I'm home from my trip to Colorado, and now that I've slept for approximately 14 hours, I finally feel awake enough to write about it.
I left last Thursday, after I made sure the cats were going to survive 4 days home alone. Jerbs left for San Diego last Tuesday night, so all of the animal and house preparing fell to me (yay, my favorite). I get super paranoid about that kind of stuff, so I spent all my after work time on Wednesday making sure various things were unplugged and taking out trash and setting out bowls of food and water for the cats and making sure there was nothing in the fridge that would go bad, etc. etc. etc. I also managed to do most of my packing somewhere in there, which of course made exactly zero difference in being able to leave on time on Thursday because I just don't do on time, I guess.
I worked a half day Thursday, then put in a little time at job # 2. Then I came home and triple checked everything in the house, showered, finished packing, loaded up the car and hit the road. I was just over halfway to Flagstaff when I randomly started wondering if I had locked a cat in the laundry room. I seriously considered turning around and driving back to check, but talked myself out of it. I had checked the laundry room before I left, but I'd only kind of glanced because I was in a hurry, so . . . yeah. I kind of talked myself into a panic about it. (Happily, I did NOT lock any cats in the laundry room when I left, but those fatties did manage to eat all the food I put out for them so . . . good job, cats).
I drove to Kingman and dropped my dogs and their stuff off at my mom's (she was nice enough to watch them for me), then I spent the night at my sister's. (Austin was so happy to see me, when he saw me at my mom's he said he'd been waiting ALL DAY for me to get there haha). Our flight from Vegas to Denver was at 6:20 in the morning, which mean we got up around 2 AM to be on the road by 3. This all happened after staying up until at least 11 the night before, so it was not the most pleasant experience. The whole way to Vegas my sister (needlessly) worried that we were going to miss our flight, which made the whole thing even more fun.
So the flight. This was actually my first time ever flying, so I was really excited and nervous about it. The security stuff was kind of anxiety inducing, I was very worried that I was going to get stopped for extra stuff--not that there was any reason at all that I would be, but still. On the plane, I sat with Austin, so he got the window seat, but since he's so short I was able to see over him. Let me tell you, I really surprised/impressed myself with how calm I was about flying. Like, I fully expected to be shit terrified, but . . . I was just completely at ease. Take off was a little weird, just because you kind of get thrown back in your seat as the plane goes up, and it's a strange sensation when you experience it for the first time. Once we were in the air, the only thing that scared me was when the plane would kind of roll to the side. That's the only way I can think to describe it, and I think it happens when the plane moves in a curved line, if that makes sense. It's kind of creepy to be looking out the window and then just have it dip to one side, so that scared me quite a bit. But the flight to Denver was really smooth and the landing was smooth too, so overall I think I got lucky to have that particular flight as my first one. (Flight home was not so great but more on that later).
Once we got to Denver, we picked up a rental car and drove to Colorado Springs (about an hour away). Then my sister and her friend, Jen, who had flown out with us, had the rehearsal dinner. At that point I actually took the rental car and drove back to the Denver airport to pick up Jen's boyfriend, who had flown out from Phoenix. Weirdly, that drive was one of the highlights of the trip for me. Before I left, my sister freaked out because I don't have GPS on my phone, and I just looked up the directions online and wrote them down. Then the exit I was supposed to take was closed, which initially made me panic, because I was on a packed 4 lane highway in a strange city/state, so I just kept driving, intending to turn around and try to hit my intended exit from the other direction. But then I saw signs for the airport at a different exit a few miles up the road and just followed those, so basically I ended up taking the highway instead of a toll road, which just adds about 20 minutes onto the trip, not really a big deal. So I made it to the airport, followed the signs to the terminal (based on just knowing the airline BTW), then followed the signs to passenger pick up, and smoothly and successfully picked up Jen's boyfriend. Then I just followed the signs to get back on the road to Colorado Springs, and we successfully made it back. I was so fucking proud of myself! I mean, I still get lost in Flagstaff sometimes, but I was able to drive to an airport in a place I'd never been to pick someone up. It made me happy. And confident. And my sister was very impressed that I did all that without GPS. So go me.
The next morning, my sister and Jen left super early to get ready for the wedding, so Stevie (another friend of my sister's who came with us) and I were in charge of Austin. We had breakfast at the hotel (Austin prayed over the meal and thanked Jesus that Stevie and I were there to take him to breakfast, it was very sweet). Then we all got ready for the wedding, which involved multiple texts from my sister to make sure I was actually getting Austin ready. The three of us and Jen's boyfriend had to take a cab out to the Airforce base where the wedding was, which was interesting. The driver told us a bunch of the history of the base, which was cool, but it was a long drive that cost $55, which was less fun.
The chapel on the base, where the ceremony was, is a really beautiful place. I had Austin write I love you and his name in the guest book, it was cute. The ceremony was really pretty, very traditional and elegant; I really liked the chaplain who officiated. My sister (and all the bridesmaids, a lot of whom I know through her and Shannon) looked amazing, and Shannon was just a stunning bride. I definitely cried during the ceremony, not just because it was a wedding, but because I was watching someone I've known since she was a little kid get married. Weird, but in a good way. I'm very, very happy for Shannon and her husband. They definitely seem like a good fit.
After the ceremony the 4 of us who took the cab together got a ride back to our hotel with one of my sister's friends, Lindsey. I'd never met her before that day (at least not that I remembered, but she said we were introduced once a long time ago at my sister's in Kingman), but she was very nice, and I was glad for the ride because I definitely didn't want to either wait for my sister to be finished with pictures or shell out another $55 for a cab ride! My sister did pick us up for the reception, though.
The reception was fun, we sat with some nice people who are friends of Shannon's husband. The food was good (Austin said to my sister, "This is what you should make at home, Mom!"). My sister gave a very nice MoH speech that made me cry. And then at some point the whole thing turned into a rave, and I just . . . well, it's just not my kind of thing. I don't like loud music or strobe lights or drunk people, so I was a little out of my comfort zone. I did dance, a little, when forced to by the bride haha, but that was about it. In retrospect, I wish I'd been a little more confident and had more fun, but I am who I am so oh well. We finally left, which, for me, involved playing DD (joy). I was in such a shitty mood by then I almost felt bad but whatever, it had been a long night, my shoes hurt, and again, I don't like hauling around drunk people. It was an amazing feeling to finally get back to our hotel (which took awhile because I didn't have directions and everyone I was with was too drunk to help me) and go to bed. My sister went to the after party, and I vaguely remember her stumbling in at like 2 AM, but aside from that, I was freaking out.
The next morning I took Austin swimming for a little while, then I took a walk around the neighborhood where our hotel was. It's the downtown area, so it's a really old, really residential area, and I wanted to see it. I looked at some pretty houses and met a cat who lived at one of them, he came over the fence and let me pet him. Later we actually went over to Shannon's house to visit her and say goodbye. She has a pet hedgehog that I got to hold, so that was exciting. (I want a hedgehog SO bad, but you have to have a wildlife license to own one in AZ). We had a nice visit, then had dinner at Applebees and went back to our hotel to pack and get ready to leave the next day.
Monday we got up early so we could go to the Garden of the Gods before we left for Denver, which was definitely worth it. It was beautiful, and it was something I was hoping to see while we were there. I took a bunch of pictures that I don't really feel like posting, but it was just lovely. We stopped for coffee at Starbucks and then got on the road back to Denver. We made really good time, got to the airport and returned the rental car, got to the terminal and made it through security a full two hours before our flight was scheduled to take off. So we had a nice sit down lunch and felt pretty dang proud of ourselves. After lunch we went souvenir shopping in the airport shops, then went to our gate to wait for our flight. This was the point where everything started to go downhill.
About 20 minutes after we were supposed to start boarding, just as we were starting to wonder why we weren't on the plane yet, they announced that the flight was delayed by 2 hours. Apparently, the plane was flying Seattle to Denver, and was held up because of bad weather in Seattle. So we killed 2 hours doing basically nothing, and finally got on the plane. (Side note: the guy I was sitting next to told Jen and I about how once, years ago, his flight out of Dallas got grounded after he was already on the plane, and he sat in the plane on the runway for 6 hours . . . so I guess our little delay wasn't all that bad). By the time we boarded it was looking pretty stormy out in Denver, and the take off was rough. The first half of the flight was pretty rough too, with lots of patches of turbulence, which was a little nerve wracking. Plus the cabin lights wouldn't stay off or on for awhile, they just flickered, which made for a pretty spooky/ominous atmosphere. The landing in Vegas was rough too, so the whole flight home experience was not great. And stepping out into the Vegas heat (it was 103 degrees out when we landed) after spending 4 days in 70 degree weather was just . . . blech.
We drove back to Kingman, where things continued to go wrong: within 20 minutes of being back at my sister's, we had to take one of her dogs to an emergency vet. Long story that involved me having to find an ATM, but the dog thankfully is fine, she just had a concussion. By this time it was almost 9:30 PM, and I finally made it to my mom's and picked up my dogs (who were just delighted to see me). I had planned to visit my dad, but by then I figured he was asleep so I was just going to go home, but my mom mentioned he had been waiting up for me, so I ended up going to his house and was there for probably about 45 minutes. It was nice to see him, and we had a nice visit. He just got back from a trip to visit his family in Ohio, so we got to talk about that and I told him about the Denver trip.
I stopped and got gas and finally, at around 10:30, got on the road home. I got on the 40 East at Andy Devine (like always), and went maybe half a mile, and then traffic was completely stopped. Like, completely stopped. I was literally parked on the effing highway. I texted Jerbs (she was home in Flag by then) and asked her to look online and see what was up. Apparently, a couple miles up the road from where I was, there had been a vehicle on fire, so crews were working on that. Traffic started moving again (VERY slowly) around 11:20, but one lane was still closed so between the merging and the huge amount of back up (mostly semis), it was about another 20 minutes before I was actually driving at highway speed. I finally got home around 1:30 AM, and I don't think I've ever been so grateful to see Flagstaff or my crappy little apartment. I walked in, set up the dogs' bed, gave Jerbs a hug, and just fell into bed. It was glorious. I woke up this afternoon and ordered a pizza and felt very very grateful that I thought to take today off, because no way could I have functioned at work today.
Overall, it was a good trip, and I'm glad I went and I appreciate my sister booking the flight and hotel and everything. I do have to say that, as much as I love my sister, she and I are just drastically different people, and 4 straight days together with very little time apart really brings that out. I don't necessarily think that she and I make good traveling buddies. As for flying, I didn't mind it, and I'm glad that now I at least know how to fly, like I know how to get around an airport and all that, which I'm sure is a useful skill to have. But I have to say it wasn't my favorite, I think because so much of it is hurry up and wait, y'know? Like waiting in line at security, then waiting in line at the gate, then waiting in line for the rental car . . . just too much down time. It makes me feel like I'm wasting time, somehow, so I think I'll stick to road trips when I'm able to. But that's just me.
I will say that seeing my sister and Jen as bridesmaids made me even more excited to be in Theresa's wedding this fall!
