On Thursday we planned to leave Coby’s house around 9am so that we would have MORE than enough time to get our rental car returned & check-in & go through security & find our way around everywhere before our flight was scheduled to depart at 3:20pm. We didn’t want to risk getting stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic and running out of time.
We left their house with our GPS directing our way and after slight miscommunication we got gas, found the way on to the freeway and were on our way! The view just before we entered the grapevine area and once we were inside it were completely breath-taking and add to it the warm, 80 degree sunshine pouring in our window once we reached the top of the pass area, we were loving being in California!
Approaching the pass (it was foggy on this side of the mountains, clear & super warm on the other!)
The sun began to peak through the clouds!
We also found a new love for the car-pool lane! Despite areas of snail-paced traffic once we hit the LA vacinity we were able to slide right through without really slowing down even once. We easily found our car-rental return location and even managed a nice lunch while watching the airplanes land right by us! We then returned our car and loaded onto the shuttle to find our terminal. After getting our tickets we found the security line and began the LONG and SLOW process of shuffling through security. Once through we found our gate with relative ease and began the hour wait to board our plane. The entire return process actually went rather smoothly. Alexa and Logan even found some other children to run around with and entertained themselves by exploring our gate area.
We boarded the plane right on time (3 pm or so) and found seats together easily. Surprisingly Logan was even being fairly well behaved as we waited for everyone else to board and find their seats. The Captain came on the speaker and announced that it would only be a quick 2hrs and 30 minutes of air time before we would be in Sioux Falls … a welcomed piece of news meaning we’d land at 8pm instead of 8:30! Our excitement didn’t last long, however, as we were then notified that the plane’s tanks had been over-filled & needed to have some of that released or there would be the potential for the bathroom’s fluid to pour over into the cabin. Not a big deal…and within 20 minutes it had been fixed & we were taxing out of our gate. We didn’t make it very far though before another announcement was made -- this time a warning light on the panel stating that there may be a mechanical difficulty with the plane -- which would need to be checked out. After about 30 minutes or so we were informed it was a false alarm and they would simply need to finish the paperwork and we’d be on our way. So about 20 minutes later we finally taxied out and began to prepare for take-off. The flight itself went fairly smooth -- Logan even slept for about an hour or so which definitely helped! We landed in Sioux Falls at about 9:10pm -- the same time the plane was supposed to be taking off for its return flight to LA! Oh well! We were close to home & that’s all we cared about!
We had an uneventful and quick trip home and after un-packing and getting the kids in bed we managed to get to sleep only a little after 11! That didn’t stop me & the kids from sleeping in until 10am though! :)
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