It was the last day of our trip, but my husband K still got up at 6:54. My alarm was set for 7:30. We went down to breakfast at 7:55 and it was 75°.
It was busy even that early for breakfast. K got a pre-made omelet and I got oatmeal, into which I put brown sugar and raisins. We weren't in a huge rush, which was nice.
We got washed up and left at 8:50 for Mass. On our way out of the parking lot, I noticed this trailer that had shown up last night was still there. For the life of me, I couldn't guess its purpose.
We arrived at St. Charles Borremeo Catholic Church at 8:58 with 25809 on the odometer. It was a pleasant church. I noticed that the ushers were all Knights of Columbus. My church doesn't have those.
Mass ended at 9:50. I took a few minutes to take some photos of the interior.
We headed back to the hotel at 9:55. Seeing a Circle K with a good price, K stopped at 10:01 (25811). The car took 6 gallons at $3.659 each. We'd put 214 miles on the car since the last fillup.
We were back on the road at 10:05 and at the hotel just two minutes later with no odometer change.
We went upstairs to finish our packing. K pulled the house key out of his backpack and I asked if he wanted me to take it. No, he said, he had it. Remember that.
We checked out at 10:34 and it was now 85°.
As we drove onto the airport property, I noticed this cool wall.
Like so many airports now, the car rental return wasn't at the airport itself. It was off to the side in its own building. The lady at the Hertz returns offered to drive us to the airport, but we chose to take the shuttle. We were on the shuttle at 10:59 and it departed at 11:02. We reached the terminal at the Albuquerque Sunport at 11:06, where we were greeted by this lovely statue. It's "The Basket Dance" by Glenna Goodacre.
We checked the bags at 11:26. Mine weighed 50.51 pounds, but the clerk said it was ok. K spun on me and asked where the house key was in very accusatory tone, as if he'd given it to me. Of course, as noted above, he had not. He tore through his bag and it was not there. I sent him back to the Hertz site via the shuttle to search the car for it.
Meanwhile, I called the hotel and asked if it had been turned in. I told them where we'd parked and what the key chain looked like. They did not see it, but took down my info. I called our daughter and daughter-in-law and asked them to take their key to our house to the guy picking us up. Our daughter-in-law was able to do this.
On my way to the TSA check-in, I saw this really cool case of model airplanes. Yes, I was going through alone, because I refused to miss the plane over this.
At 12:27, I got the message that the flight was now delayed from 1:41 to 2:45. Of course it was.
I decided I was in need of chocolate. At 12:34, I bought a chocolate donut for $3.11 and found a comfortable seat to enjoy it and call my older daughter to vent.
After the call, I walked and discovered this cool sign and an accompanying sign about why it worked. (Because we really only read the first and last letters of a word.)
We went to Comida Buena at 1:12 to eat lunch. K ordered the New Mexico Roast Beef for $11.99 and an iced tea for $3.19. I got the Italian Turkey Panini for $11.99, malt vinegar and sea salt chips for $2.25 and a bottle of coke Zero for an insane $4.19. It was okay.
Each of our flights continued to be delayed, which was useful. Can't have one this delayed and the other on time.
Our plane finally showed up at 2:25.
I normally sit on the aisle, but I took window seat 23 F to get photos and K took D. We were in the last row of AA3836 to Dallas/ Fort Worth. When the plane pushed back at 2:59, I had the chance to get this shot.
After the plane pushed back, we just sat. That gave me the chance to notice how small the plane really was- 2 seats on either side of the aisle.
We were finally moving at 3:03 and took off at 3:09MDT. Shortly after takeoff, I could see some of the land that was part of Kirtland AF base near Albuquerque.
In just 20 minutes, we were flying over Texas. So flat! After being in a mountainous region for so long, it was a surprise.
At 5:25 CDT, we landed at Dallas/Fort Worth International. At 5:37, we were parked at B22. It took another 10 minutes for us to get into the terminal, whee we found the American Airlines app had old info. But, then again, the texts I was getting were all over the place.
We took the Skylink to Terminal A. There, we stopped in Whisk and Bowl, where we got a delicious brownie as a snack.
Suddenly, the message appeared on our phones that the flight was now out of gate C14 at 7:17. Since it was after 6:30, we hurried off to the Skylink again. When we reached C, the escalator down was broken. Not feeling that we had the time to search for an elevator, I went down the stairs - painfully. There was a large crowd of people at the gate, but K felt I had time to hurry to the restroom, when the next message came that the time was changed to 7:45. We heard that the airport had been shut down by thunderstorms this morning.
All of at 7pm, it was announced and we got a text that the flight was now going out of gate A25. Who moves an entire planeload of people to not only another gate, but another terminal that close to departure?
We all had to take the Skylink over to A, of course. Finally, at 7:35, we were seated in 21 D and E on AA2791 to MCO.
We landed at 11:15 EDT and reached gate 54 at 11:30. We picked up our luggage in the main terminal at 11:50. My husband K let our ride K know where we were and he picked us up at 12:02. He handed me the key as we got in.
We were back home at 12:41am. Within a few minutes, I was getting a call from an unknown number. It was the hotel in Albuquerque. Someone found our key in the parking lot. It looked like K had dropped it getting into the car. He said he'd thought maybe something had fallen. We're going to have to send them a shipping label so that they don't incur a cost to send it to us. That did not strike me as going above and beyond in customer service.
My phone recorded 7,905 steps for 2.8 miles to round out this terrific trip.
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