Has anyone ever had a vacation that went without a hitch? It seems that there's always at least one glitch. Our family vacation of 1997 was like that. We were taking the kids back east to visit the church history sights among other things. Everything was packed and ready to go. We had enlisted some of our neighbor children to watch the dog and get the mail. While I was doing last minute things in the house, the kids put the suitcases in the car. With anticipation, we headed to the airport.
As we arrived at the airport and started unloading the car, I asked, "where is my suitcase?" Everyone started saying, "I thought so and so was picking it up." As it turned out, my suitcase was sitting by the front door back at home. Because we got there in plenty of time, we went to check in and sent our 17 year old son, Michael back to get the bag. I can only imagine him driving 90 miles per hour down the I 15 and loving every minute of it. When he got home, he realized that the keys he was using didn't have the house key on it and he couldn't get in to the house. He noticed that the upstairs bathroom window was open a crack so he got out the extension ladder, pried open the window, and climbed in. He found that we had left the dog locked in the house rather than in the garage where the food and doggie door were. I can only imagine the mess we would have found when we returned home 10 days later, not to mention a dead dog.
Meanwhile, we were at the airport wondering why he wasn't returning. The boarding time was getting closer and closer. Although Kevin had a cell phone, none of the rest of us did so we couldn't reach Michael to find out what was going on as more than one hour passed. Needless to say, we missed the flight. We ended up driving to Los Angeles, getting a hotel for the night and finding a new flight out the next morning from LAX. Although we had a rocky beginning, the rest of our vacation was great.
It's been a long time since I've seen a blog tag so I'm starting one. I want to hear about other vacation disasters. I'm tagging Katie, Sheryl, and my sister, Cindy. Michael, you probably have a different perspective of this story (or maybe I got the facts mixed up. I'd like to hear from you too).
10 comments:
I know I wasn't tagged, but that is a great vacation story. Our vacations have usually been pretty good but after reading your post, I'm a little nervous to go this year. Maybe our luck is running out...
We did have a very unnerving plane ride one year when we flew into Long Island, New York. Our pilot couldn't land the plane because of fog, but kept trying any way, make approaches, then pulling up into steep climbs at the last second. I've never liked flying much since then. It was 5-year-old Joshua who finally decided he'd had enough and "prayed" us down. He said a prayer outloud and within five minutes we were able to land.
I very much do remember that. I really was driving that fast in the suburban. It was even during traffic, so I was weaving like a madman. It was over 7 years ago, so the statute of limitations applies. :-) Anyway, I actually had to borrow an extension ladder from a neighbor because we only had a folding ladder and I couldn't get to the window. If it wasn't for that, I would have made it back to the airport in time. I actually made it in time for the flight, but we needed to check the bag because it was too big to carry on, and we missed the deadline to check it. Fun times.
Also, we had a layover in PA and had to take a puddle jumper from there to Rochester. On that flight, we got caught in a massive thunderstorm. The wind was blowing hard and we had to fly with a massive crab angle. The plane was bouncing up and down worse than any flight I have ever been on. And at one point, things got so bad that the steward had to hit the floor and crawl back to his seat on his hands and knees because he couldn't walk.
Wow, that is quite the hitch in your plans! I'm glad your dog survived your vacation too. =) I am trying to think what kind of story I can share... I'll think on it.
Yes Michael, I DO remember the puddle jumper flight. I thought the wind was going to flip us right over. It really was a miracle that the pilot handled the plane as well as he did through that storm. It was AWFUL!
Wow! That would have been a crazy. A huge blessing that you had to go back for the bag since it ultimately saved your puppies life! :)
I TOTALLY forgot about that. I'm not sure if I have any good trip stories that I haven't shared yet. I'll rack my brain.
I love it...You are on, I will take up the challenge and post soon now that I am back among the living...new grandbaby, graduation of daughter, graduation and awards assemblies at work, last week of school...so in a few days you can hear my story(s)
Lauri,
I never know quite how to answer a blog comment question. So, I will try it this way. My foot...well, about two weeks ago, I began to noice it was hurting, on the heel area, mostly when I got up in the night to go potty. I had a bone spur on the other one, and after many months of trying the conservative method to heal it, nothing worked, and resorted to surgery. This got terrible last week after doing so much to prepare for Erika's engagement party. I can hardly walk and it is terribly painful!! I go to the podiatrist tomorrow, so I will know more.
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i loved this story! oh, the family vacations we went on as a kid always had disasters! my parents recently went on a trip and my mom documented their time! her blog is acannthus.blogspot.com
i'm glad your trip turned out okay though!
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