California Vacation, Part 4: The Journey Home

We woke up at 6am on our final day, knowing that we didn't need to leave until 7:30 and wanting to have a leisurely breakfast. We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare, and said our goodbyes. We did get two jars of salsa confiscated while going through security, but that was our fault for forgetting to move them out of the carry-on. OOPS! Our flight was on time and uneventful. I even snapped a pic as we were boarding, since it was a smaller plane and we were outside.

We had a smooth landing in Denver, but the entire place looked like this. And it was snowing pretty hard...

So we spent a lot of hours there. More than planned. We had a big lunch. We went for walks. We bought snacks. We looked at the little birdies bouncing around inside.

Our flight got pushed later and later. Soon, it looked like this outside:

I admit, I was starting to feel like we might spend the night in the airport. With two small children. And yet all I could think of was, "My groceries are getting delivered in the morning and I have to be there or they'll charge me a penalty!" ha!! But finally, we boarded the plane. And then sat, and sat, and sat (for another hour, basically). Eventually, we made it up into the air. And then it was a bumpy flight pretty much the entire way back to Boston.

We landed right around 2am local time (so 11pm California time, which is what we'd become used to). We waited for our bags. And waited. And waited. And none of them showed up. Gus waited in line at the baggage counter, only to learn that two of our bags were still in Denver and one had mysteriously flown to Omaha. Go figure. But at least they were located. He gave them our address for delivery, we took our receipt and two horrid "loaner" carseats, and dragged two very tired children to the shuttle that would take us back to our car.

Now, it had snowed for hours before we landed. It was pouring rain by the time we got there, though, so it was a horrible, slushy mess. We were soaked. We got in the car and began the hour-long drive home, only to find that the rain was turning to sleet, and the roads were very slippery. And in my little front-wheel-drive-only car... it was bad. Gus took it very slow and got us home safely, but we were both on edge. To the point where Gus suggested we buy snow tires for my car the very next day (something I'd been saying for a while, just for the record!!). Then, when we finally made it to our house at 4:15am, we couldn't get in the driveway. Of course. The plows had created a snowbank nearly a foot high of rock-hard, icy snow. So, we parked across the street while Gus walked over and shoveled out enough for us to get through. And we did. We were all asleep by 5am. And I was up at 8:30 to wait for the grocery delivery (which was AWESOME, by the way). It was a very, very long day!

Our suitcases arrived Monday afternoon, by the way. Everything made it back. And now we are getting right back into our old routine after having a fantastic two weeks visiting with family and old friends! :)