We are having a family trip around the wedding of David and Betty Noone's son Andrew and Sarina Sheth in Seattle on Saturday.
As they say, "All's well that ends well". Carmen and David were leaving from Albany, Amy from Brooklyn and Anna from San Diego. All of us were scheduled to arrive between 4:57pm and 5:20 pm.
We left home at 7am and arrived at the Albany park and ride at 8:30. Check-in went smoothly and the TSA pre-check line opened up just as we got to security so it was relatively quick. Carmen had to go through a different line due to the metal screws in her ankle. Carmen had her TSA pre-check interview the previous Friday and got her background check approval on Monday so she was "good to go" on Wednesday morning.
About 10 minutes before departure, there was no boarding announcement. The pilot came out and announced that when the pilot comes out to talk to the passengers, it can't be a good thing. There was bad weather in Chicago and our departure was being delayed by 3 hours. This would be a major problem as we had connecting flights to Denver and then to Portland. Miracles can happen. The pilot came back out about 10 minutes later and said that there was a small window if we hurried to board. We all hurried on and took off about half an hour later than scheduled.
Our Denver flight was scheduled for an hour later but this was cut down to 30 minutes due to our late arrival. When we got to the gate, we discovered that our departure as delayed by an hour which gave us time for lunch.
We arrived in Denver at 3:05 and our flight to Portland was scheduled to leave from the other end of the terminal at 3:18. Carmen ran and David hobbled as best he could to the gate where we were the last passengers to get on. After we boarded, it was announced that the pilots had not arrived and the flight was delayed by 30 minutes.
We arrived in Portland only 15 minutes late and by the time we got to the security exit, we got a text from both Anna and Amy that they had both landed as well! We were able to meet the girls at their gates.
We are staying at the Comfort Suites at the airport and managed to reserve the suite that has 3 queen beds so it is very comfortable.
One of Anna's friends had recommended a Lebanese restaurant in Portland. It wasn't convenient to get there by public transportation and we won't get a rental car until Friday so we called an Uber driver. The driver was very chatty and told us all about his extended Indian family that was in business "flipping" 7-11 stores and gas stations. He loves it here and said he really was living the American Dream. He was also driving a Mercedes!
We had a delicious Lebanese dinner at Ya Halala and afterwards went to the Montavilla Brew Works micro-brewery where we sat outside drinking beer and playing Uno until they closed at 10pm. We took Uber back to the hotel.
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