Days 10 (and 11) - SeaTac, WA - Conway, AR

We purposely booked a midday flight home so we wouldn't have to be rushing around in the morning to get to the airport.  Even with the extra time, we arrived early and buzzed through security without a hitch.  Near our gate, a cellist who plays (or played) with the Seattle Symphony was set up in a common area playing her electric cello.  It was so soothing and relaxing that I nearly dozed off right there in an airport seat (NOT the easiest thing to do).

Our inbound plane from Dallas was delayed due to weather and thus our outbound flight to Dallas was delayed too.  Our connection time was already a little tight, but this made it even more so.  I kept an eye on the weather and the timing and decided to just go with it and not worry about rebooking anything at that point.  We were soon boarded and on our way with Mount Hood and Adams off to our right, still covered in snow, but gleaming under the sun.  Even the mountains of Idaho were pretty!  I was able to see the Great Salt Lake before clouds obstructed further views.  Dallas was still dealing with weather/storms and by the time we got close, the pilots slowed us down just enough that we could sneak into our final approach just following a storm.  It did provide some really cool photos from my window seat, but quite a bit of turbulence too.

Upon landing, my American app notified me that our flight to Little Rock had been cancelled and we had been rebooked on an 8:30 pm flight Sunday night.  Gah!  I had no intention of spending and entire day in Dallas for no reason.  After getting off the plane, we stopped and some friendly gate agents where we struck up conversation and made the best of the situation.  After about 20 minutes, we figured out the best we could do was an early flight the next morning on United to Chicago, then an American flight to Little Rock.  Not great, but at least we were going to be home by noon.  We walked to the Hyatt Regency at the airport (being on-site sold us), got two rooms, and soon settled into a dinner at the hotel restaurant.  Before heading to bed, I checked to see the status of our bags (we checked them) and they had made it to Little Rock where they would be waiting for us the next day.

We both had to set alarms at 3:45 am in order to get to the airport in time to get checked in and get boarding passes.  Our flight for Chicago left at 5:45, which is really, really early folks.  We hit some bumps over Missouri as we flew over thunderstorms that had parked in the air, but we were soon on the ground at O'Hare.  Unfortunately, the helpful gate agents in Dallas made a snafu on Carolyn's ticket so we had to fix that with the ticketing agents in Chicago.  All was well in the end, but when you're running on little sleep and you're ready to be home, it just added to frustrations.  Finally with boarding passes in hand, we got on the plane bound for Arkansas.  Again, the storms over Missouri caused us to have some roller coaster fun mid-air; even our descent into Little Rock was fun.  We deplaned and then retrieved our bags from the American baggage office (faster than the baggage claim!).  Our parked car was ready and we were soon headed over the river and back to Conway.

This was an amazing trip.  Such sights, such fun, and such food!  I'm a traveller at heart and whenever I'm on the road, I'm often at my happiest, especially when I'm there with family and friends.  And when I return from trips, I'm always re-energized and ready to tackle the daily grind.  Time to start saving up vacation time again, but I'm already thinking, "Where to next?"

Day 5 - Durham - Kill Devil Hills, NC

A dream of Jason's came true this morning as he and Caroline test drove a Tesla in Raleigh.  While they did that, the kids and I went over to the Raleigh airport where they have an Observation Park.  It consists of an elevated deck from which you can watch planes take off and land; a playground; speakers which pipe in the air traffic control chatter; and restrooms.  After watching some commercial jets come and go, we ventured over to the General Aviation terminal which has a deck overlooking the private planes.  We got to see a really nice jet plane and 2 turbo props.

After an hour, Jason and Caroline were done and we headed to a shopping district in Raleigh.  After a quick bite, we got back on the road and made our way east.  By 4:30 we arrived at our hotel in the Outer Banks.  Earlier in our vacation, a bridge contractor cut into a major power line that feeds the southern parts of the Outer Banks.  We were fortunate that the hotel we booked was on the northern part, so all is good for us.  The accident will cause a huge economic hit to the region as this is the height of the tourist season.  Within an hour of arriving, we all donned our flip flops and were in the Atlantic Ocean, which was surprisingly chilly.

Dinnertime was approaching so we returned to the room, got some local restaurant recommendations from the front desk and ventured out to a place down in Nag's Head.  Outside one window, an osprey protected its nest full of babies and out the other window, the sun set over the Roanoke Sound.  All in all, another wonderful day in North Carolina.