Payback...Part Two

Kudos to my wife. Really, really, really big kudos. As I mentioned in my last blog (Payback) my wife of lo these many years was scheduled to fly down today to spend a couple of days in the Arizona sun with me during her Spring Break.

Yukon... not quite an Arizona

kind of pooch

Yesterday she took our two beloved pooches, Yukon and Bentley, up to Canine Canyon kennels as sadly they could not make the trip. Then this morning she was up at 4:30 a.m. to head down to catch the light rail from the Mineral/Santa Fe station to Union Station and from there she caught the infamous 'Train to the Plane'. When she left our house near the foothills there were just scattered rain showers and the dreaded and forecasted BLIZZARD had not yet materialized. She was cautiously optimistic that her 9 a.m. Frontier flight from DIA to Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport would get out ahead of the apocalyptic storm that was in the offing. She made it to DIA with plenty of time to spare, got through security in good order, hustled to her gate and checked in. The weather at DIA was still only rainy but they were announcing that due to the BLIZZARD the airport would be closing at 11 a.m. So she's thinking "no problem" and when they board the plane and the plane is about to pull away from the concourse she's almost ready to let loose with a big "Phew!" of relief. Around her the plane is packed with other sunseekers, many headed to Spring Training games. Some are bravely (though foolishly) traveling in shorts no less, under the misguided impression that Phoenix has been, dare I say it, actually warm this year.

So there they all are - pilots and crew and passengers all thinking that in just two hours time they'll be frolicking under old Sol. Glancing out the plane window my wife notes that the rain is now seemingly mixing with the feared white stuff falling from the sky, but heck the airport's not closing until 11 and here it is only 9:15. The captain comes on the intercom to say there's a minor mechanical issue being fixed as he speaks and they'll be departing shortly. Couple more minutes he comes back on with good news - the mechanical issue is now taken care of - and then the passengers hear the dreaded "...but". As the whole plane holds their collective breath here it comes: "but... the airport is now closed". I don't use the acronym OMG very often but Oh. My. God... Seriously? It had to be like seeing a hail Mary pass caught at the Superbowl as the clock counts down to zero in the 4th quarter, only to hear the announcer say "BUT there's a flag on the play". So they open up the plane's doors and, yup, everyone is told to grab their belongings and leave the aircraft.

Meanwhile, down here in not-so-sunny and not-so-warm Phoenix I'm on my way to the airport to pick up my honeybunch when my phone rings. I hold the phone away from my ear as my sweetie relays the bad news in not the softest of all voices. All I can do is commiserate. I mean all I have to do is swing the car around and head back the way I came while my wife faces the now daunting task of retracing her steps in what is now turning into a seriously blizzard-like winter wonderland of wind and snow.

At DIA they're hurrying folks out of the terminal like, well, like it's a BLIZZARD so my wife heads back to the 'Train FROM the Plane' which she boards with a whole lot of very surly fellow former passengers who had thought they'd get out ahead of the storm. HAH! But Mother Nature wasn't quite done with them. Turns out the 'Train To and From the Plane' doesn't just experience breakdowns and delays in the summertime; it apparently also doesn't like heavy snow and ferocious wind so its a long, slow, crawling ride back to Union Station. Once there, the love of my life is still not quite done as she still has to get back to the Mineral and Santa Fe Park & Ride. So for Good Measure RTD announces that it too will be shutting down operations after the one and only last train departs for Mineral. Running to catch this last train my wife probably looked like a running back the Broncos might draft but she makes it.

Fortunately my wife's dad is there to pick her up and convey her back home. At my in-laws house they've already piled up about a foot of snow so my wife is concerned about what she is returning to. But as Colorado is famous for, it can be a BLIZZARD one place and just a couple of miles away its really not that bad. Upon arriving at our doorstep she happily discovers that only a couple of inches of snow are there to greet her, the power is actually on (unlike at her parents house) and all in all its good to have made it home safe and sound. Now, if DIA would just have been located about 30 miles closer to the foothills.

Kudos sweetheart; I miss you very much but am happy to hear you had a nice trip!