Crazy Trip--part two

I should first say that once we got to Telluride, we had a fabulous time. We hung out with my husband's brother and his family. They are wonderful, generous hosts and have a gorgeous place there with gorgeous views of the mountains out every window. They have four children who PB adores and spent ever single second he could with.

It was cold, but wonderfully relaxing. I slept in and read a lot--I got through "The Tattooed Girl" by Joyce Carol Oates, which I loved. Of course, I always love her. And almost finished with "A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry. It's great too. Different than books I typically like, but really well done.

On the second night we were there we went to a restaurant, and who do I see sitting at a table less than 20 feet from me?

Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Suri and a bunch of their family!!! I was so starstruck! I positioned myself so I could watch them throughout the whole meal. Of course, when I tried to take a picture in the lobby as they were leaving, I was told I would be asked to leave if I did so. Why I didn't just leave and catch them as they were doing so, I'm not sure. My husband caught a couple on his cell phone (no flash), but they're not that good. Oh well, it made my trip.

Then no sooner had we arrived, was it time to leave. We got to the Telluride airport in plenty of time. They were concerned that if there was any delay we wouldn't make our connection in Denver, so they booked us on a backup flight. We were feeling really good about our return home.

THEN, we got on the plane. It was, without a doubt, the worst, scariest, most horrifying thing I've ever done (with the exception of PB's extremely premature birth). Now, I knew it was going to be bumpy going out over those mountains, but this was more like being shaken angrily by a huge monster holding the plane in his hand.

And not only was it bumpy, but alarms started going off--TWICE. why? no clue. There were only 12 of us on this little prop plane, no airline attendants, just us and alarms and bumps. The boy behind me threw up, I was screaming and crying. I really thought we might die.

Thank God PB slept through the whole thing, because I would have freaked him out as he was across the aisle from me. How he slept through the whole thing I have NO idea. But so glad he did.

We finally landed, and I was a mess emotionally, still crying, could barely walk. I knew we missed our original flight, but figured that was for the best as I needed some time (and wine!) to prepare for the final leg of our journey back to Orlando.

Well, I got plenty of time. Remember how they booked us on a backup flight? Yeah, well when we got there, they had NO record of our reservation. That's right, for the THIRD time on this trip Great Lakes lost our reservation. How that's possible, I have no idea.

The only option was to sit at the airport for eight hours then take a red eye. We were so tired at that point that we just gave up. We found a nearby Embassy Suites, made sure we were there in time for the free happy hour, and added another day to the already marathon trip.

We finally got home around 6 p.m. last night.

I can say without a doubt that this trip was unforgettable. And I have no desire to get on a plane anytime soon.