A Trip to Remember...

In November, we had the opportunity to go with my parents and brothers (brother-in-law) to Notre Dame to watch the UofU play Notre Dame. The game ended badly, we lost! However, the trip itself, was an experience.

On the way out to Notre Dame, they overbooked one of our flights. We offered to bump because we would each get a $300 Delta voucher. What they didn't tell us was that the plane we were bumping to was broken and in the process of being fixed. It was supposed to have taken off between noon and one, and at 5:00 it still hadn't taken off. This flight was also going into Chicago Miday instead of O'Hare. However, they reassured us that this was not a problem because there were buses that ran between the two. We got into Midway and hopped on  a bus that was going to O-Hare. Part way through the bus ride, another lady riding the bus let us know that O'Hare was the opposite direction we were going. When we got to the bus stop, the driver informed us that he had made a terrible mistake. There was not another bus/shuttle to O'Hare that hour; we were going to have to wait at least another 45-minutes to an hour. My dad was trying to work something out once we got into the building, but the lady at the desk couldn't help us. So, dad got on the phone with a manager where it ended with the manager hanging up on Dad. The desk lady ended up calling a shuttle van for us and paying for it out of her own pocket because she felt so bad for us.

When the shuttle van arrived, we all piled in. Our driver was of Middle-Eastern descent and was listening to some crazy music.He promptly switched it over to some wrap or something and we took off. We were staying at the Hilton in the airport, so somehow our driver was under the impression that we had to be at the airport by 10 PM. The van was SO INCREDIBLY HOT!! Jodi kept trying to turn the heat down when the driver wasn't looking, but the driver kept turning it back up. Keep in mind, that I was squished in the backseat of a little mini-van with my mom and dad, in all of our winter warm clothes. I have never prayed for more toll booths like I did that night. At least the window got rolled down and we temporarily got cold, fresh air in the car.


We finally made it to the hotel and Ben met us after his flight came in. It was very late and we were all starving. We walked over to where the nice restaurant was to eat. When we got there, however, we realized that they had Adult Entertainment (servers). At that point, it was just too comical. We ended up eating in the bar and got to our room to go to bed around 1:00 AM.


We had to get up SUPER EARLY the next morning, so that we had plenty of time to use our free vouchers for breakfast and make it on time for the shuttle to the game. We were up by 5:00. We ate breakfast and went to the game. It was a very cool experience to be there and see things. However, it was REALLY CRAPPY that the U lost.

We get on the bus to come home and, SURPRISE, the bus is broken. We sat on a bus in South Bend for HOURS!! Supposedly, another bus was coming. Every once in a while, someone would tell us how close it was, but it never actually came when it should have. Finally, the people that put the trip together went and got pizza and water for everyone while we waited. It might have been the best pizza I ever ate. Imagine though, stuck on a bus for hours with porta potties that are nasty and full from the game and a bathroom on the bus that our bus driver has been sick in all day....it was an EXPERIENCE to say the least. We got home that night around midnight.

Us Stuck on the Bus FOR HOURS....

Then, we got up at 4:00 to make our flight to Denver. While we were in Denver, my mom's cell phone (in the case) fell out of her pocket. When, we got to Salt Lake and realized what had happened we called everywhere (all the airports, etc), trying to see if we could get anyone to locate it. They found her phone case at the gate in Denver, but the phone was missing. Nice end to a memorable trip, eh?

All in All.....I think we got a total of 10 hours of sleep the whole entire weekend!