Highway to Hell

I know, everyone should have such problems but getting into Aspen during the winter months is pure luck of the draw.  Unfortunately for us, and our friends, we all drew bad cards.

The plane from Newark to Denver was fine.  Got in on time, lots of turbulence but that is pretty much status quo when flying into Denver. Once we got in , we walked over to the gate to board our flight to Aspen.  Not only was the flight full, there were 86 people on stand-by.  Yes, 86. We had boarding passes, thank god, that I had printed out that morning with seat assignments.  The seat assignment is key.

We walked out to the tarmac to get on the small planes that they fly up to Aspen.  The wind was so intense that went through my mind is that this is what a hurricane must feel like.
We boarded, we waited, the pilot said forget it.  Cancelled due to 35 mile an hour winds.  So sorry.  Go see customer service.

The customer service line had at least 75 people in line.

Fred had been on the phone with Colorado Mountain Express to drive us up there but I70 is closed.  Ugh.

I called American Express.  Got a car and driver to take us up there when we needed and the concierge was about to make hotel reservations for the night in Denver.  As I was doing this, Fred flagged me down, "quick, there is a bus on the tarmac and they have 5 seats left and they are ours". 

The plane representative was making us run with her.

We get on the bus.  A greyhound bus that is packed to the gills with awful hard straight back seats and we are all spread around the bus.  Then someone mentions since I70 is closed and that this ride will probably take about 8 hours.  Omigod.

8 hours?  You are kidding me?  Jessica is frantically IM’ing me from her seat "get me off this bus".
We begin our ride.  The roads are awful.  Scary actually. 

Our friends who fly Newark to Chicago to Aspen were rerouted to Grand Junction and then bussed to Aspen which is about a 3 hour drive.  Our other friends were delayed from NY and missed their transfer and rented a car to drive half way, stay in a hotel and drive up in the morning.

So, the entire journey from leaving home in the morning to getting to our final destination, our friends house, took 18 hours.
Next year, the Carribbean.