On July 24 (Friday) our family along with Chuck's parents and his brother Doug left the Jacksonville airport headed for Colorado for a family reunion/vacation. This was the first time that Tyler and Kaelyn had ever flown. Tyler loved it, you would have thought that he was a frequent flier. Kaelyn on the other hand was a little nervous. She held on to my arm and hand so tight as our plane was leaving the gate, (Tyler sat with Chuck across the aisle from us) I looked over at her and saw that she was crying- she told me that she was scared (this was the first time that she ever mentioned that she was scared about flying) of course I started tearing up and wanted to cry right along with her. I knew that I needed to keep it together for her sake though. So I told her that there was nothing to be scared about, when we know that God loves us so much that He cast out the fear that we may have. It was then as we were getting ready to get on the runway that she wanted me to pray with her. What a BLESSING! She still cried and laid over on me until we got up in the air. It didn't take long for the tears to go away. Our flight was great. We landed in Atlanta and had just enough time to use the restroom before boarding the plane for the last leg of our trip out west. When we boarded the plane in Atlanta to head out to Denver, Kaelyn was a pro (you would have thought she had flown dozens of times) she joked around with her Uncle Doug and talked so easily (yes she was back to being herself) .
Once we arrived in Denver, we had to ride the "subway train" to get to baggage claim to pick up our luggage. Kaelyn really enjoyed this ride, and was a little disappointed when it came to an end. It didn't take long for us to get our suitcases, (thank God nothing got lost). After about an hour and a half we finally had our rental cars (My mother-in-law had made the reservations weeks before, but still had to stand in a very long line and then it took forever once they reached the counter) and were headed to Wray, (about a two and a half hour drive) where the family reunion would be held on Saturday.
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Chuck & Kaelyn riding the "Subway Train"
When we got into Wray, (a very cute little town) we went to the Butte Motel (let me just tell you, the town of Wray only has a few motels and the one we stayed at was the best one in town). Needless to say this was not the Hilton, no where near it. When we went into our room it smelled all musty and in general just down right gave me the creeps. The curtains on the windows looked as if they were about to fall apart. I just sat down on the bed and felt like crying, I didn't though. After getting our rooms we went "exploring" around Wray. While we were out we saw that some of the streets were blocked off to traffic. They were having their "Wray Days" . We walked around there for a little while, then got back in our rental car and drove to Haigler, Nebraska, (this is where Chuck's grandmother was born) it was about a ten minute drive from Wray. We thought just maybe we could find another hotel to stay in, but no such luck. As a matter of fact, the nearest town with a decent hotel was about an hour and a half away and it was already late, we were all tired and just ready to get some sleep. So we knew we were just going to have to stay at the Butte Motel for one night, but we were checking out the next day and driving that hour and a half Saturday evening after the family reunion to find another hotel to stay in before driving back into Denver. We couldn't check into our hotel in Denver until Sunday afternoon.
In defense of the sign at the motel looking like this, they had a tornado come through earlier in the week and took part of the sign. This message was on the sign, "Our sign went with Dorothy and Toto".
More of our Colorado trip will hopefully be posted tomorrow.
What a fun trip! I was just like Kaelyn on my first flight... I was so scared! Neither of my parents were with me, though.. it was a school trip! I "just happened" (yeah right) to be sitting next to a lady who worked for the Christian radio station out of Orlando (Z98.3). We talked and she kept me calm... what a blessing she was! :)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE Colorado! We went on vacation out there a few years ago. Flew into Denver and had to wait forever for our rental cars, too!
Cant wait to hear about the rest of the trip! Hope a better hotel was found on Day 2!! :)