Stranded!

Rachel suggested the title for this post, which is a good one.

We were supposed to leave on Thursday, but it was snowing in D.C., with the weather expected to get worse around the time of our arrival (around 5:30 p.m.). We had planned our return in order to attend Rachel's parent-teacher conference on Friday, plus we needed to leave the resort on Thursday, anyway, and Friday was going to be a catch-up day; Drew had taken the day off from work; I had planned to make some calls on a possible magazine story, unpack, work on Rachel's Odyssey of the Mind and Purim carnival costumes, etc. etc.

When we heard about the snow, we were all hoping that would give us an extra day at the resort. (Our plane wasn't scheduled to leave until 4 or so, so we figured we'd stay the morning at the resort to get some last swimming in, then head to the airport in time to return our rental car and catch our flight). When Darryl notified Drew that he and Daniella's flight was delayed two hours, I told Rachel that that probably meant ours was delayed, too. We spent the next hour or so playing a new game called Rachelball (Drew and I tossed Rachel between us in the pool, to her delight, until our arms gave out) and hoping that the flight would be delayed, but noon came and it was still on time. Rachel burst into tears when I told her she had to get out of the pool, and I hugged her and said I wished we could stay, too, -- and it was compounded by the fact that the peace charm in her beaded braid had fallen off (we paid a woman $30 to work the beads, braid and ribbon in her hair at the beginning of the week; it was expensive, but she wanted it badly and it did make her look great).

We left the resort sadly, returned the rental car, boarded our plane...and sat. And sat. For about 45 minutes. At one point the pilot came on the air, tried to tell us what was happening and then said, "Uh, just wait a moment, folks, while I figure out what's going on." And then, we were told to leave the plane. Perhaps no one was more stunned that Rachel, who, as I pointed out, got her wish after all -- and then, while I called her Odyssey of the Mind coach to explain what had happened, Drew rebooked us for the next flight out -- at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

We got a discounted rate at a nearby residence hotel, courtesy of U.S. Airways, and Drew wisely talked me out of keeping the rental car because, as he pointed out, we probably wouldn't have much time to explore Orlando (I had called a former boss of mine who is now at the Orlando Sentinel to meet us for dinner, but he was running in a 5K that night and couldn't make it). We relaxed around the pool and fire pit, with Rachel reading and Drew and I talking to a guy named Randy who had a dead-on imitation of Donald Duck (which delighted Rachel).

We ate dinner at a steakhouse, where I had way too many martinis and ended up carrying Rachel back to our room (sound familiar)? I fell asleep at 10:30, woke up at 12:30, couldn't go back to sleep, tried sleeping in Rachel's bed (we were in a suite with a separate bedroom, so she got the sleeper couch while Drew and I took the king-size bed), then finally took a sleeping pill at 4:30 a.m. and was dead to the world until Drew and Rachel brought me back some breakfast from the buffet downstairs. I was groggy most of the morning, but we managed to extend our checkout; walked to TGI Friday's for a leisurely lunch, then back to the hotel and waited for the shuttle bus. We got to the airport and found that our flight had been delayed 40 minutes, so that gave us some extra time to shop, and then, finally, we boarded our flight. Rachel had discovered a Pippi Longstocking book at the airport bookstore and of course persuaded Drew and I to buy it for her; she spent most of the flight reading it.

We arrived to bitterly cold weather, but most of the snow had been cleared. We hustled Rachel to bed at 11:30, stayed up until 1:30 a.m. putting things away, and collapsed into bed only to wake up the next morning at 7 for Rachel's Odyssey of the Mind competition.

It's good to be home.