Dec 2 Dec 3 Dec 4 Dec 5 Dec 6 Dec 7	Tuesday, December 7 We got up around our normal time, ate breakfast, and checked email one last time, then packed our bags. Our flight isn’t until late afternoon, so we had plenty of time to kill. Carl wrapped his skis in bubble wrap (to protect the bindings) and I used a piece of the bubble wrap to wrap up the fancy glasses that were our souvenirs from the Pirates show. Then we sat and talked for a while. It’s another cold day. In fact, it went below freezing last night. The more tender plants around the swimming pool were all wrapped up for protection! Finally, it was time to check-out, so we loaded the car and checked out. One more quick stop by Kelly’s to drop off our leftover beer and bottled water and a t-shirt that was much, much too small. She’ll return it for me. While we were there, Carl performed a little ritual, laying his hands on their For Sale sign, attempting to imbue it with good karma so that the house will sell quickly. It must have worked. They had an offer within a week! Then we drove to the nearby Cracker Barrel and had a leisurely soup lunch. Finally, it was time to drive to the airport. Traffic was very light and the rental car return went smoothly, so we again had lots of time for the airport process. We got checked in. Frontier has a very small desk in Orlando, so we actually got to check in with people instead of the automated kiosks!!! Carl got a little nervous, however, when they directed him to take his skis over to a special baggage area controlled by TSA... I could see his lower lip quivering as he waved goodby to his new skis, wondering if he'd ever see them again... The lines for security were fairly long and it took a while to wind our way through them. Again, there was no hassle and we weren’t picked for any additional harassment... We soon arrived at our gate and we once again had about a two hour wait for boarding. So, we plopped down in the Ruby Tuesday’s for a snack. It’s a good thing we weren’t in a hurry, as I think our waiter forgot to put in our small food order (we split a quesadillo) and had lemonades to go with it. After a while, we went back to the boarding area. Frontier was having computer problems and couldn’t get a needed printout printed, so boarding was delayed about 15 minutes. And we were informed that there would be no snacks available to purchase for this flight as the inbound passengers had eaten it all!!! Once again, it was a very full flight. In addition to the no food problem, they were having problems with the little tvs on the seat backs. They lost the signal shortly after take off and the screens showed nothing by snow for the entire flight. And Carl’s overhead light didn’t work, so he just cranked up the brightness on the little tv and read by that light... About an hour out of Denver, one of the stewardesses got on the intercom and asked if there were any medical personal on board... Once we landed (we had a head wind and landed about 45 minutes later than scheduled), we were asked to remain seated while the EMTs came aboard and removed a woman from the back of the plane. What a flight! We were finally allowed off and we headed for restrooms, then baggage claim. Despite the delay in deplaning, it took quite a while to unload baggage. Our suitcases finally showed up, but the oversized stuff, including Carl's skis and various car seats, took much longer. The skis finally arrived about half an hour after the suitcases. Carl had a big grin of relief on his face. He was afraid they’d lost them... While waiting for his skis, we both unpacked our extra layers of clothing for the ride home and I found the door we needed for the shuttle back to the parking lot. We got to the correct island for pickup and waited for the next shuttle. It arrived fairly quickly and loaded up. However, it filled up before we could get on it. The driver called for another bus and we went back to waiting. It showed up about five minutes later and everyone climbed on board. Our car was the second one the bus stopped at. We reclaimed our bags, loaded the car and headed for the exit. Then we were finally on our way home. Oh, and the air in Denver felt warmer than when we left Orlando, even though the thermometer read cooler. What a difference humidity makes! It was now 8:30... We had planned on stopping at Sweet Tomatoes for dinner on the drive home, but, between the plane arriving late, our baggage being late, and the overcrowded shuttle back to the parking area, by the time we collected our car, there was no way we could get there before they closed at 9. So, we stopped at a bar not far from the house for a quick bite. Well, we tried to. After waiting to be seated and no one even noticing we were there (the sign said to wait to be seated), we walked out and drove home. I wasn’t really hungry, so Carl just fixed a quick snack for himself. We unloaded the suitcases. I called Mom. Carl drove over for milk and bananas for breakfast. Then we hit the hot tub and went to bed.