Back to reality...

We'll, they say all good things must come to an end, although I'm not sure Kelley would define this week as a "good thing."  I certainly don't think she'll be getting on another boat anytime soon.   Carnival had a couple of ways to leave the boat.  You could put your packed luggage in the hallway the night before, the crew would pick it up and unload it for you in the morning, and you could pick it up right before you go through customs OR you can lug it off yourself.  If you chose to "self debark", you could leave the ship anytime before 10am. We weren't in a particular hurry to get off the ship (well, at least I wasn't), but we chose to lug the luggage.  I guess we had all forgotten what a long walk it was to get on the ship, because we had to make the whole trip, plus an extra ship-length, in reverse while dealing with our bags.  I think by the time we got to the pier, Mom was ready to kiss the concrete.  We'd walk 1.5 miles just to get to the shuttle bus. (I should have known then the day was headed downhill.)

We made it to SeaTac by 10:30 or so.  Our flights were scheduled to leave around 2pm, so we decided to have lunch together before going our separate ways.  We found Anthony's Restaurant, and they had really great food and also great service.We decided to share a dessert, and since Washington is famous for their rhubarb, we chose a "Rhubarb Slump." What's a rhubarb slump?  Heaven in a bowl. (see photo below).  It was basically a cobbler, but the crust was soooo good.  I especially appreciated how the ice cream was sliced on top.  It would almost be worth the trip to Seattle just for the slump.  Yum.

Salmon burger

Kelley's Seafood Mac 'n Cheese - again

Fish tacos

Rhubarb Slump?

Rhubarb Slump!

 After lunch, we said our goodbyes and headed to our gates.  Zach and Kelley were headed back to Denver then Indy.  Mom and I were headed to Chicago then Cleveland.  The first leg of our journey was uneventful. We got to Chicago, and we had just over an hour to get to our next gate.  When we realized how far it would be to walk, I arranged for a wheelchair to transport Mom to the gate.  The dude with the wheelchair arrived and took off with mom at a crazy pace and didn't look back. I tried to keep up for a while, but I finally just decided I'd catch up with her later.  Ha!  When I made it to the gate, the board said that our flight was delayed about an hour.   We knew there was some weather in the midwest, so it wasn't a surprise, but if you've ever flown through O'Hare, you also know they don't have a great record for keeping to a schedule. After our flight was delayed a second time, I texted Kelley to check on them.  She said they had seen the storm from the air, but they had just landed.  Hooray for them.  In the meantime, American Airlines made an announcement that our plane had arrived, and they were going to try for a really quick turnaround and get us headed home....and then there was a maintenance issue.  They sent us to another gate down the hall, so we all scurried as a group to the new gate assignment.....where they told us there was another maintenance issue with this plane, too.  At this point, I was really starting to get fired up.  I had a meeting in Detroit the next day, and my ride was supposed to pick me up at 7am.  When they made the second maintenance announcement, they also told us that if the issue wasn't resolved in 20 minutes or so, the flight would be cancelled because the pilot had maxed out on his hours for the shift.  Are you kidding me?  (Of course, I'm not sure I would want to get on a plane that had a maintenance issue)  I'm sure you say this coming, but the flight was cancelled at 12:10am CDT.  Now what?

Our (not-so) friendly gate agent told me that they would be glad to put us on a flight the next day.  We would be flying from Chicago to Philly to Cleveland, arriving at 5:15pm.  Seriously?  When I asked her about lodging for the night, she said that since the delay was caused by weather, American Airlines would only reimburse 50% of our hotel bill.  That was the straw that broke this camel's back.  I decided that we would just rent a car and drive home.  Of course, we wouldn't make it back to Cleveland in time for me to catch a ride to Detroit, but it would be better than not getting home until tomorrow at 5:15 pm.  Besides, since it was so late (or early, as the case may be), we couldn't take our luggage home with us.  It would be on the morning flight to Cleveland.  Ironic.  About 30 minutes later, we were leaving the airport in a (non-GM) rental car.  Mom was pretty easy going about it, but I know she was very tired.  Frankly, I was, too, but at this point I was fueled by adrenaline.  She stayed awake all night to keep me company, but she was very relieved when we made it home around 9 am EDT.

Believe it or not, my boss still insisted that it was in my best interest to get myself to Detroit ASAP. (For the record, the meeting wasn't worth it, but I enjoyed seeing friends from other parts of the country).  Since our luggage wouldn't arrive until noon, I crawled into bed for 2 hours, then I took a shower, returned the rental car, took a shuttle to the airport to pick up our luggage, took the shuttle to long-term parking, then went back home. I quickly repacked, jumped in my truck and headed to Detroit...and as luck would have it, I got there too late to attend any of the Wednesday meetings.  It wasn't for lack of effort.   And it was just the way everyone wants their relaxing vacation to end.

If anyone is reading this post, I'm sure I've bored you by now.  Sorry.   The recap of this day was more for me than for you.  It will forever remind me to NEVER FLY THROUGH CHICAGO.  Just say no to O'Hare.

7,477 steps
3.36 miles