5:30 am Came Way Too Early...

and considering that it was really 3:30 for us that is a very true statement.  The good thing about an early flight is you get home early.  The bad thing about an early flight is you have to get up early.  We had a great few days with my family, but it was time to head home.  We have many things we want to accomplish this week (including so very much needed recharging after some really had weeks at work).

Anyway, we got up and got moving and made it to the airport just when we wanted to.  We went to the ticket calendar to check in and get our seat assignments, only to find out that we did not have seats for the second flight.  Considering this tickets were purchased at least a month ago, this was a very frustrating and stressful situation to be faced with (and don't forget that it is early and I am a grump in the morning).  We head to our gate now fearing that we might be forced to live in Utah.  Needless to say we were gloomy.  The first flight was pretty full.  We got into Salt Lake a little earlier and made our way as quick as we could to the ticket counter.  Thankfully, we got lucky and we had seats.  But still, just the fact that we had to go all that time worrying about it was really really really really irritating.  While we had been waiting for our various flights it was common to hear announcements about overbooked flights.  I mean, come on.  How is it that the airlines can't keep track of how many people have booked a flight?  I thought the Internet was supposed to make things like that even easier.  This whole concept of having purchased tickets online and then not having guaranteed seats on one of the FOUR flights we took is just absurd.  

Our flight into Salem was also almost full.  It was so nice to feel the cool Salem breeze hit our sweaty cranky skin as we walked off the plane.  We were unloaded, found our luggage and headed to Dutch Bros in no time.  Despite the stress of the possibility of having to live out the rest of our lives in Utah flying in and out of Salem was pretty nice!  Hopefully it will continue to be an option for us, for those rare times when our travel requires flight.

I think our kitty missed us.  Once she decided it was really us (I think it helped to wash all the strange smells off) she spent the rest of the day on my lap or sleeping on David's footstool.  I really enjoyed seeing the family, but it's also really nice to be home.  I'm looking forward to some good coffee tomorrow, and the good nights sleep tonight!

~Emily