With the travel craziness my love had for the month of October, we came up with a plan for Thanksgiving of the kiddo and I heading out to Wyoming if my love was away on a trip. If.
Things were looking good for a while that he would be home. Then things looked like he'd be away. It kept going back and forth for a bit. Then it was finally determined that he would in fact not be home. So we purchased some pretty decently priced tickets through Southwest. (By the way, just have to say Southwest was actually pretty fun to fly AND they offer a military discount on tickets!)
Of course, shortly after buying the tickets, my love's trip starts to get pushed back a little here and a little there getting dangerously close to Thanksgiving.
Add in a little stomach bug that seemed to be plaguing the entire state finally found its way into our house a few days prior--first with the kiddo and then me, late Sunday. Monday rolls around and the kiddo was then officially diagnosed with a case of pink eye while I was recovering from my stomach bug hoping things would be fine by the next day considering we were supposed to leave Tuesday.
Then my love's trip was finally canceled. But he still didn't get to come with us "just in case".
It took a bit of convincing to keep with our Thanksgiving plans and head out to Wyoming. The thing that really swayed me was the added bonus of totally surprising my Grammy as she had no idea that we were coming. Plus it had been a year and a half since I had seen her...let alone her getting to see the kiddo.
By Tuesday the kiddo was deemed as no longer contagious and I was doing good...not great...but nothing horrible. Because of how far we live from the airport and how we were taking a 6am flight, we stayed the night at a hotel.
Of course that pesky little stomach bug that hit our house finally hit the one last family member that had yet to endure it--my love...on Tuesday night. Still time for me to change our minds and head back home. He assured me he was fine and so early Wednesday morning we got up, boarded a plane, and headed out west to those beautiful Rocky Mountains where we met up with my parents (aka Amma and Papa).
We flew in to Denver and I got to enjoy some yummy Kokoro (an old favorite Japanese healthy fast food/sit down place) for lunch and then we drove by one of my old apartments from when I lived there. I totally loved that apartment. Built in the 1940s, hardwood floors, huge bay window in the living room. I only wish I had more pictures than I do of it. :(
Then we made a pit-stop at the Denver Museum of Natural History for some fun time for the kiddo (and us too) before piling back into the car for some more travel time with our overnight stop in Cheyenne, WY.
The next morning, as we were eating some breakfast in the hotel lobby, we learned that I-80 westbound was closed due to high winds. As if going from nearly 70 degree temps the day we left home and being thrown into single digit temps not even considering the windchill weren't enough, it was like the state was saying "Welcome to Wyoming!" That threw a bit of a kink in things considering we had about 5 hours worth of travel time on I-80 westbound.
Fortunately my parents are familiar enough with the area that we took the back way into Laramie (where the Interstate opened back up). Eventually we made it to the western edge of Wyoming with a few funny stories along the way.
And it was all worth it...
...because my Grammy was totally surprised. :)
The kiddo had a fun time too playing with my cousins...her second cousins(?).
As you can see, she's learning how to use a smart phone in anticipation for her mommy and daddy getting one soon.
Here's some scenery right outside my aunt and uncle's back deck.
A bit of a panoramic view from my daddy's new spiffy camera. This is only a third of the stitched together panoramic shot.
The day after Thanksgiving we went to a local floral shop to look at their Christmas displays. There were a ton of beautiful things in there and I walked out of there with two beautiful bird ornaments for our Christmas tree. I plan on doing a Christmas decoration post soon and I'll be sure to take pics of them too.
On Saturday, on our way out of town, we drove around a few places my parents were familiar with--especially my dad since he spent part of his growing up years out here. This is an old mine that I've seen countless times and amazed its still standing.
That night we stayed in Cheyenne again and enjoyed some great Mongolian BBQ with another cousin of mine and her husband.
Sunday we hit the road again and decided to swing through my old first college town of Greeley, CO. This is my old dorm--which looks crazy tiny to me now (What do you think Meg?). It was a two bedroom suite that had a living room and bathroom. It had four roommates per "room suite" and my roommates and I were the first to live in that room.
Then we had some fun in a park I used to study in. I couldn't believe the number of geese sitting on the ice!
So the kiddo and Pappa decided to go chase a few that weren't sitting on the ice. It wasn't as spectacular as we thought it would be. They just waddled off. Maybe they were just cold?
Of course we had to check out the playground (which I never even knew existed when I studied there back in the day). The kiddo had more interest in putting gravel in my hands than anything else.
After that we finished our road trip and made it to my parents house for the night. We went to the evening service at my church that I miss so very much.
After that we finished our road trip and made it to my parents house for the night. We went to the evening service at my church that I miss so very much.
The next morning I woke up with a mega yucky cold/virusy thing and felt like total crud. So much so that I was a bit concerned we weren't going to make it home on Tuesday. Again because of distance and flight time, we stayed in a hotel the night before.
I went to bed when the kiddo did because of our early time and my not feeling well. I had the joy of being awoken by a fire alarm in the hotel at 2am. That was fun (not)...exciting (double not), and super COLD! It took about 45 minutes for the fire department to give the "all clear". Apparently it had something to do with a faulty valve.
The alarm going off also meant the elevators were out of service when we all trudged back up to our rooms. No big deal...we were only on the 4th floor. Ha! Until it was time for us to leave a few hours later. The elevator closest to our room had a nice little sign on it saying that we were to use the elevator at the opposite end of the hall. So I trudged all the way down to the other end of the hall (at 4:30am, mind you) by myself with my luggage, the kiddo, and her car seat. The fire doors were still closed throughout the hall AND covering the elevators. That was fun to juggle while making sure the elevator doors themselves didn't close on us.
After finally getting on the elevator and making it down to the first floor and encountering the fire doors covering the elevator again, we discovered we were dumped into the section of the hotel that was currently being renovated--as in I wasn't supposed to be in that mess at all. Meaning we had to walk outside around the ENTIRE back half of the building in the frigid dark to the front lobby to catch our shuttle that we had signed up for. Uh...not quite. That shuttle was prompt as the kiddo and I arrived in the lobby not even a minute after it had left. Had we not encountered the elevator obstical course, we would've easily made our shuttle. I wasn't alone. There was another family that did the stair route. (Sigh.) Regardless, we had another shuttle come for us and we made it through security without any un-neccessary fondling or invasive x-rays, and made our flight home. Oh, and thankful for an answered prayer, I was feeling much better and didn't experience horrible sinus pressure or anything.
We had a wonderful and memorable Thanksgiving this year. I'd definitely do a few things differently and so wish I had had more time to soak in being with my family. I hadn't seen some of this family for a number of years.
It was wonderful to come home and see my love though--with Chipotle no less! Fortunately he had an enjoyable Thanksgiving too with some friends. :)
I went to bed when the kiddo did because of our early time and my not feeling well. I had the joy of being awoken by a fire alarm in the hotel at 2am. That was fun (not)...exciting (double not), and super COLD! It took about 45 minutes for the fire department to give the "all clear". Apparently it had something to do with a faulty valve.
The alarm going off also meant the elevators were out of service when we all trudged back up to our rooms. No big deal...we were only on the 4th floor. Ha! Until it was time for us to leave a few hours later. The elevator closest to our room had a nice little sign on it saying that we were to use the elevator at the opposite end of the hall. So I trudged all the way down to the other end of the hall (at 4:30am, mind you) by myself with my luggage, the kiddo, and her car seat. The fire doors were still closed throughout the hall AND covering the elevators. That was fun to juggle while making sure the elevator doors themselves didn't close on us.
After finally getting on the elevator and making it down to the first floor and encountering the fire doors covering the elevator again, we discovered we were dumped into the section of the hotel that was currently being renovated--as in I wasn't supposed to be in that mess at all. Meaning we had to walk outside around the ENTIRE back half of the building in the frigid dark to the front lobby to catch our shuttle that we had signed up for. Uh...not quite. That shuttle was prompt as the kiddo and I arrived in the lobby not even a minute after it had left. Had we not encountered the elevator obstical course, we would've easily made our shuttle. I wasn't alone. There was another family that did the stair route. (Sigh.) Regardless, we had another shuttle come for us and we made it through security without any un-neccessary fondling or invasive x-rays, and made our flight home. Oh, and thankful for an answered prayer, I was feeling much better and didn't experience horrible sinus pressure or anything.
We had a wonderful and memorable Thanksgiving this year. I'd definitely do a few things differently and so wish I had had more time to soak in being with my family. I hadn't seen some of this family for a number of years.
It was wonderful to come home and see my love though--with Chipotle no less! Fortunately he had an enjoyable Thanksgiving too with some friends. :)
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Oh my!! The memories! I remember that park too. Do you remember going for runs there and having to dodge the...well..."gift of the goose".
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a great time and that everything worked out!