Flying Into Chicago

It was a long weekend for me!

The hubby had Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off, so we finally got to spend some time together since we've been back. It was a movies, snacks, and lots of wine kind of weekend. And we had a great time!

But, back to reality. In house news, all the trim, doors, cabinets, and the porch were installed yesterday! After the workers left yesterday (an Amish crew from Cleveland- they were very interesting) I was left pretty much speechless. An incredible amount of work was done, it was unbelievable. Pictures will be up tomorrow. I'm that technologically challenged girl that never syncs her iPhone to her computer because it always deletes her playlists, so I email pics from my iPhone to my computer. This process takes forever, so they should be there by tomorrow :) And if anyone knows why my playlists always get deleted, please tell me! I've spent hours trying to fix whatever it is that does that. I always appreciate technology tips!

So, the hubby and I had one of the scariest experiences I've ever had on our travels back from Portland to Chicago, our layover city. We flew out of PDX in clear weather, which, unbeknownst to us, was soon to change. I snapped this cool pic right after leaving PDX:

It's kind of hard to see, but you can just make out the red and yellow ring in the middle. It's apparently called a glory, and is a visual optical illusion that's pretty rare to see.

But, back to my story. We ran into a major thunderstorm while descending into Chicago. I've never felt turbulence like that before, I was scared out of my mind! At some point, I feel the plane pulling up instead of descending. The captain's voice came over the loudspeaker and announced that the Chicago airport had closed when we were in the middle of our descent, and we were going into a holding pattern. A holding pattern is where the plane just circles above the airport. In a thunderstorm. It was basically pure turbulence for 20 minutes while we circled around in center of a storm. I completely lost my sense of direction, so that when the plane sped up (a ton!) I couldn't tell if we were going up or down. All I knew was that the plane sounded like planes do in movies when they are plummeting from the sky. I was gripping my seat so hard, my whole body was tensed. The guy sitting next to the hubby was saying the Lord's Prayer. The whole plane was silent. It was beyond creepy.

The extreme speed only lasted a few minutes, because soon we were above the storm and the captain was announcing we were diverting to Indianapolis. The hubby and I were uneasy about this, because the flight had already been delayed about 45 minutes due to this storm, and our layover in Chicago was only 2 hours. We really didn't want to miss our flight to Columbus. But... miss our flight to Columbus we did. We sat on the tarmac in Indy for 2 hours before taking to the sky and finally landing in Chicago. Along with thousands of other delayed and diverted passengers. The airport was. a. disaster. We waited in a seemingly endless line to reschedule our flight, but finally managed to get it changed. Unfortunately, there were no flights leaving that night, and we had to stay the night in the airport.

I will mention that by this time it was midnight, the dogs desperately needed a potty break, and the hubby and I hadn't eaten all day. We had planned on eating in Chicago hours earlier. We were so exhausted we couldn't see straight, but we had to leave security, let the dogs potty, and then go back through security to scour the airport for any food venue that might be open. We were lucky to find a venue to purchase sandwiches, fruit, and water. The dogs dined on turkey, bread, and melon, which I personally don't think they minded :) The airport was nice enough to distribute cots, blankets, and pillows to the thousands of people who were stranded in the airport, so we settled down for the night.

The boys behaved surprisingly well that night. They both went to sleep on and/or next to the hubby. I could not sleep, so I read a book and kept watch over the hubby, boys, and bags.

By morning, the storm had passed and we had no doubt we would make it to Columbus with no trouble.

The sunrise over Illinois

Needless to say, I was beyond exhausted when we finally reached Ohio, and even more so after our two and half hour drive back to Kentucky. It took about 2 days for me to recover (rest-wise) from this ordeal.

If I could manage to avoid airplanes for the rest of my life, I would. But, I can't do that. Sigh.

I'll be posting all the pics of the trim tomorrow! Happy Tuesday everyone!