Sunday, November 28, 2010

Saturday: Cleared for Takeoff...


this is for my own remembrance, so if i go into non-important details, please disregard.
If you make it through this entire week series, thank you for taking the time to enjoy my 
detailed experience. 


November 20, 2010

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in Birmingham last night, and I got no, none, zip, zero amount of sleep. Was it due to the hibernating bear in the bed to my right? Or was it the anxiety of the trip I have been dreaming of?
Either way, no sleep was to be found for my body.

We woke up at 5am this morning, got dressed & ready, and (that was when I realized I did not have mascara. Of all things, MASCARA) headed out! We arrived at the airport around 6am, and made it through security with no problems (Sidenote: we mailed all of our hunting things -clothes, gun, ammo- ahead of time, so all we had to worry about was carry on bags. I carried my camera bag & purse, and dad carried his rolling carry-on bag with overnight back-up clothes), and all that was left to do was wait. So, we sat in our concourse and watched the arriving/departing airplanes. 
 Around 7:40, we began to line up to board our plane. I was not nervous at all. In fact, I was excited. I think Daddy thought I was a little nervous, so he carefully went over all that would be happening as we took off, and no fear was present. PTL. 

Being in the clouds is like running (FAST) through a white smoke. I've always had a visual of what it would be life, but it was nothing like this. I thought the wings of the aircraft would peel apart the clouds, but instead they drifted through them at a calm pace. Being above the clouds was like scanning (closely) over the top of a bowl of marshmellows: except, when you come back to reality and realize that you are, in fact, above the clouds - it is nothing short of a breathtaking experience.
I don't understand how anyone who's ever been in an airplane could choose to believe there is no God.


We landed in Minneapolis around 11:20, and our next flight was at 12. On our way to our concourse, I promise I saw the Eli Young Band. Now, i'll never know for sure, but I will say I did =) Anyway, snow was on the ground, and I was going through somewhat of a culture shock. I was overwhelmed, but what Mississippian wouldn't be overwhelmed by snow STICKING on the ground?


We landed in Billings a little after 2, and our next flight was scheduled at 3:55, but we had to get our boarding passes here because we were switching airlines to a smaller one that would take us straight into Glasgow (the destination, home to the Milk River). It was snowing fairly hard once we got there, and we had time to go through security check again (which wasn't as smooth as the first time because they ran my purse through 4 times, my camera bag 2 times, daddy's carry-on 3 times, and then swabbed his boots). After that, we strolled through the gift shop. After settling down, having lunch (a pretzel), and watching the end of the LSU vs. OM game, they closed the airport. It was nearly minutes before we boarded our plane. 


So, we waited.
and waited.
and waited.
and I made friends with a nice old Northern man.
and then we waited.


We had a false alarm, causing us to walk down the terminal thinking we were fixing to board, only to be called back to wait some more until we actually did board.


Once we got our things together, we headed outside, but there was no real terminal. We had to walk out (in the snow, in my moccasins, in the freezing cold) to the plane. When we got on, there was no change in temperature, and aiport employee's were working to de-ice the plane. 


Nervous? Yes. 
The pilots were literally trying to scrape off ice from the INside of the plane's windshield.
My fists clenched, and I chewed my gum in a fierce manner the whole time. Although it was only about a 45 minute flight, it felt like two hours of nose-diving and U-turns.
Miserable.


If that had been my first flying experience, I would have [gladly] walked the rest of the way. 
I just wanted to be on the ground, safe again.


In the midst of our entire day, Daddy had been calling the outfitters with no answers on their phones, so he would leave updates on their voice mails. Once we reached Glasgow, we walked inside & no one was there to retrieve us. 
So, we waited again.


Soon, there was a tall, nearly bald man standing inside the door brushing off the snow, 
"Are you Julianna?" he said with a thick Northern voice. 
"Yes'r, I am." I replied with all my Southern brawl.
And so it began, the trip back to their home (which would become our home for the week), into their garage, inside their home, down their stairs to their other "living area" (which also serves as living quarters for hunters). Our clothes, as I mentioned earlier, were shipped to a different location and were to be picked up in the morning. 
Sleep came easy, Daddy was in a different room.
=)

1 comment:

The Lindley Family said...

So excited about getting to hear the details of your trip! Sounds like you had an awesome experience...definitely memories with your daddy that you will never take for granted.