Blame it on the Rain

I'm feeling like I have lost a much needed day in my life.

Our vacation went a day longer than we had planned thanks in part to the buckets of rain that were dumped on California at the very moment our flight was supposed to leave on Monday.

We had just turned in our rental SUV (we had 8 people traveling in our group- which makes the story a whole lot funnier in my opinion) and had barely found a place to sit in the very crowded, very tiny Long Beach Airport when it was announced that a particular flight (not ours) was canceled due to the rain. Then one after another, flights were canceled or rerouted to another airport.

Ours was canceled just about the time we should have taken off.

Our flights were rescheduled for the following day and all eight of us dragged our soggy selves back into the rain as Erik begged to have our rental vehicle re-rented to us.

Finding a hotel on the fly is another story. Wow! Hotel rooms can be quite expensive. Thank you Priceline for saving our wallets one more time. We checked into two rooms (we really needed three- in fact that's another funny story for another day- but I'll leave you with this little tid bit.....snoring in stereo is my new favorite! NOT!) and then what else? We went to dinner and drove around Hollywood- in the sunshine, I might add. Go figure.

The next morning our hopes were high that we would in fact be leaving, but as the buckets of rain began dumping again as we drove to the airport, I had my doubts. We were already making a 'plan C' as we once again turned in our rental car.

But the flight was on and our time to load the plane arrived. With rain pouring like I have never seen before, we ran to the plane. (Have you ever flown out of Long Beach? You walk out on the tarmac to get to the planes- it's quite lovely on a sunny day.) We ran through 5 inches of water, dragging our suitcases, and all the water in our shoes with us.

By the time we made it to the airplane, it was as if we had been standing in the shower with our clothes on for 10 minutes. There was not one dry head in the place. Everyone was completely soaked. It smelled lovely.

We sat at the end of the runway for about 20 minutes waiting for a break in the rain so we could take off- and the second the pilots got the go ahead- we were off. I have never been more thrilled in my life to be up in the air! Flying through that type of storm is another story in itself. I am green right now just thinking about it.

But we are home, safe and sound. My mother will never fly again- I'm sure. I have more to share and pictures to show, but all of this was to tell you I am running a day late- and so blogging about the vacation will have to wait until I get life back under control.

Until then....