Colorado or BUST!

So I head to the airport around 5:30pm for my 7:55pm flight. Unlike some people I know (LILY), I like being there early, so I can get my Wendy's, sit at the gate with my ipod and Sudoku and just relax before boarding. Well, a few minutes before we're supposed to board, they announce that the plane has some mechanical issues and we're moving to a new gate, several gates down. That's cool... as I move to my new seat at the gate, the rowdy, drunken fools soon follow and conveniently sit next to me and start harassing the poor kid across from them. Lord, please help their seats to be FAR away from mine!!! We board the plane with a slight delay, and I call Aunt Kandy to let her know I'm about to take off! YEAH!! The drunken fools are quite a few rows ahead of me, but by the distressed look on the poor stewardess's face... I could tell the next 2.5 hrs. were not going to be enjoyable for her!

SO... we take off, we get high enough for my ipod to be turned on, and then the pilot informs us that the ground crew forgot to shut some door and we were heading back to the airport. Ugh, dang it! I shut the ipod off, we land and taxi to the gate. Apparently it was a little more than just a door not getting shut as we were soon told to exit the plane and wait in the terminal for another plane. Are you freakin' kidding me!! It's now 9:30pm... I call Aunt Kandy yet again, to let her know the continued delay. Well, one good thing could come out of this... the drunken fools might actually sober up and we can all enjoy our trip... if we ever leave Portland, that is. So me, and my new friend (the gal sitting next to me on the plane) head back to the terminal and what do we see... our drunk friends have already managed to find the nearest bar and have continued drinking. Fabulous.

We ended up leaving over 2 hrs. late, but I have to say I was impressed by the attitudes of most of the people. Folks were joking around and making the best of the situation. Some folks were getting greedy, of course, and trying to get compensation for it... I just wanted to get to Denver. Oh, and the drunken fools provided plenty of entertainment while we waited, so it all worked out! Apparently, there was numerous complaints from people on the flight, the stewardess, not to mention the 2 minors flying alone that were stuck sitting in front of them. So, while we waited, we were suddenly aware of 4 huge police officers lingering around the gate. They soon followed after the little supervisor lady as her back-up as she spoke with the drunken fools. They stood back at first, but then 2 of them approached the table... next thing we know, the supervisor is back to where we were standing and instructing the ground crew to take their bags of the plane!! What's another few minutes!! Not sure if they voluntarily gave up their seats, or if they were forced... but either way it made a lot of people happy! We were on Alaska, which serves free beer and wine... so I can only imagine how the rest of the flight would have gone!! We did eventually make it on plane #3 and made it to Denver without any more drama. Minus the announcement of "Please fasten your seatbelts, and if you look out your window, you may be able to see the lightning" Lord, help me!!!!!

So anyway, as if arriving at 11:25pm wasn't late enough... I finally touched down around 1:30am. Aunt Kandy and I pulled out of the airport around 2am... arrived at her house in Colorado Springs around 3:30am... and I was in bed by 4am. Good thing she's a night owl!! I'm not sure if anyone else in my family could have survived that late of a night!!! Thank you, Aunt Kandy!!!