would love to go back when we have more time to stay!