You guys. What a weekend. We usually spend our weekends hiking or snowshoeing, but like I mentioned on Friday, we were scheduled to fly mid-morning Saturday from Seattle to Tacoma. In true 2020 (or 2021) form, this was the weekend Washington decided it was time for a veritable snowpocalypse. We planned ahead. We packed the night before, we left early, and we know how to drive in the snow. One thing we’ve learned in our three years in Washington, however, is that western Washington doesn’t do snow.
The last big snow we had here at JBLM was in 2019 right when Ryan deployed and I was pregnant with Mieke. We were ill-equipped, but we enjoyed the taste of winter and hoped our second winter would be snowy, as well. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t. But this winter decided to gift us with a doozy…the one weekend we decided to travel to Colorado.
I shared our saga on my instagram, but for those who didn’t see it, it went something like this. Our 10:30 AM flight turned to an 11:00 AM flight, then 11:30, then it was canceled. We were quickly rebooked on the 6:10 PM flight, and we prepped ourselves for the day at the airport. Thankfully, we were well-prepared with snacks, all the sanitizing necessities, and entertainment for the kiddos. But, at 4 PM, they canceled our flight. Oh, and our bags were MIA for a good couple hours. But we got them, and we went home.
So, we rebooked. Again. For 6:10 PM the next day. You know that snowstorm? It kept going, and then it turned to freezing rain. Our 6:10 PM flight turned to 9:30 PM, then 10:14, then a gate change and, finally, we left at 10:45 PM. We arrived in Denver at the ungodly hour of 2:30 AM where the jetway was frozen and we couldn’t deplane for 35 minutes. But, we finally deplaned, got off, collected our bags, and made it to our mountain destination of Granby, Colorado at 5:30 AM. Is that early, or is that extra late?
Guys. Traveling is a trip (ha – see what I did there?), and traveling with kids extra chaos, but it is an adventure like no other. Our kids rolled with the punches, and this is one we won’t soon forget because there’s nothing like spending Valentine’s Day in the airport. But seriously, this snowpocalypse reminded us about the good old days of travel and adventure and the chaos that comes with it, and damn – that felt good. And, for better or worse, we made it to Colorado, where we’ll spend the week.
Tell me – did you do anything fun this weekend?