Good MLK day to everyone. I promised in my last message I would regale you with our travel adventures to Colorado. As you may remember, we all took a trip to Colorado the first week of January to see my relatives. Of course, after the attempted terror attack on a flight on Xmas day, we were a little nervous about how the Airport security would be. So, on the day of our flight to Denver, we decided to leave a bit early for the airport. Our flight was at 8pm so we packed up the car with the luggage (more on that in a bit) and headed to the airport around 3:30pm. And wouldn't you know it, no traffic, no lines at baggage, no lines at check-in and NO LINES AT SECURITY. In fact, I may have not ever got thru security faster...even traveling by myself. Of course, it took us a half an hour to re-dress ourselves after we had to take off 5 jackets, 5 belts, 5 pair of shoes, assorted watches, phones, sunglasses etc. But we got to our gate at before 5. While that may seem terrific...we now had to wait 3 hours before we could board the plane. I don't know how many of you have traveled through Terminal 2 at Lindberg field, but it pretty much shuts down at 5pm. The only thing open was the hot dog place and the bar. EVEN STARBUCKS CLOSED. And for those of you that know me...that was catastrophic :-). Thank god for wi-fi and the girls DS's.
Oh, about the luggage. Maybe its because we have never traveled to a cold weather area, but we I couldn't believe how much stuff we were taking. Of course, when you need to "layer", the clothing sure adds up. We had the required clothing, hats, scarves, gloves, jackets, sweaters, and shoes. OH my god the shoes. We had to bring an extra bag for the shoes...how could 3 little girls need soooooooo much stuff. And now that the airlines are gouging their customers at $20 a bag...it sure adds up. We were able to stuff...and i mean STUFF all of our garb into 3 large luggage and several carry-ons. One nice thing about traveling with the girls is that we get 5 carry-ons and we took advantage of that.
Another nice thing about traveling with the girls is that we get to pre-board because we are traveling with a child under 5. Its kind of funny watching all the people look at us with that 'Why do THEY get to go first" since Aly is barely under 5, but we weren't going to apologize. We only have 8 months to utilize Aly this way. Unless their is a 2nd Immaculate Conception, I guess we will be in the masses trying to get on the plane on our future travels.
OK...back to the story. We get to Denver about 11pm their time. We find our way thru Denver airport ( a long walk, then a long shuttle, then another long walk), to find our luggage...then another long walk to the rental car shuttles. Which, did I mention are outside...in 15 DEGREE weather. So after waiting about 15 minutes in the cold, the shuttle finally shows up. We make it to the rental car and thankfully, there is no line there. But as soon as we get off the bus, Aly sees the snow...its the first time for her and she just goes nuts. Of course, she has no idea that the snow there is just ice and is VERY COLD. She just starts playing and laughing, ...slipping and sliding, But she is just having a blast, and she doesn't want to leave the rental car area. Oh and speaking of gouging...nice of Hertz to charge $65 freaking dollars to rent a car seat. With all the other crap they "add-on" my pre-paid rental car cost my almost $130 bucks!!!!
Ok...we have our rental car, not is off to find the hotel. Did i mention that the airport is in Nebraska? Damn, it was a long drive to Denver. So after a few wrong turns (there are a LOT of one-way streets in Downtown Denver) we find the hotel, check in, lug the bags in and get the girls ready for sleep. Oh yeah, did I mention how much Sarah and Emily HATE to sleep in the same bed? For sisters, you wouldn't believe how much this bothers them. We always have to place a pillow between them so they each have their "sides"
I already described our trip to Boulder on Saturday, so the next adventure was Sunday. My family let us borrow a sled so we headed off to the mountains in search of a hill. We headed off towards Winter Park Colorado. The weather report said there was a chance of snow where we headed. What I didn't know was that in Colorado, a chance of snow means a blizzard is coming. And being a San Diego native, I bet you can guess how many times I have driven in the snow? Well, after sliding a bit and going REALLY, REALLY slowly thru the mountain (man, I must have pissed some Coloradoans off), we found a hill. After about an hour, we decided to head into town and get some lunch and warm up. Did I mention it was 12 degrees?. Well in Winter Park, we found a public park that is a sledding area. They have sleds for public use, and active fire pits for the parents to keep warm. If you have seen my Facebook pictures, you can see how much fun we all had there. The girls had such a great time. Another couple of hours it was time to head back to Denver.
Ummmm...another thing no one bothered to mention to me was that LOTS of people head Back to Denver from the mountain ski resorts on a Sunday afternoon. The freeway was just gridlocked. Good thing the girls were so tired that they slept the whole time we were stuck in traffic. We finally got to Denver, found a Chili's and went to Denver. One of the best memories was we got there about the middle of the 3rd quarter of the Broncos/Chiefs game where the Broncos HAD to win...and they were getting blown out. I have never seen a sports bar SO QUIET!!! Funny as hell.
The rest of the trip was seeing family, doing some shopping, some more sightseeing etc. Then the Tuesday night weather report. "3-5 feet of snow expected on Wednesday" Well, guess when we were supposed to leave Denver...WEDNESDAY. Our flight was at 9am, and the snow was supposed to start around 10am. We planned on waking up around 5am...I don't think Lisa or I slept at all, because neither of us wanted to miss the alarm. After all, we had to drive back to Nebraska. Well, we made it to the airport in time, got thru security with ease and made it to the gate with about 40 minutes to spare...and then got to pre-board (heehee).
All in all...no nightmares, no disasters, and in actuality, travel was a breeze. I hope all of our trips are this east...but I know this was an aberration :-)
Well, if you have made it this far without being bored out of your skull, I thank you. I hope you enjoy reading my musings as much as I like writing them. For all my fellow San Diego'ans...keep dry. I am saving room on the Ark for you :-). For everyone else, enjoy your week and until next time...
Peace and always...pray for this DODO.
Take Care
Mike
Monday, January 18, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
What a week
I hope everyone had an outstanding New Year. This post is going to be a little different than many of the others. Usually I tell you about my travails as a Dad of 3 daughters. Well, this post is a bit more about me and my family's trip to Colorado this week to find MY family.
Many of you know this story, so pardon me if this is a bit redundant. But for those of you who find the time to read this ( and I appreciate your willingness to do so), may not realize that I have never met my 1st cousins. My dad and my uncle became estranged several years ago with very little contact between the 2. Because of this estrangement, it became extremely difficult for me and my sister to contact them. In fact, I hadn't seen my Uncle since I was 6, and I couldn't remember ever seeing my aunt (she said she met me when I was 6). I have 4 cousins (3 boys, 1 Girl). that I had never met. Since my mom was an only child, and my uncle is my Dad's only sibling...me and my sister grew up with essentially NO extended family. To make things even more sad...both my maternal grandparents passed away before I was born, and I never met my paternal grandfather and only can recall meeting my paternal grandmother once or twice when I was very young. I have always been very jealous of those of you that had large families...there is something really special about being able to call a close uncle, or cousin and just talk, or hang out, and I never had that.
Anyway, through the magic of Facebook, I was able to connect with not only my aunt and uncle, but also all 4 of my cousins. It took some time and some coordination, but last week, we were able to fly to Denver and meet 3 of my cousins (one lives in the Bay Area and wasn't able to make it to Colorado), and reconnect with my aunt and uncle.
So...on Saturday, we are doing a little shopping in Denver and my phone rings. It is my aunt. I have to admit that my heart skipped a bit. I was actually nervous to answer the phone. Well, there was a very sweet voice on the other end who was just as excited to hear my voice as I was to hear hers. We made plans to drive up to Boulder a little later in the afternoon to meet, talk and have dinner. The drive from Denver to Boulder is about 25 minutes...I was pacing the hotel room like a caged tiger 2 hours before. I hadn't been this nervous in a longgggggg time. As we were driving, i was actually sweating (good think I was wearing a black shirt). All the time we were driving, I was thinking, "will they like me, will we have anything to talk about, will we sustain this new relationship" etc, etc, etc. Well, my worries were definitely unfounded. We drove up to the house and saw 2 of my cousins shoveling the walk (you don't see THAT very often in San Diego)...I got out of the car and gave my cousins a big hug and it was like we had known each other forever. Walking into the house was just incredible....seeing my uncle for the first time in 40 years was just a surreal experience. I remembered him as a brown haired young man...and here was this gray, long-bearded, distinguished Rabbi who just grabbed me and hugged me. To be honest, I was a little unsure of what to call him. I mean, he is my Dad's brother, but "Uncle" sounded a little weird. But when he hugged me, I knew that all was how it should be. I had my family back.
We spent the next several hours talking, laughing, eating, drinking and just doing what families are supposed to be doing. My cousins are terrific young people and I couldn't be prouder to be related to them. They are bright, confident, dynamic individuals who have amazing things in store for them...and I hope I can be a small inspiration to them. We went back to spend the day with them on Monday. Enjoying lunch, having coffee, taking silly pictures...doing what families do, It was an amazing trip.
Well, that's enough for this evening, I will fill in more details about the traveling in the newly high-securitized airport with 3 children, our trips to the snow and the rest of the vacation.
Thanks for taking the time to read about my little excursion. Have a great week and I will be back soon.
As always, pray for this DODO...and Peace.
Mike
Many of you know this story, so pardon me if this is a bit redundant. But for those of you who find the time to read this ( and I appreciate your willingness to do so), may not realize that I have never met my 1st cousins. My dad and my uncle became estranged several years ago with very little contact between the 2. Because of this estrangement, it became extremely difficult for me and my sister to contact them. In fact, I hadn't seen my Uncle since I was 6, and I couldn't remember ever seeing my aunt (she said she met me when I was 6). I have 4 cousins (3 boys, 1 Girl). that I had never met. Since my mom was an only child, and my uncle is my Dad's only sibling...me and my sister grew up with essentially NO extended family. To make things even more sad...both my maternal grandparents passed away before I was born, and I never met my paternal grandfather and only can recall meeting my paternal grandmother once or twice when I was very young. I have always been very jealous of those of you that had large families...there is something really special about being able to call a close uncle, or cousin and just talk, or hang out, and I never had that.
Anyway, through the magic of Facebook, I was able to connect with not only my aunt and uncle, but also all 4 of my cousins. It took some time and some coordination, but last week, we were able to fly to Denver and meet 3 of my cousins (one lives in the Bay Area and wasn't able to make it to Colorado), and reconnect with my aunt and uncle.
So...on Saturday, we are doing a little shopping in Denver and my phone rings. It is my aunt. I have to admit that my heart skipped a bit. I was actually nervous to answer the phone. Well, there was a very sweet voice on the other end who was just as excited to hear my voice as I was to hear hers. We made plans to drive up to Boulder a little later in the afternoon to meet, talk and have dinner. The drive from Denver to Boulder is about 25 minutes...I was pacing the hotel room like a caged tiger 2 hours before. I hadn't been this nervous in a longgggggg time. As we were driving, i was actually sweating (good think I was wearing a black shirt). All the time we were driving, I was thinking, "will they like me, will we have anything to talk about, will we sustain this new relationship" etc, etc, etc. Well, my worries were definitely unfounded. We drove up to the house and saw 2 of my cousins shoveling the walk (you don't see THAT very often in San Diego)...I got out of the car and gave my cousins a big hug and it was like we had known each other forever. Walking into the house was just incredible....seeing my uncle for the first time in 40 years was just a surreal experience. I remembered him as a brown haired young man...and here was this gray, long-bearded, distinguished Rabbi who just grabbed me and hugged me. To be honest, I was a little unsure of what to call him. I mean, he is my Dad's brother, but "Uncle" sounded a little weird. But when he hugged me, I knew that all was how it should be. I had my family back.
We spent the next several hours talking, laughing, eating, drinking and just doing what families are supposed to be doing. My cousins are terrific young people and I couldn't be prouder to be related to them. They are bright, confident, dynamic individuals who have amazing things in store for them...and I hope I can be a small inspiration to them. We went back to spend the day with them on Monday. Enjoying lunch, having coffee, taking silly pictures...doing what families do, It was an amazing trip.
Well, that's enough for this evening, I will fill in more details about the traveling in the newly high-securitized airport with 3 children, our trips to the snow and the rest of the vacation.
Thanks for taking the time to read about my little excursion. Have a great week and I will be back soon.
As always, pray for this DODO...and Peace.
Mike
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