GRANDMAVILLE: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Friday, March 27, 2009

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

We had a good trip to Wyoming this past weekend. Had a good visit with Blaine's family. Got to spend some time with my mom and Jack, even got to go to Ten Sleep and see my brother and celebrate my niece's birthday!

After the birthday party, we heard on the news of an impending storm coming through the state. Knowing just how these "spring storms" in the Rockies can be, we decided to head for Casper Sunday night instead of Monday morning.

That was a good idea.

We woke up to a little bit of snow...

It was a little chilly outside....

When we were driving to the airport, we noticed the highway we would have had to drive on was now closed due to the storm. Good thing we came early!

Our plane arrived, and so did more snow.

And, yes, Wyoming has no jetway to the plane. You have to 'make a run for it' from the tarmac!

We boarded the plane, we got all situated in our seats, we even taxied out on the runway....

Then we did a 180 and came back to the gate! The snow plows couldn't keep up with clearing the runway and they had just closed the airport! Back to the gate, run through the snow again, wait for five hours....

Did I mention there are no shops, no restaurant, no wifi in this terminal? Five hours was fun! I was ready to 'stake my claim' to the "Lodging" they had set up in the terminal!

Oh, but wait! The storm was breaking a bit, the sun was trying to burst through! The plows went out on the runway, cleared a path and brushed off the snow! We again made our way to the plane! (Special thank you to the policeman/security guy who took a snow shovel to make us a path to the plane!) He said it was better than having to do a 'medical' run should anyone slip and break something!

We taxied out, waited about a half hour for them to de-ice the plane, and flew for warmer weather! I have never been so happy to see Las Vegas and Lake Mead!