Winter Storm Linus

I seem to be blogging about the weather an awful lot these days.  A week after we got walloped with 28-35 inches of snow (depending on who you ask), Winter Storm Linus arrived.  That would have been fine, but I was scheduled for a noon-time flight out of Logan today.  All weekend I stressed about what I should do.  Because I didn't book my ticket, I couldn't change it on-line.  I didn't think that the travel agency that booked my flight had weekend hours.  So I became more and more anxious as the forecast changed from a little storm that would hit sometime in the afternoon, to another big one, dropping 8-14" and beginning in the predawn hours.

Yesterday morning, I decided that I would take the 3:00am bus to Boston and take my chances getting on the first flight out to DC, flying standby.  I thought that would be the safest way to go -- both in terms of not riding the bus in tons of snow and being at the airport super early and available for any flight they had.

Sunday evening I packed while watching the super bowl.  It was a great game.  I really wanted the Patriots to win.  But if they hadn't, I would have been happy for Seattle's coach and my brother.  The game was really close.  By the 3rd quarter, I found out that Mom had switched to Downton Abbey because she couldn't watch.  I settled down in the last quarter and managed not to nervously eat all the remaining snacks on the coffee table.  The last couple of plays the Patriots went from the agony of defeat to an amazing victory.  It was a wild and crazy finish.

The snacks before the game

Digging in to the food and the game

My Lovey Lamb, tummy full of veggies, chips, and guacamole, fell asleep when the Patriots were down by 10.  He remained every loyal by wearing his Brady jersey over his jammies.  Too precious.

After the excitement jolt of the game, I had trouble falling asleep, even though I knew that my alarm was going off in less than 3 hours.  Getting up at 1:45 was hard.  But it was the right call.  I drove to the bus in Portsmouth in no snow.  I found a parking space that wasn't completely snow covered from last week's blizzard.  And I was the last one to board the bus.  The leading edge of the storm hit us in Newburyport.  From there into Boston, the roads were white and the bus windshield wipers weren't working very well.  The ride was a little nervy.

We arrived at the airport around 4:30 and I was third in line at the ticket counter.  The 6:10 flight had seats available and was scheduled to depart on-time.  Once the ticket lady handed me my boarding pass, I relaxed for the first time in days.  Two other of my colleagues had changed their tickets as well and we were on the same flight.

There was a lot of chatter at the gate among all the attendants and I wondered if the flight would be cancelled after all.  It wasn't.

We had to go through the de-icing area before getting in line at the runway.  It took longer than the pilots had predicted because more snow than they had estimated had accumulated on the plane. Almost an hour after our scheduled departure time, we took off.

De-icing trucks coming for our plane

We arrived in DC to 39 and a light rain.  And in plenty of time for a tourist activity.  I'll write about that a bit later.  I need a nap first.