Traveling is fun?

Some of you may be aware of my past traveling issues... most of which involve the Charlotte Douglas Airport and my disdain for the place. And Delta airlines. For those that don't know, here's a little background info.

Last summer I barely found parking, barely made it through the crowd - or as they called it... line - barely made it to the gate, only to find that someone had run into the plane last night and there was now a hole in the side of the plane! A 7 hour travel day turned into a 15 hour travel day with missed flights and more. Then on my way home to Charlotte, flights all went smoothly, but getting to my car did not. The shuttle driver did not believe me when I said I was parked in the other lot because she said that lot was not open on the day arrived. She was wrong. But she insisted I MUST be in this lot and therefore I exited the shuttle, accidentally leaving my computer behind. I wandered through the parking lot for about 30 seconds when it was confirmed that I really am NOT in this lot. So then I had to sit outside on the curb by the little kiosk and wait for the nice lady in the pick up truck to come get me and take me to my car. Oh yeah... the whole time is was POURING rain and I was completely soaked to the bone.



Luckily this traveling trip was no where near as bad, but still not perfect. My best friend is getting married in Santa Barbara on January 3rd. This weekend we planned to do not 1, but 2 bridal showers for her. And seeing that she is my best friend and I am the Maid of Honor, I took a whirlwind trip out there. I left Charlotte at 9:30am on Friday. Amazingly enough, it was a breeze! I printed my boarding pass the night before, did curbside check in, and sat and enjoyed the free wireless internet :o) I spent the entire weekend either in a car driving, setting up for a shower, hosting a shower, cleaning up for a shower, or pretending to sleep. It was totally worth the exhaustion and hours of travel because I got to see a lot of familiar faces that I haven't seen since last Christmas. And I went to Downtown Disney for dinner which is as close as I can get to the Happiest Place on Earth without actually going.

But now comes the "fun" part of the trip. My flight back to Charlotte was an overnight flight. I was supposed to arrive at 10:30am. That was not the case because the pilot called in sick and the flight that was supposed to leave LAX at 12:15am, didn't leave until 2:45am! So I spent 4 hours in the airport watching The Office and trying to sleep. Luckily I think I slept the entire 3 hour and 54 minute flight to the Atlanta airport. But now I'm just sitting here waiting for my new connecting flight which leaves in about 2 hours and I feel about as disheveled as can be after being in an almost constant state of travel since Friday morning.

Hopefully, there won't be any issues when I get to Charlotte!!

Crayola box of Brown

Being from California, I have never experienced a true fall. There are about 5 tiny trees lining the K-Mart parking lot by my house in CA that change color. In order to change this sad fact, myself and 3 friends decided to take the day off of work and head up to Grandfather Mountain. The colors started getting more and more beautiful the higher we got. Until of course we actually reached the mountains and started seeing snow on the ground. Yep, snow. Not much, it was more like ice at this point, but snow none the less. At that point the trees started to change (aka have no leaves at all). My friend described the view as a "Crayola box of browns." Plus, Grandfather Mountain was actually closed due to wind.
Side note: This reminds me of being at Disneyland waiting in the giant mob of people in excited anticipation of fireworks only to hear the announcement saying "Fireworks have been cancelled due to high winds about the magic kingdom."
Even though our plans had been spoiled, we still managed to have an amazing day and even found a random trail on the side of the road that led us through the trees, over a bridge, next to a small waterfall and then to our great relief, directly back to our car!

Here are a few pictures for your entertainment.