Last Week at This Time...

So last Wednesday my travel companion, a/k/a my mother, and I flew down to Canon City for a meeting and another proceeding. Our plans were set such that we flew out on the first flight of the morning, got down to Canon with just enough time to take a few meetings, attend the courtroom, and turn around to catch the last flight back into Jackson. Amazingly, even after hitting Denver traffic at 4 p.m., we did it! With a little bit of time to spare... when we checked in with my youngest brother I asked him if he was ready for Mom to come home (she'd spent the night before at my place) and he declared that I was Mom's daughter and that she needed to spend a couple of quality days with me. Smart. Ass. Nine. Year.Old.

As we're sitting there in the terminal in our courtroom attire with nothing but our purses waiting for the flight they announce that we have a gate change because our original plane was having mechanical problems and was being towed away from the gate we were at. So we hustle around the terminal to the next gate and board a few moments later.

Once on board the pilot announces that despite having beautiful weather in Denver it's coming down awfully hard in Jackson and we have enough fuel to get to Jackson, circle around, and come back to Denver if needed. We proceeded to taxi... and then sit on the runway for an hour while the pilots decide to come back to a gate and cancel our flight. Between the time we got off the tarmac and back to the gate the airline had canceled the next two flights out in the morning as well... so after getting back into the terminal and to the new ticketing gate and at the end of a very long line it was no surprise when we were told that we would be spending the next two nights in Colorado.

By now our feet are swollen, aching, blistered, and our bodies aren't doing much better since we've been up since 5 a.m., flown 800 miles, drove 4 hours round trip, and sat in a nice air compressed plane for an hour and a half... so at the point we're literally hobbling around DIA. I call the nice 800 number on the voucher for a discount hotel from the airline and get a room and we find something to eat and an overnight courtesy bag from the airline (remember, we were only scheduled to be in and out... no toothbrushes... no deodorant... minimal touch up makeup... no change of clothes...) before the shuttle comes to pick us up.

As we're pulling into the hotel I realize that the woman who took my reservation never asked me for sleeping accommodation preferences. Once at the counter the nice man informs me that the only rooms with two beds are in the smoking section.... so for the next two nights I get to share a king size bed with my mother... who likes to sleep at an angle... honestly the first night I was so tired I hardly noticed.

Sometime the next morning we get the great idea that this blizzard that has now hit Denver really isn't that bad. So I go and rent a car so at the very least we can go to the mall and find something to wear. In the time it takes me to get to the airport and back the blizzard has become a monster. It takes me nearly 30 minutes to make the 10 minute drive... I wait awhile and finally after much whining on my mother's part for socks to cover her blisters I go venture out to find the WalMart. The front desk said it was just down the road on... of all streets... Salida (yeah, go figure...). I was in open toed sandals as I trekked through the six inches in the parking lot... and through the 4 inches in the WalMart lot too... the WalMart that I couldn't see from the road because the wind was blowing the snow so hard it was now a white out...

Once in WalMart the announcements start coming over the speakers that the garden center is closing... then the main doors... but don't worry the grocery doors will remain unlocked... so I start grabbing whatever I can as fast as I can so I can get out of there...

On the list... shoes and socks for the both of us... I found these to cover my toes... the tag said "tattoo" it wasn't kidding...

For $5 I'm not going to complain... but I think there is pretty much every tattoo design known embroidered into those boots...

I find a pair of decent slides for Mom and clothes and popcorn (specifically the 94% less fat popcorn because you know in a BLIZZARD we have time to be PICKY) and a carry on bag to take everything home in. At the register I change into the offensive boots and then hurry back to the hotel.

Walking back into the full hotel lobby with the suitcase in one hand and the bags in the other I stomp my feet off on the rug and take a step onto the tile... where I proceed to FLY THROUGH THE AIR... suitcase goes one direction... bags go another... I land on my knees and then knock my head on the tile next to the "Caution - Wet Floor" sign. Some nice old lady came over to help me get back on my feet... I took off the ice covered boots with no traction... held my head up high... and strutted across the lobby.

Some minor damage sustained during that fiasco... the lengths I'll go to make my mother comfortable ;)

Finally the next day we return the hardly used rental car (upside of not going anywhere is that I didn't have to fill the tank - lol)... and find out gate. We're early enough that it's not on the sign so we find the customer service agent who directs us to gate 46... ten minutes before we are to board I realize that after the last plane departed there aren't that many people waiting to board our flight and it's still not on the board at the gate... so I check the big board and find out that it's been changed to gate 20... so we haul ass across the terminal... get there just in time for the announcement that our flight will now be ten minutes late because the stewardesses are coming from across the terminal... once on the flight we learn that the gate had actually been changed THREE times... luckily for us we only had to run once.

All in all it was a typical trip down south... and given the chain of events I can tell my special guardian angel was nearby.