Tuesday we woke up and packed our bags. We had to drive to Little Rock to catch a 5 PM flight to go home. We decided since we knew the storms from Oklahoma were coming our way we would leave early to get ahead a little. We left but not before grabbing some donut holes from the only place in Southaven that had good donuts, Main Street donut! We then left town and got to Little Rock at about 1:30. We found a mall a few miles from the airport and went in to have some lunch. After we walked around and my mom overheard someone saying their flight to Dallas had just been cancelled. Sure enough it was the flight we were supposed to be on. Andrew immediately got on the phone and we headed to the airport to get things figured out. Andrew waited on the phone and stood in line and the counter which was forever long. He left the kids and I in the car and after about 20 minutes I could handle whining kids anymore so we got out and went in. My mom eventually came in as well and she took my kids and our tablet and went to a bench where they watched shows for the next hour or two. It took the guys that long to get to the front of the line and Andrew had just got through on the phone as well. We decided to just talk to the person at the desk. This poor guy had been working since 4:30 in the morning and had had one 20 min break, and this was 5:30 in the afternoon. He looked exhausted. Well from all the storms and tornadoes flight traffic was practically halted. They had no route at all to eventually get us to Salt Lake at all for two days! We thought about just driving! There wasn't a single airport within 5 or 6 hours we could drive to that had anything either. He finally looked at other airlines and found two seats out of Memphis directly to Salt Lake the next morning and four for the afternoon. It worked out perfect except we had to go back to Memphis. We were just grateful to have anything! We then had the problem of the rental cars. We were supposed to return them. Andrew went and talked to them and eventually worked with us. We got one car big enough for us and they dropped all the fees. A one way rental car would have cost us about $1000! They were nice enough to lower it to $200, which is what we paid for a whole 9 days! $200 is a lot for a 24 hour rental! We felt blessed to have gotten the fees dropped so much! We got packed in the new car and started to drive and we were hungry again! My dad had seen all the signs along the road from Memphis to Little Rock for Nicks BBQ and Catfish (there is one about every mile :)). We decided to stop there and at this point it was pouring and we realized it was the horrible storm from Oklahoma. We stopped and ate and just laughed at what a crazy day it had been. The food was actually really good and my parents finally got their catfish! We were so tired we rewarded ourselves and got dessert! We never get dessert! As we were driving back to Memphis Andrew called our Bishop in Mississippi because he works for Hilton to see if he could help us get a room. He told us what to do and to mention his name. We called the hotel in Southaven and they were all booked, along with every other hotel. I think I tried about 10 hotels and they were all sold out. We eventually just ended up back in Olive Branch where we had stayed and walked in laughing. It was about midnight by the time we got back and they gave us a room next to the one we had been in all week. Our kids went running down the hall screaming our room! We hope no one was in our old room because they went and jiggled the handle and pounded on it! We finally made it to bed and were exhausted! We woke up the next day and took my parents to the airport. We then went to lunch at Lenny's and then went to the Mississippi River walk. We were trying to kill time! We had a good time walking up and down the river and the kids walking in the water. We left and made it to the airport. Turned our car in and got checked in and walked right through security. We made it to our gate only to find out none of us had seats and they need like 6 people to take a different flight. I was so mad I wasn't going to stay any longer! Eventually Easton and I got a seat and about 3 minutes before boarding Andrew and Ella got one! I finally was able to relax a little once we were on the plane! It was direct to Salt Lake which was way nice. It was one of the worst flights towards the last 30 minutes due to turbulence. I have never been on such a bumpy flight! Easton slept most of the flight and Ella fell asleep about 10 minutes before we landed! I felt so sick to my stomach after being jolted but once we landed I felt better! We went and my mom had made us dinner, only 3 hours after she had landed! It tasted good to have a home cooked meal after 10 days! We had such a great trip and we were sad to say goodbye to Memphis. It was our new home and where both our kids were born. We have a lot of good memories from there and lifelong friends! We loved the Southern Hospitality and Charm! We are happy to be moving on though and are grateful to Andrew for all the work he put in over the last four years and still managed to be a great dad and husband! We are grateful for this new phase of our lives and look forward to making even more memories!
The kids wading in the river. The riverwalk is in downtown Memphis along the Mississippi and is an exact replica of the Mississippi from North to South. It is a mile long and at the end has a big pool that is supposed to be like the Gulf of Mexico. I wish we would have gone here more but it was fun the times we did!
No comments:
Post a Comment