AXW Travels

What was supposed to be a normal Seattle to Raleigh-Durham flight turned into a six-hour ordeal, complete with a surprise landing in Baltimore, a broken ramp, and enough lightning to keep us parked on the taxiway. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, you find out fast what you should have packed. Here's how it went down, and the habits that got me through it.

In September 2020, my husband and I decided to visit three national parks in the western United States – Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton. Each park was amazing and gorgeous, but a few areas raised some concerns about our health and safety related to COVID-19.

Sometimes, when the weather is bad and flights are delayed and canceled, things seem to work out. I was at a customer site in Columbia, SC for a few days. On the third day, there was snow in the forecast. As you can probably guess, Columbia doesn’t get much snow so they don’t handle it very well. Around noon, the customer told me we should cancel the class for the rest of the day and I should try to get out of town asap.

Two years after moving to Cleveland, a disappointingly flat 'difficult' hike convinced me to move back to Seattle. The plan: drive across the country solo, then fly back for my cats, Shea and Leah. It nearly fell apart before sunrise, when my taxi never showed and I was standing on a Cleveland sidewalk at 4 am with two cats in crates and a flight to catch.

In the summer of 2003, I flew to St George, UT for a short hiking trip with some friends. I didn’t know what to expect but the area was stunning. The pictures don’t do it justice. This post has no story… just pictures of my experience.