Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Day 1; Wed, Oct 7, 2009: Trip to Hartford.....hmmmm...

OMG....when that alarm went off at 3AM....yes, I said...3AM....I jumped out bed and after a quick edition of my regular morning rituals.....the 1st Lady was up, the Fr. Roast coffee was made....and after a few things that had to be done, we were on the highway by 4am for the airport in STL.

By 5:50, we were in the terminal, having left the car in the long term parking lot....having taken the shuttle over to the terminal. After looking for the Northwest Airlines counter, we realized that it now belongs to Delta Airlines....and so, we checked in there at the kiosk, took my suitcase to the counter for weighing and tagging, paid the $20 fee for the luggage, depositing the suitcase at the security area for x-rays....and then we went to the security line at the A concourse....which took about 15 minutes. From there......we went to our gate, looked at the departure time...on time it was to be....and then went to a coffee/pastry stand and got a bite to eat.

BUT......oh yes, there IS a BUT.......our plane was not at the gate, but resting quietly beside the plane that was at our gate.......a plane that was flying to Detroit was being held and not leaving because in Detroit there were very high winds and no one could land! OK......soooo, the plane finally left, ours pulled up to the gate.....and we loaded. Well........time went by, sitting there on the plane.....and FINALLY, we pulled away from the gate at over an hour late!!!!! Well.......we only had 45 minutes for the plane change in Minneapolis, taking the next plane to Detroit ourselves. Sooooo, finally, we got into the air......made the flight to Minneapolis in less time than normal.....and as we madly got off the plane in such a hurry........asking one of the people at the desk which way to go to the gate for the flight to Detroit......he said we had less than 10 minutes...and we had better catch one of those little golf carts to our next departure gate.

Luckily, one arrived just then....and we told him where we needed to go.....and OMG, OMG....it took us almost 10 minutes racing through the concourses, through the center shopping area...and arriving at our gate......the man at the gate asked if we were the Howsers......nodding he pointed to the ramp to the plane and said "GO"!!! They were in the process of closing the door as we arrived there, they grabbed the 1st Lady's carry-on bag, said they would check it through to Hartford, and that we now had different seats than on our boarding passes.....and as they ushered us onto the plane, they handed us vouchers for $50 off on each of our next tickets....and then the door closed and off we went to Detroit!

A bit over an hour we managed to land, after being on a roller coaster for the final 20 minutes of the flight.......and we were all holding on to the armrests for support.....UGH!!! But, the landing was smooth, at least when we touched down.....and then we had almost an hour in Detroit, before we caught our plane on over to Hartford, another flt just over an hour. Getting our bags at the baggage claim area.......Jeremy and Anne-marie were there to pick us up right outside the terminal.....and off we went into Hartford!

WHAT a neat old town/city!!!! Full of old homes and buildings downtown, their apt. is in an old house.....the house being built by the Gatlinburg family.....of the gun family!!! Two houses up the street from their apt house, is the Colt family home....of the gun family!! WOW....what a place.

Jeremy went back to his office for a few hours and then came back to the apt.......about two blocks from his office....cool!!! Anne-marie fixed huge steaks for dinner along with asperagus with Hollandaise sauce.......a GREAT dinner!!!!! Excellent cook!!!!

This evening we have been making plans for the next few days........leaf viewing in NH and VT, a trip to Boston, and a trip to NYC!!! Will we get it all done???? Who knows, but we will see what we can while we are here.

And so.....a not sooo good trip back here......but, a great evening.......and some great sounding plans for the next few days while we are here.

And....as always,

LIFE IS JUST REALLY, REALLY GREAT!!!!!!.....And, I hope it is for all of you, also!!!!!
Jeremy went back to this


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