The Parable of the Terminals & Success!
Well, Linds and I got back from Colorado on Sunday night and I've been meaning to update my blog with a little info about our trip.
Of course, it's Tuesday now so I've had a chance to digest everything that happened and I'm happy to say that we weren't just high on the idea of living in Colorado all this time; it really is all that we thought it would be and linds and I are really in love with the idea of living there!
I'll give you the layout of the weekend...
Linds and I were scheduled to fly out of Lindberg Field in San Diego on Friday night at 6:15pm so Lindsay got off work a little early and went home to pack and make sure we were ready to roll as soon as I got home from work at around 4:15pm...good to know at this point is that the San Diego airport is notorious for having a very slow and meticulous security process and getting to the airport 2 hours prior to your flight is not only common practice for Linds and I; it is par for the course...however, in this case we didn't have that luxury and we were going to be cutting it closer than we ever had before.
I got home from work, changed my shirt and grabbed a bottled water and we were out the door a minute later with our bags, our tickets and two VERY excited 60 pound dogs. The plan was for our dogs to stay with our friends Mike and Kristine and their dog Bailey for the weekend, of course Sugar and Flash didn't know this yet; they thought they were going to the dog park - and they were PUMPED! Translation: Hard to manage and deaf to commands.
Linds and I got on the freeway at about 4:20pm and OH NO! TRAFFIC!
55 minutes later...(5:15pm)
Extremely frazzled and stressed to the max; Linds and I pulled into Mike and Kristines complex and quickly said our hellos, unloaded the dogs, said our goodbyes and sped off back to the freeway. We had one hour till our flight was supposed to leave and we to drive less than 12 miles to get there...No problem...OH NO! TRAFFIC!
12 miles and 45 minutes later...(6:00pm if you're keeping score)
We pull into the parking lot of the airport, Linds says "We bought our tickets through Frontier Airlines; they're in Terminal 2 - HURRY!"...we park in the most expensive parking complex on earth because we're out of time and we run to the terminal.
At this point we're sweating bullets, breathing hard and barely holding on to our tempers at being so close to being screwed. We make it into terminal 2 and to the ticketing counter for Frontier Airlines by around 6:05; we're in good shape in spite of being so late..."Wait, doesn't that "UA-282" on our tickets mean UNITED AIRLINES!?!"..."Yes sir, it does."..."But isn't United Airlines in Terminal One?"..."Yes sir, it is."
!! PANT !! PANT !! SHHHHIIIIITT!!!!
5 minutes later...(6:10pm - flight leaves in 5 minutes)
Sprinting through terminal 2 as fast as the wheels on our carry on luggage will spin; we're in deep kimshi now! Terminal 1 is approximately a 1/2 of a mile away from Terminal 2 and should take a leisurely stroller 10 minutes to accomplish...We made it in 2 minutes. And thus the Airport Olympics we're born!
We'd made it to Terminal 1 without a moment to spare and ran to the security checkpoint and were relieved to see that the line was not long...maybe they could hold the flight a few moments while we run down the concourse yelling for them to hold the plane.
We hand our tickets to the first security guard who looks us over with a cautiously suspicious eye and smiles sweetly as she hands our tickets back to us and reaches to her left to open up a whole new security checkpoint lane! Maybe she saw that our flight was leaving as we stood there and she was going to rush us through! "If you could just step this way; you've been preselected for a pre-flight security screening"
!! PANT !! PANT !! Fu..Fu...FFFFUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKK!!!
6 minutes later, freshly groped and prodded, tested for radiation and bomb building materials...we were on the run again only this time we were half dressed and dragging our poorly closed luggage behind us.
Stop for a minute and imagine the scene in your mind, got it? Good. Now, thank God it wasn't you.
We made it to our gate about 10 minutes late for our flight but not a moment too soon because the very last call was going out for passengers for the flight to Denver just as we arrived...ahhh, sweet relief.
It was then that I recalled all of the episodes of LOST that I'd been watching...Here come the butterflies...
"Hello, welcome aboard...yes, you're seated in Row 8 by the emergency door at the middle of the aircraft."..."So, I'm responsible for the operation of the emergency door in case...you know?"..."Yes sir, that's right."
!! PANT !! PANT !! NNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!
The Moral: Pay attention to the tiny letters on your ticket information and always pack clean underwear.
The flight to Denver International Airport was smooth, but not as smooth as the whiskey that I demanded as soon as we were airborne...Tranquilizer says what?
We landed and got our rental car a little while later...the car rental guy must've liked us because he upgraded us for free from a tin can with wheels on it to a Dodge Durango with a bad attitude...Sweet.
We were pretty disoriented trying to navigate around the freeways that surround the Denver Metro area at night and in a strange and very large vehicle but I think we did pretty good...Just ask the 5 or 6 people that we nearly crushed with our monster truck between the airport and our motel. Emphasis on NEARLY.
The weekend got off to a quick start on Saturday morning and we were looking at model homes by 8:30am...by 1:00pm we were meeting with our realtor and by 6:00pm we were discussing the process of placing a hold on the lot we wanted! Talk about a whirlwind day!
I have to say, thank God for our realtor Marcia McCorkall and the representative for Shea Homes Annie Packard; without the two of those ladies Lindsay and I would have had to make an additional trip to get everything done that we did get done on Saturday...who knows, we may have had to make several additional trips!
When it was all said and done we knew which house we wanted and the lot we wanted it on...and so we set the plan in motion with the shaking of hands and signing of papers...smiles all around we drove away from the housing development with high hopes and light hearts.
Here is a few pictures of the style of house we're going for...it's called The Sage.
And here is the corner lot where it's going to be approximately 6 to 7 months from now...
We love our dirt lot on Heatherton Lane!
We spent the rest of Saturday evening and all day Sunday driving around our neighborhood area, seeing the sites of Denver South Metro and learning about the state of Colorado...We had a great time for sure.
Something cool about where we'll be living is that about a stones-throw from where our backyard will be is a nature preserve called the Backcountry Wilderness Area (Used to be called OSCA which I think stood for something but I forget what)...the Backcountry Wilderness Area is basically 8200 acres of protected land that will never be built on and will never be developed...Which means that there will never be tons of traffic or other houses built behind ours, good news for us!
Here's a few shots of the Backcountry Wilderness Area, as well as some Buffalo we saw on the side of the road and a Prairie Dog that popped up under my feet and said hello...
All in all it was the fastest, busiest, fullest and most satisfying weekend Lindsay and I have spent in a long, long time and when it was all said and done; if we hadn't had to come back to San Diego I don't think we would have!
I'll definitely keep you all updated as things progress, thanks for your thoughts and prayers!
Of course, it's Tuesday now so I've had a chance to digest everything that happened and I'm happy to say that we weren't just high on the idea of living in Colorado all this time; it really is all that we thought it would be and linds and I are really in love with the idea of living there!
I'll give you the layout of the weekend...
Linds and I were scheduled to fly out of Lindberg Field in San Diego on Friday night at 6:15pm so Lindsay got off work a little early and went home to pack and make sure we were ready to roll as soon as I got home from work at around 4:15pm...good to know at this point is that the San Diego airport is notorious for having a very slow and meticulous security process and getting to the airport 2 hours prior to your flight is not only common practice for Linds and I; it is par for the course...however, in this case we didn't have that luxury and we were going to be cutting it closer than we ever had before.
I got home from work, changed my shirt and grabbed a bottled water and we were out the door a minute later with our bags, our tickets and two VERY excited 60 pound dogs. The plan was for our dogs to stay with our friends Mike and Kristine and their dog Bailey for the weekend, of course Sugar and Flash didn't know this yet; they thought they were going to the dog park - and they were PUMPED! Translation: Hard to manage and deaf to commands.
Linds and I got on the freeway at about 4:20pm and OH NO! TRAFFIC!
55 minutes later...(5:15pm)
Extremely frazzled and stressed to the max; Linds and I pulled into Mike and Kristines complex and quickly said our hellos, unloaded the dogs, said our goodbyes and sped off back to the freeway. We had one hour till our flight was supposed to leave and we to drive less than 12 miles to get there...No problem...OH NO! TRAFFIC!
12 miles and 45 minutes later...(6:00pm if you're keeping score)
We pull into the parking lot of the airport, Linds says "We bought our tickets through Frontier Airlines; they're in Terminal 2 - HURRY!"...we park in the most expensive parking complex on earth because we're out of time and we run to the terminal.
At this point we're sweating bullets, breathing hard and barely holding on to our tempers at being so close to being screwed. We make it into terminal 2 and to the ticketing counter for Frontier Airlines by around 6:05; we're in good shape in spite of being so late..."Wait, doesn't that "UA-282" on our tickets mean UNITED AIRLINES!?!"..."Yes sir, it does."..."But isn't United Airlines in Terminal One?"..."Yes sir, it is."
!! PANT !! PANT !! SHHHHIIIIITT!!!!
5 minutes later...(6:10pm - flight leaves in 5 minutes)
Sprinting through terminal 2 as fast as the wheels on our carry on luggage will spin; we're in deep kimshi now! Terminal 1 is approximately a 1/2 of a mile away from Terminal 2 and should take a leisurely stroller 10 minutes to accomplish...We made it in 2 minutes. And thus the Airport Olympics we're born!
We'd made it to Terminal 1 without a moment to spare and ran to the security checkpoint and were relieved to see that the line was not long...maybe they could hold the flight a few moments while we run down the concourse yelling for them to hold the plane.
We hand our tickets to the first security guard who looks us over with a cautiously suspicious eye and smiles sweetly as she hands our tickets back to us and reaches to her left to open up a whole new security checkpoint lane! Maybe she saw that our flight was leaving as we stood there and she was going to rush us through! "If you could just step this way; you've been preselected for a pre-flight security screening"
!! PANT !! PANT !! Fu..Fu...FFFFUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKK!!!
6 minutes later, freshly groped and prodded, tested for radiation and bomb building materials...we were on the run again only this time we were half dressed and dragging our poorly closed luggage behind us.
Stop for a minute and imagine the scene in your mind, got it? Good. Now, thank God it wasn't you.
We made it to our gate about 10 minutes late for our flight but not a moment too soon because the very last call was going out for passengers for the flight to Denver just as we arrived...ahhh, sweet relief.
It was then that I recalled all of the episodes of LOST that I'd been watching...Here come the butterflies...
"Hello, welcome aboard...yes, you're seated in Row 8 by the emergency door at the middle of the aircraft."..."So, I'm responsible for the operation of the emergency door in case...you know?"..."Yes sir, that's right."
!! PANT !! PANT !! NNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!
The Moral: Pay attention to the tiny letters on your ticket information and always pack clean underwear.
*** *** ***
The flight to Denver International Airport was smooth, but not as smooth as the whiskey that I demanded as soon as we were airborne...Tranquilizer says what?
We landed and got our rental car a little while later...the car rental guy must've liked us because he upgraded us for free from a tin can with wheels on it to a Dodge Durango with a bad attitude...Sweet.
We were pretty disoriented trying to navigate around the freeways that surround the Denver Metro area at night and in a strange and very large vehicle but I think we did pretty good...Just ask the 5 or 6 people that we nearly crushed with our monster truck between the airport and our motel. Emphasis on NEARLY.
The weekend got off to a quick start on Saturday morning and we were looking at model homes by 8:30am...by 1:00pm we were meeting with our realtor and by 6:00pm we were discussing the process of placing a hold on the lot we wanted! Talk about a whirlwind day!
I have to say, thank God for our realtor Marcia McCorkall and the representative for Shea Homes Annie Packard; without the two of those ladies Lindsay and I would have had to make an additional trip to get everything done that we did get done on Saturday...who knows, we may have had to make several additional trips!
When it was all said and done we knew which house we wanted and the lot we wanted it on...and so we set the plan in motion with the shaking of hands and signing of papers...smiles all around we drove away from the housing development with high hopes and light hearts.
Here is a few pictures of the style of house we're going for...it's called The Sage.
And here is the corner lot where it's going to be approximately 6 to 7 months from now...
We spent the rest of Saturday evening and all day Sunday driving around our neighborhood area, seeing the sites of Denver South Metro and learning about the state of Colorado...We had a great time for sure.
Something cool about where we'll be living is that about a stones-throw from where our backyard will be is a nature preserve called the Backcountry Wilderness Area (Used to be called OSCA which I think stood for something but I forget what)...the Backcountry Wilderness Area is basically 8200 acres of protected land that will never be built on and will never be developed...Which means that there will never be tons of traffic or other houses built behind ours, good news for us!
Here's a few shots of the Backcountry Wilderness Area, as well as some Buffalo we saw on the side of the road and a Prairie Dog that popped up under my feet and said hello...
All in all it was the fastest, busiest, fullest and most satisfying weekend Lindsay and I have spent in a long, long time and when it was all said and done; if we hadn't had to come back to San Diego I don't think we would have!
I'll definitely keep you all updated as things progress, thanks for your thoughts and prayers!
Big thanks to Mike and Kristine for watching our "Kids" - I hope they didn't slobber too much!
posted by Benji at 10:14 AM
3 Comments:
wow Ben that is so exciting, Congrats!!! The house and the area is gorgeous. I have no doubts you guys are going to have some good times there. How is the whole selling your house you have now part of this going??
Thanks:) I think good times are ahead too!
The house selling here in San Diego is sort of a question mark over our heads right now because we just don't know how soon that's going to happen!
That airport story was funny. I've done the whole "wrong terminal" thing before. Katie was in heels... she almost KILLED me!!!
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