Escape from the "artic blast"

Packing to head to Portland/Arkansas.


Chip wants to go and then wonders if we saved room for him.

Night 3 at the hotel: Ricky hanging out in the lounge.

We are the lucky ones. We made it out!! After three days of waiting at the hotel and multiple flight cancellations, we woke up yesterday morning to a non-canceled flight. That, in itself was progress, so we showered and got ready to head out, constantly checking flight status for that dreaded cancellation message. We checked out of the hotel and caught the shuttle to the airport where the experience began...

Our CR-V (second closest) the day we caught the shuttle to the airport.



Experience 1: Shuttle Ride
So, after over a foot of snow, our hotel was still offering shuttles to/from the airport. Because our hotel is one of the closest ones to the airport, we weren't too concerned about the fact that we'd seen the same shuttle driver every time we went through the lobby in our hotel for the last three days (so we were pretty sure the other drivers were snowed at home while he was snowed in at the hotel). It was supposed to be a quick trip. Supposed to be is key...When we got on the shuttle, he informed us that we would be going by the Comfort Inn to pick up some people who were stranded because the Comfort Inn's shuttle got stuck somewhere in the snow. Sigh. Another stop, but we had plenty of time (we just got a message our flight was delayed). Just as we were about to pull out of the hotel parking lot, the driver got a radio call that he forgot someone who was scheduled to leave on our shuttle. The driver was annoyed and recklessly backed up and turned around in the foot of snow. We thought for sure he was going to slide into some of the cars (including ours) parked in the lot. After the turn-around and pick-up, we were off to the Comfort Inn.

Did I mention that our hotel was super close to the airport but the Comfort Inn was not so close AND that the Comfort Inn's shuttle got stuck in the snow between the Comfort Inn and the airport? Well, after a crazy, scary, slippery ride, we arrived at the Comfort Inn and ultimately at the airport. It was scary.

Experience 2: Airport Arrival
While we booked our flights with American Airlines, we were scheduled to leave on a code-share flight on Horizon/Alaska airlines yesterday morning. We arrived at the airport 3 hours early. The Horizon/Alaska area was SWAMPED. I have never even seen anything like it, even on a movie. The line wrapped through the typical check-in area, all the way around past the stores, to the security gate and looped back a couple times! Whoa! We found a man who was answering questions (but may have actually been on his way somewhere because he was pretty impatient) about where to go and flight status. I had my iphone and was constantly refreshing our flight status. It said delayed but not canceled. I asked the guy to double-check. He told me it was canceled. Canceled? I double-checked my phone and the monitors both said delayed, so we got in line and Ricky went to find someone else to ask. So far, flight was delayed--not canceled.

We stood in the line and met people from all over who all had stories about where they were trying to go and how long they'd been waiting (3+ days) to get there. We watched as the Southwest airline agent (that line was almost as bad as our line and was across the aisle), told everyone in line that all flights before 1pm (it was about 9am) were canceled and there would be no new flights booked until after the 28th. She was saying, "If you have a flight before 1pm, it's canceled. If you're from here, go home. If you have friends here, call them. We aren't going to be getting you out of here before the 28th." I looked at Ricky wide-eyed and scared. What if that became us? How could it not become us? We saw people waiting EVERYWHERE. About 20 minutes later, we were moving through the line pretty well. I refreshed our flight status. Canceled.

Our hearts sank. Ricky went to check with a real person, and I stepped out of line to call American Airlines. This was it, we thought. But we were at the airport, and we couldn't really go home to Eugene (notice the pictures of our car), so we might as well check. I called the 800 number and prepared for a wait (it took 35 minutes the day before to get through to an agent). Someone answered before it even rang. I was so surprised I almost didn't speak. When I did, I told her situation, and she told us we could get on a 3pm flight from Portland to Dallas and catch a 9:30 pm flight to Little Rock, arriving at 10:35pm.

What? I could not believe my ears. She had to be mistaken. This was an even better flight than what we were going to take that just got canceled? And it was today?! I booked it and went to AA counter to check in. We were early but had nothing else to do. We got our bags checked. I asked the agent to add us to stand-by for the earlier flights just in case. Things were being majorly delayed and we knew it wasn't likely we'd make the connection in Dallas, so it couldn't hurt to fly stand-by. The agent told us not to bother with it. There were people who were waiting for days. Stand-by wouldn't be worth it. So, we checked in, went quickly through security (because only people who were actually booked on flights could get through security) and headed to the gate. When we arrived at the gate, I promptly asked the agent to add our names to the stand-by list, and we waited. It was almost 11am, when they started boarding the 9:25am flight. The airport let some flights out at 9 and then shut down the runway. Ricky and I were comfortable and prepared to spend the day. When suddenly, "Rodriguez party of 2 please make your way to the ticket counter." What? They had seats for us on the very next flight to Dallas?! They weren't together and our checked-bags wouldnt transfer to the flight, but we didn't care. We were as close as we could be to escaping the artic blast!!



This was one of the many frozen planes sitting at the airport. (Not ours!) The luggage trucks would get stuck, making it difficult to get bags in/out of the plane.

Experience 3: On the Airplane
We had a great pilot who kept us very informed of what was happening. PDX had shut down the runway and was going to re-open it at noon. We were first on the departure list, and he wanted everyone on board and ready to go at the moment the runway opened. We were de-iced and pushed back from the gate before noon. Wait, PDX was not satisfied with the condition of the runway, so it decided to let two circling planes land and then it was going to do more work on the runway. More waiting. Our de-icer was wasted (it only lasts for about an hour), and we had to get a new coat. Finally, at 2pm, we taxied off and were in the air. Everyone cheered. I was so overwhelmed, I didn't know how to feel. We were one of only four flights to Dallas that day. Only 13 flights departed the day before (over 450 arrive/depart on a typical Sunday), and we were sure less than 25% would make it out the day we did. We made a stop in Reno to get more fuel and de-icer off, arriving in Dallas in time to make the connection to Little Rock. At 10:35 pm we were on the ground. What an amazing feeling.

The amazing view of the horizon. Words cannot express how thankful we were to have this view.

All I can say is that God answers prayers. We had lots of people praying for our travels. If you would've seen the hundreds and hundreds of people in the airport going nowhere, you would not believe we made it to Arkansas. It was so overwhelming. We were "stuck." Four days in a hotel with nowhere to go and nothing to do except wait to see if our flight would be delayed. Yet, we were canceled and made it on a better flight within a few minutes. We definitely will not be taking this visit for granted. We are so thankful to get to spend this time with family. Our hearts go out to the many families that could not be together this Christmas. We came very close to being in their shoes. You are in our prayers.