A Cry in the Dark

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

back, tired and cranky....

Well, I am back. But I'm tired and cranky today....

The trip to see the family was good, surprisingly enough! No fights. No disagreements. My brother and I actually remained civil the whole time. Of course, the fact that we had to spend less than 48 hours in the same vicinity probably helped.

Yesterday was one LONG day. It started at 6am (Central time) with coffee on the porch with Mom. We got the house straightened, everything packed, then off to the VA for Dad to have blood drawn. Lunch after that and then driving the rest of the way to Tulsa. (Since Mom and Dad live in the boonies, you always have to give extra time to get to the airport. It's 1 1/2 hours away IF there's no construction going on.)

Arrival at the airport is fine. Checking in goes quickly. I send Mom and Dad off since they have quite a drive in front of them and I want them out of Tulsa before the traffic starts in. At 4:30, they announce that the 5:30 departure has been pushed back an hour due to weather in Newark. Not a problem, as I have a good book and my bottle of water. We board and leave at 6:30, so everyone on the plane thinks we're in good shape. A little more than four hours later, we land and hear "Welcome to Pittsburgh" coming over the speaker. Pittsburgh? How in the world did that happen?

Well, it went something like this.... We DID go to Newark. However, due to the weather (again) there were too many planes in a holding pattern and we got sent to Pittsburgh to get us out of the way. While there was a bit of grumbling, we all accepted that and about 45 minutes later, the plane took off again. Once again, we begin circling over Newark. Guess what? We can't land this time either. So we get sent to Allentown. This is where the fun begins. The flight crew is almost at their maximum time, so Allentown has 30 minutes to get us refueled and back off the runway. Also, there are several passengers from Montreal who got stranded and need to get to Newark. I don't think I've ever seen people move so fast. They had us refueled, luggage loaded and 15 passengers on board in 20 minutes. Back to Newark....

The third time was a charm. We got to land! Of course, it was only 5 hours later than originally scheduled. I finally got home a little after 4am this morning. After reading Spring's blog, though, I can see why we kept getting diverted.

after the storm

Needless to say, I'm tired, I'm cranky, and I'm not going to get everything done that needed to be done today.

*sigh*

I really think I need to take more of my vacations at home.

Posted by WistfulWench :: 10:39 AM :: 4 comments