Planes, a Train and Automobiles

Happy New Year. Phew. We've just recovered from a rather grueling travel experience.

It started out copacetic. Beaver Creek was an easy-peasy fun time. Great weather, silky snow. Thanks, Uncle Kenny! 

Then, plans started to unravel. We missed our flight to Seattle because snow and ice closed Vail Pass. It took us about eight hours to get to the airport from Beaver Creek via shuttle bus. The kids did great. We spent the night at the Gaylord Rockies resort, which was very decked out for the holidays, with the expectation we'd fly out to Seattle the next day. But then the Great Seattle Ice Storm hit.

Our flight was canceled, and it was clear that we weren't going to get a flight out of Denver anytime soon. So I waited in a lengthy but efficiently run line at the Alamo counter at DIA (and I had humane conversations with a dad from Bozeman and a SpaceX engineer from LA) and rented a car to drive to Arrow Rock, MO. Right as we entered Blackwater, MO (about eight miles from Arrow Rock), Santa sent a nice, long train for Horace to enjoy. We are so grateful to be able to spend Christmas with family. 

I had never seen Planes, Trains and Automobiles before. John Candy is so good!  

Arrow Rock has a tasteful new coffee/art/yarn/gift shop. Though when we stopped by there was a bat situation in the yarn room.

We stayed with Griffin and Reagan in Leawood with the plan to fly out of MCI to Seattle on the 27th. Ha! As if. At around 3 am in the morning, our flight was canceled. So back to the car rental counter. 

I-90 obviously can be a very thorny drive. But we lucked out with balmy, dry weather! We spent a few hours at the Mitchell Corn Palace. A wonderfully welcoming place with good cheeseburgers and pickles.

And for Horace's birthday, we stopped by Mt. Rushmore. We got there around 8 pm, and the place was completely abandoned. Very strange vibes (hmmm... maybe folks shouldn't have messed with sacred Sioux ground?) That night we stayed in the finest Hampton Inn ever in Buffalo, WY. Five stars.

Then next day we were so anxious to get home we drove like we were chasing the sun. Here's the highway once you pass Spokane. Truly, go west.