This was quite the adventure. I have been waiting to write this blog because I need the perfect words. However, much time has passed and I don't want to forget any details, so here it is. Adam wanted to write this and he has LOTS of funny pictures, but he's taking too long so I will let him do a second post if he desires. Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. Our family got tickets to the National Championship football game for Christmas. My parents got the tickets and flights in the 3rd quarter of the SEC Championship game. I'm so impressed! I couldn't be surprised because I was scheduled to work and had to ask vacation. I kept that crazy secret for a month from Adam and Chris. We were flying out of Atlanta Monday morning before the game. We were scheduled to land at about 10 am with lots of time to tailgate. Well, Sunday morning on our way home from church my dad called. Our flight for Monday had already been canceled due to the impending snow storm that was predicted. Only in GA are flights canceled on threats of snow. We were put on a new flight that got us too late to Phoenix. I was not deterred. As soon as we walked in our house from church, I bought Delta plane tickets to leave that night. Impulsive huh? I was getting to that game. Our flight was supposed to leave at 9:45 pm. Everything was looking good until about 9:00. Yep, so close. We got delayed several times and were still at the gate past midnight. The captain came out and assured all the waiting Auburn fans we would get to Phoenix tonight no matter what it takes. The crowd erupted and thanked our faithful captain. Not 30 seconds after he walked down the jetway back to the plane, "CANCELED" flashed on the gate screen. There goes his promises. We rush around to different gates and talk endlessly on the phone to Delta agents. We were rebooked on the 1:30 flight the next day. Somewhat defeated but still upbeat about making the game, we walked back to our car to head home. We got about 1/2 mile form the airport and the interstates were closed. We went to every hotel in the area but it is after 1 am now and everything is booked. So, unable to get home, we head back to the airport. It was slammed with stranded travelers and every bench was taken. So, we decided to sleep in the car. Adam brought lots of blankets being the always prepared man that he is. We laid the seats down in the back and make our bed. Adam has pictures and videos. It was pretty funny. We actually slept pretty well and went in to the airport about 7:30 to go to the bathroom and see if we could get on the earlier flight. Adam was in line and I thought I would check the kiosk and see if I could do it there. When I signed us in, I saw we were booked on the 8:10am flight! What? How did that happen? I verified with a poor man standing close to me and pulled Adam out of line to run through security and to our gate. Turns out the 1:00 flight and 11:00am flight were both canceled so this was our only hope. We were sweating from running through the airport but made it on our plane to Salt Lake City and connecting to Pheonix. We really couldn't believe we were sitting on the plane but just wanted it to lift off! We'd been here before with no luck. We start the de-icing process. Atlanta has 2 de-icers and it look us an hour to complete it. We saw one plane take off. So a huge airport had 2 flights taking off an hour. I can't even explain how excited we are that we were to take off!!! In total, we had 6 flights canceled in a 18 hour period. Here's a picture of the de-icing man from our window. Adam and I were singing his praises!!!
Our window. Looks bad huh?
Celebration!!! Remember I look like this because I slept in a car!
We made it in the stadium about an hour before the game. We landed in Phoenix at 4:30 and took a cab with another Auburn fan straight to the stadium.
We had fantastic seats. Thanks Mom and Dad!
Yes we are surrounded by Oregon fans. They were super nice though.
And we know how this game ends. SO AMAZING! I am thrilled we got to see Auburn win the National Championship! What an incredible experience and definitely a story we will remember for the rest of our lives! We believe in Auburn and love it!
