The Tale of Two Vacations.

It was the best of times...It was the worst of times...

To celebrate our 10th Anniversary Shane and I sailed the seas on a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise! It was amazing!

We had some great company too! Shane's sister Sommer and her "EC" Eric!!!

They were so excited to be hanging out with us!!

"What a way to celebrate. A fun filled 7 day cruise in the Caribbean with my fabulous husband of 10 years. It was a great get away and we fell in love all over again (I know I am a bit cheesy!).


We are so in love!!!!


Hmmmm...what should we have for dinner tonight??? Not cooking anything for a week was...wait for it...wait for it... A DREAM COME TRUE!!!!

Shane on Isla Pasion! Who could resist this eh????

We had a fabulous excursion to this quaint island in Cozumel.

Mayan ruins at Chankanaab while in Costa Maya.

The pier at Costa Maya! It was a beautiful day just a bit windy!!

The Bahamas! We went to a great beach and soaked up the sun!

We had fun at ports but we also had fun on the "Fun Ship Carnival Glory"!!!

Shane was a big fan of the "free anytime" soft serve ice cream!



See...we are so in love...

An Anniversary gift from our cabin Steward Frannie!


Our 2nd Formal night.

(Julie's wardrobe provided by: the Kiki Co.! Thanks!)

Posing with our Supercharge Matre'D Joseph.

"It'sa Showtime!!!"

The final day we saw a beautiful sunset. What a perfect ending to a perfect week!

Now I would like to insert my 3 page hand written post I wrote while on a 6 hour flight from Orlando to Seattle on that fateful returning home night...
"All was great until...the returning home part. Shane and I flew on separate flights (the reason...Shane was in Orlando a week early for work and I met him there.) We tried to coordinate flights but we couldn't! While we were on the cruise we got the pleasure of seeing all the bad weather at home we were missing! (We had fabulous weather!) Upon arriving at the airport we were sitting pretty! We just had a fabulous relaxing week, we were excited to go home and see the kids and all the bad weather was hitting the Mid-West and NE so we were in the clear! (or so we thought) The only obstacle in sight was our 10:45am arrival at the Orlando airport or MCO and our 2:30pm, 5:05pm, and 6pm departures!!! No worries! We had dominoes!

Playing dominoes at "our" table in Orlando airport!

Shane was first to leave, then Somm & Eric, then the last...me! We chilled at our table, played dominoes, ate Queso from Chili's (the 1st time) until it was finally Shane's time. We gave hugs good-bye and he was off. Sommer, Eric & I shopped at the MCO "mall" and while I was contemplating a purchase Shane called and said his connecting flight from ATL to PDX was cancelled! (Que the "dooms day" music!) Cancelled because of bad weather in PDX! What???? We thought we didn't have to worry about that. So here is the next few hours in a short recap:

• All Delta flights to PDX cancelled for the day/night.
• Our 2 big suitcases on a flight from MCO to ATL and then who knows????
• Shane booked on 2 different flights hoping he will make it to PDX sometime Sunday afternoon. (we were both to be back Saturday night)
• Sommer & Eric's flight was oversold so they opted for a next day departure hoping that SLC wouldn't be the next airport casualty.
• I can make it to Seattle but my connection to PDX is cancelled and I am looking forward to a night in the SEA-TAC airport.

So I was the last to leave now I am the first to leave. Off I go to SEA to spend the night in the airport and make a connection at 6am for PDX-fingers crossed! With an unhappy gut full of queso and not a yummy Chick-fil-a sandwich as I had hoped I was off to my gate. Looking for a outlet to charge my phone for a few minutes before boarding my ride. I finally settle in my seat and I think the only unpleasant thing in my future is a night at the SEA airport! However I was wrong. Before take off (after they closed the doors mind you) the Captain comes on the speaker to say in essence SEA is expecting a storm and we may have to stop in Boise or Spokane but we wont know until we get closer. Also because of headwinds this flight will be longer than normal-6.5 hours!!! I was so ready to rent a "Digiplayer" to secure my entertainment for this long flight when they SOLD OUT in the row in front of me! I am a bit ticked off at this point and wondering when my "bad luck" streak will end. Well with no movies I go to my second choice - reading my book (Persuasion by Jane Austen). I am pretty sure I will be able to finish it! I don't want to sleep because I will need to be really tired to sleep tonight in a chair huddling my purse and 2 small suitcases in the SEA airport. Well, at about 5 hours I decide I can't read anymore and I get my ipod out only to discover the battery is dead!!! Then my tummy rumbles and I cheer myself with noise of the light attendants bringing cookies!!!! Yeah! Alaska has yummy cookies! As they get closer I see...OATMEAL RAISIN! GAG, yuck! I hate raisins! So the hunger pains continue although I ate enough food this last week to have a good supply. Maybe my body will turn on itself and start consuming that 10lb supply. So I resolved myself to nothing of any joy or pleasure coming my way! I just hope I make it home before Christmas. So with a landing in SEA tonight still in question I am back to reading Jane Austen."

That was the end of my 3 page note but that is not the end of this story! I know it is long! I lived it for crying out loud all you have to do is read it!!!!!!

So we must be getting close. I can only read for so long. The Captain comes on and we are landing in SEA! Hurray! After a little while longer..."They cleared the runway for us...never mind it is too windy and icy and we only have enough fuel to return to Spokane!" oh and a "Thanks for your patience" was added! So off to Spokane we go. We land and then we wait and wait and wait and wait. We wait on the tarmac for 3.5 hours! Then we deplane and join the passengers from 6 other planes in the small Spokane airport!

This is what it looks like in Spokane.

Not very hopeful sights! But luck was on our side and we were on one of the 2 planes allowed to leave Spokane for SEA. The bad weather was cleared and our pilots still had time to fly. The other 5 planes had to stay because their pilots were over their allotted hours and needed 8hrs of sleep! So off to SEA we go! I hope our plane lands and we are not one of the unlucky ones that braved the storm and icy runways just to have an accident. Well we make it and the whole plane cheers and claps! We made it! It was 3:30am (body time it was 6:30am and I haven't slept all night!) I hear from Shane he is on his way to ATL. So I get to SEA and retrieve my bag and make my way to my 6am connection. Horrible lines and unknown to me about 12,000 people(airport rumors) stayed the night in SEA and I would say that 11,999 were in the line I needed to be in to check in for my flight! Well I make it thru the lines and arrive at my gate at 5:20am with just a few minutes to charge my phone before I board. At 5:20am my flight is on time. At 5:40am my flight is CANCELLED!!!!! So I join the 11,999 people in one of the 5 -7 lines formed. However, no line had a airline representative at the end helping anyone so it was like playing Russian roulette. You didn't know which line was the best to be in. So this is when I started making friends! Pilot friends that gave me the inside info, friends who watched my bag and saved my chair while I went potty, friends who held my place in several lines and friends who offered me food because I didn't want to leave just in case I made the continually delayed flight! I made friends with lots of people but there is only one who ended up being a "the one who made my day" airport friend!! I was booked as standby #48 who was then bumped to #61 on a flight that kept being delayed. I waited in the SEA airport from 3:30am to well I lost track of when I left but it was sometime between 6 & 7pm Sunday night. All the while Shane made it home and was on one of the few flights that landed in PDX that day. So Shane booked me a night at a fabulously lush and uncommonly inexpensive Marriot by the SEA airport. (He loves me!) So armed with my bag of dirty clothes I was hoping for a bite to eat (did not eat much that day), a shower to clean up (going on 2 days of airport funk!), and a good nights sleep (been up for 36 hrs). I had just settled in and was hearing planes taking off at the airport (cursing and hoping I didn't miss the flight!) when I received a call from my #1 airport friend. Her husband was there to get her and they had one seat for me if I wanted it! (I don't really know this lady. She was also going to PDX.) All of my "stranger danger" feelings kicked in but the "I need to get home" feelings were stronger. I called Shane to ask his thoughts and in the background I heard my Mom-in-law say "You tell her to get in that car!!! Go right now!!!" So I called my buddy back and accepted her ride home. They picked me up and I was really praying that I would make it home okay! I was hoping that this would be the one time it would be okay to get a ride from a stranger! The roads were horrible and the way her hubby drove made me tense with fear for my life the whole 3.5 hours home. (Early reports from others driving from PDX to SEA to pick up loved ones was that the drive was about 5 hours long because of road conditions.) Normally it takes about 3 hours? Yeah so we made good time. They dropped me off at 1:30am Monday morning at the Cheveron right at the I-5 and I-205 interchange and Shane was right there to pick me up!!! It was a Christmas miracle! I made it home! I offered money but they refused and told me to "pay it forward"! What a great family! Thanks! So I made it home at last and while catching a good nights rest Alaska Airlines called on Tuesday the 23rd at 5am to tell me that my flight was cancelled! I was unaware I was booked on any flight! So there you have it! Long huh!

The beginning of my airport journey in Spokane.

The end of my journey in the hotel room! Please don't judge...I was in a bad place!

So as you can see we covered both ends of the spectrum! We had a great time! Happy Anniversary to us!