Slip Slidin' Away ... to Breckenridge!

It was a cold and rainy morning - that quickly turned to ice! Friday, December 26th, the morning we were supposed to be driving to Chicago to catch a flight to Denver, our lovely northern Indiana was hit with an ice storm. Our usual 15 minute trip to the Toll Road took us a whopping 60 minutes! That was with several detours around stopped traffic that couldn't make it up hills, little hills! We also followed a salt truck driving 10 mph because he couldn't go at all without sliding all over the place. I heard later that salt trucks were driving down the roads backwards so they could attempt to get traction from the salt/sand mixture that they had just spread.

Our total trip to Midway Airport was 4 hours, and it should've only taken us 2 1/2. Needless to say we missed our flight, so all seven of us were put on standby for the next flight. As we sat there waiting, it became foggy, and it just kept getting worse and worse! When it was time for "standbys" on the flight, she called 6 of us to the counter! Just 6, no more! After much discussion, Alli's boyfriend Kyle willingly volunteered to wait for the next flight several hours later. I opposed, but no one seemed to care. Sure enough, our flight was the last one to leave the airport that night. The whole place shut down because of fog! Kyle wouldn't be able to get on a flight for two days so being the ever-resourceful person he is (with some cell phone help from his dad), took a shuttle to O'Hare, then a hotel shuttle to a local hotel for the night. The next morning he shuttled back to O'Hare and caught a flight that flew from O'Hare, Vegas, then Denver. Happily he arrived in Denver Satuday evening!

In the meantime, we easily made it to Breckenridge but Saturday proved to be a frigid day! The reports had wind chills at 65 below at the top of the slopes. The only one brave enough to give it a try was Mitch ... no surprise there! We spent the day relaxing, sleeping off altitude headaches, and wondering around our beautiful little town! I forgot to mention that in the shuffle of bodies and bags at Midway Airport, Kevin's winter coat got shoved into Kyle's carry-in. So, you guessed it, Kevin enjoyed to frigid temps without a coat!

I'll leave you with a collage of photos from our wonderful time in Breckenridge! In spite of our rough start, the weather turned out to be perfect, and we came home injury free!