We had a really early flight (6:50 a.m.). After getting no takers on giving us a ride to the airport (everyone was up hunting or wanted to sleep in), we ended up driving ourselves and using Diamond Parking. We made it to our gate 10 minutes prior to take-off so we couldn’t get seats together. There weren’t even 2 together so the stewardess had to announce that they needed people to move so a mother and child could sit together—unless someone wanted to babysit the whole trip. It was amazing how quickly two seats together opened up! Michael was good and slept the whole time.
Since I got a cheap deal on Southwest (seriously, it was $120 a person—I’ve paid up to $400 to fly home during the holidays), we had a layover in Las Vegas. Michael wanted to play the games to my dismay. We ate breakfast while there ($24 at BK—ouch!). Our flight arrived in Omaha at 2:05 p.m. Central (one hour ahead of Utah). We spent a total of 3 ½ hours in the air. This was our first experience renting a car—I booked through Hotwire and I got hooked up with a 5 day rental with Enterprise for $150. We were supposed to have a Pontiac G7 but I used a free upgrade coupon from the Entertainment book and we got a Chevy HHR (seriously, glad we did the upgrade—you’ll understand later).
After leaving the airport, we decided to go over to the Winter Quarters LDS temple and the Visitors Center in nearby Florence, Nebraska. I have been several times and Jeremy went in 2004 while we were back for my mom’s funeral. This was Michael’s first trip to the Midwest. Michael enjoyed the contest to fill his wagon—unfortunately he forgot to pack toys for the trip west. He also liked the chance to pull the handcart. We were going to go over to the Kanesville Tabernacle but it closed at 5 so we proceeded to go to Kansas City so we could check into our hotel. Thanks to our GPS, we got a little lost but luckily arrived there right at 8 p.m. just like we told our family. My cousin Cindy called us at the hotel, giving us a warm welcome back to the Midwest.
We hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast so we decided to go somewhere for dinner. Jeremy was mad at me for choosing T.G.I. Friday’s instead of a local steakhouse (KC is notorious for BBQ). I figured it was comfort food and they’d be more likely to have something Michael would actually eat! Jeremy ordered a steak and Michael was happy because they had chicken strips with ranch and he got a balloon.
