Travel 2025 – Early Start

I have written multiple times before that I try to avoid travel in January due to the potential for inclement weather impacting our travel plans.  But that changed when we learned from our daughter that our son-in-law was traveling to England to give a talk, and she wanted us to come out while he was going to be gone to help with her two young boys.  So, we gladly made an exception and booked a flight to Seattle to leave on Friday the 10^th of January.

Unfortunately, at the beginning of that week, we started to receive local weather alerts of an impending big snowstorm in Memphis on that Friday.  We all worried what impact it would have on our plans but once I got several texts and e-mails from our air carrier on Wednesday the 8^th encouraging us to revise our travel plans, I knew we needed to act.  Fortunately, I was able to rebook our flights leaving on Thursday the 9^th although the seat selection was not what we had booked considering we were booking the day before (we always book the more expensive seats with extra legroom like everyone used to enjoy years ago).

On our first flight on Thursday, our seats were in the next to last row.  When we landed in Atlanta, I could not believe how long it took for us to get off the plane considering we are normally in the first ten rows.  I realized this was probably normal for those who typically fly in the back of the plane.  Fortunately, our connecting flight was just two gates down from our arrival gate.

For our long flight from Atlanta to Seattle, I had been able to get exit row seats and when I got on the plane, I could not believe the amount of legroom I had.

Both our flights that day left early and arrived early, so it was a trouble-free travel day.

On Friday morning, I checked the status of our original flights and discovered that they both had been canceled as well as many other flights.  As such, it might have taken us days to get on another flight.  We later learned that Memphis got between 6 and 8 inches of snow as evidenced by the snowman our son and grandson built.

Since we had come a day early, we got a chance to visit with the whole family before our son-in-law left for his overnight flight Saturday afternoon.  For this trip, I did not bring my usual LEGO kits as both boys had just received some for Christmas or birthday gifts.  Which meant I got to spend a lot of time with them working on multiple LEGO sets.

On Sunday, we had multiple nice indoor outings since it was cold and rainy in Seattle (but actually warmer than in Memphis).  We first took them to a jumping place where they had a great time burning off lots of energy…

… followed by lunch at a Mexican restaurant, and then a fun shopping trip to IKEA.  By the time we got home, the boys were worn out.

On Monday, the boys had school, so we got a chance to just be with our daughter.  My wife and daughter wanted to do some shopping, but I begged off saying I thought I would visit the “airplane museum” instead (The Museum of Flight).  This museum had been one of our favorite outings for as long our daughter and her family had lived in Seattle.

I knew it would be a bit sad without our grandsons in tow but at the same time I knew being by myself, I would get a chance to read some of the information next to the exhibits that I typically missed as we were rushing from one display to the next.

At the time I had just finished a book about space exploration and was reading a book about the Wright brothers and their sister Katharine.  So, I started off first in The Apollo exhibit…

… and then when I came out, there was a replica of that famous 1903 Wright Flyer.

I then spent the rest of my time in the “Red Barn” (the original Boeing plant relocated to the site of the museum) where I had a chance to learn much more about the early days of the Boeing company.

That night after the boys got home from school, it was sad to say our goodbyes before my wife and I drove to our airport hotel for our early morning flight the next day.

Over dinner, my wife and I talked about what a great trip it was and how sad it had been to drive away from our daughter’s house (I really had to hold back the tears).

Our flights home flying over the snowy landscape…

… went smoothly and for just the second time, our connecting flight out of Salt Lake City was the same plane we had just flown in on from Seattle.  So, there was no worry of missing our connection and we even sat in the same seats.  That night when we arrived home, we found that we still had snow in our yard, five days after the storm hit.

While we started out our travel year early in January, it was not until the second week of April three months later that we made our next trip together.

     To be continued…