New Year's Eve in Crested Butte

I thought we were never going to get here. Yesterday's trip included three different flights and  I was fearful we'd have some weather delays. As it turned out, our delays had nothing whatsoever to do with weather.

We started our day at 3:30 a.m. We got to the Lansing airport with no problems and our plane took off only a few minutes behind schedule after a brief deicing procedure. Even so, we ended up in Chicago on time after a short 35-minute flight.

We had a couple hours to kill at O'Hare before our flight to Denver, so we got some breakfast. Our first delay came when our plane was late coming in from Boston. It was only a 15 or 20 minute delay, so it wasn't going to affect us much. The plane arrived and they started boarding, only to stop the boarding process just as our section got in line.

There was apparently a problem with the pilot's window, which they were trying to fix. After a few minutes, they announced we were going to take a different plane and sent us all to a different gate. Our flight would be delayed by an hour. We finally got to board. However, it seemed like it was taking a long time to get started, even after everyone had found their seats. The pilot announced we were still waiting for the bags to be moved to our plane.

Finally, they started giving us the emergency spiel and it looked like departure was imminent. Their speech was interrupted by the pilot breaking in to tell the flight crew that the galley truck had pulled up outside. It seems the catering company was insisting on switching out the kitchen supplies, even though the flight crew told them the plane was fully stocked. What ensued was a delay that left us sitting on the tarmac for a good hour and a half, before they flight crew finally won the battle and we were allowed to take off.

We got to the gate in Denver two minutes after our connecting flight left for Gunnison. The only other flight was six and a half hours later, so we spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the Denver airport. Luckily, our flight to Gunnison went off without a hitch. We caught our bus to Crested Butte, checked into our hotel, freshened up a bit and headed for the Forest Queen for some festivities.

Somehow, we made it to midnight in a packed bar rocking out to "The Darrells." We made our New Year's champagne toasts, finished our drinks and headed back out into the frosty night for the walk to our hotel. At this point, it was close to 1 a.m. (which is 3 a.m. our time). We had been awake for nearly 24 hours, and I am definitely too old for that. It may not have been the New Year's Eve I was expecting or hoping for, but at least we made it to Crested Butte in time to celebrate it.

Today the sun is shining and it looks to be a beautiful, if frigid, day out there. I guess I'd better go enjoy it.