Ohio Snow

Last night, at about 11:25 eastern time, we landed in Cleveland, about 20 minutes earlier than expected. Although the beginning of the trip showed signs of long delays, we made all of our connections, and arrived back in Ohio safe and sound. That however, did not make the trip feel any shorter. It was a long, long day.

We woke up in the morning, packed our things, and met the shuttle in front of our lodge at about 10:45am. Contrary to our previous ride up to Breck, we were now traveling back through the Rockies in broad daylight, allowing for what may have been one of the more informative, entertaining rides I've taken in a long time. This guy knew everything. He pointed out how to spot mines in the canyons around us, and how to tell each between a gold mine and a silver mine. He gave us a thorough history of the towns we passed through, and the surrounding peaks that towered over us as we wound our way down the hill. Dog sledding, big-horned mountain sheep, Clive Cussler and plate techtonics were just a few of the other subjects covered. Two hours flew by like nothing.

Upon arriving at the airport, we immediately found out that our flight was delayed 45 minutes. Which, soon after turned into 90, then 110. No matter, we had a delay in Chicago that was over three hours, so we sat around Denver's airport for the next three hours (we were fairly early to begin with), ate some food and enjoyed the fateful procrastonation of actually making it out of the state of Colorado. (pronounced 'Call-a-rad-duh' by the natives...interesting tidbit) As we were getting on the plane, the Superbowl started. When we landed, there were five minutes left in the game.

Every year I go to one Superbowl party or another, watching the game with friends, having a few beers and enjoying pot-luck food that is in no way shape or form, healthy for you. To be honest, a lot of those parties run together. This year was memorable.

Garrett, Lisa, Claire and I were gathered in Chicago's airport, eyes glued to the television set at the gate, watching the game's last five minutes on the clock, which as far as I know, could've been the most exciting. Here were are, with at least 30 strangers, blatently ignoring the flight attendent's pleas to board the plane as the timer counted down. Pittsburgh scored. Cheers were heard. Yells of disapproval echoed through the cooridor. Six minutes left in boarding time. Arizona fumbles. Some guy at another gate screams "FUCK!" at the top of his lungs. Fifteen seconds left of game time. The Steelers win. ...I'm the last one on the plane, and the gates are shut behind me.

An hour and a half later, we landed in Cleveland. The first thing I thought when I walked outside was how different the snow is here as compared to Breckenridge. It was clean there. White. Fluffy. People didn't mind snow on the sidewalks. Here it's dirty. Hard. Stained with salt and grit. I laughed at the irony of being home.

We're all safe now, home and settled back into our daily lives, and I'm about to head into work. Reality begins again, but it was a fantastic break. And soon, the travels will begin once more.

Until then.