{"id":575,"date":"2010-10-30T13:45:24","date_gmt":"2010-10-30T19:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/?p=575"},"modified":"2012-08-21T13:30:45","modified_gmt":"2012-08-21T19:30:45","slug":"wednesday-10-13-2010-going-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/hawaii-2\/wednesday-10-13-2010-going-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Oahu to Minneapolis via LA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We had to get up at 5:45 Wednesday morning to get to the airport, and that hurt a little bit. I was glad we had a car this time, though, because the shuttles are always scheduled way too early.<\/p>\n<p>We got to the car dropoff site only to realize the gas station next door wasn&#8217;t open yet. That was unexpected, so we hopped back on the highway and headed toward the next exit. Unfortunately, it was for Hickam Air Force Base. I figured maybe it was one of many things at that exit, but no: the highway led right to the gates of the base, and there were several lanes of traffic backed up waiting to get in. At that point, I was pretty sure we were missing our flight.<\/p>\n<p>We finally got up to the gate, and I sheepishly apologized to the guard there. He was very polite and efficient, though: he took my license, yelled &#8220;U-TURN!&#8221; until all five lanes of traffic were stopped (seriously), and waved us around. He then handed my my license back and gave us directions back to the airport. I loved him for that.<\/p>\n<p>We had no choice but to drop the car off with the tank unfilled so that we could make our flight, but it ended up not costing very much anyway. We hopped on the shuttle, and our driver told us about the one time he&#8217;d been to Minneapolis (and the Mall of America), by way of Grand Forks. (I assume it was something to do with the air force base there.) He told us he&#8217;d seen his first squirrel in Minnesota!<\/p>\n<p>At check-in, our bags weighed 49 and 50 pounds. We were so glad we&#8217;d shipped souvenirs home!<\/p>\n<p>Our flights that day made up for the debacle on the way to Hawaii. We had rows to ourselves on both legs, which means Bally got his own seat:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a title=\"bally had his own seat on the plane! by the queen of subtle, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/queen_of_subtle\/5081561853\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4083\/5081561853_3641a10de5.jpg?resize=500%2C375\" alt=\"bally had his own seat on the plane!\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a title=\"LA from above by the queen of subtle, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/queen_of_subtle\/5082161358\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4104\/5082161358_64de8a29ef.jpg?resize=500%2C375\" alt=\"LA from above\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>LA from above<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The couple in front of us waiting to board the plane to Minneapolis said that they&#8217;d also just gotten engaged on vacation, so there were congratulations all around. So awesome.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We were slightly delayed on arrival in Minneapolis mostly because of strong headwinds. It was a late flight already, so while I waited for luggage and Matt grabbed a cab to get his car (parked nearby at work), I got to witness something one barely ever sees: a totally empty airport. It was creepy!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a title=\"empty airport by the queen of subtle, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/queen_of_subtle\/5081567439\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4066\/5081567439_b7640629d5.jpg?resize=375%2C500\" alt=\"empty airport\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We got home, dumped all our bags on the floor, and I checked the house quickly to make sure nothing had gone awry in our absence. I&#8217;m glad I checked the porch, because I found <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/queen_of_subtle\/5081130368\/\" target=\"_blank\">this special gift from our awesome friends<\/a>. It made being up at 2am on a work night totally worthwhile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We had to get up at 5:45 Wednesday morning to get to the airport, and that hurt a little bit. I was glad we had a car this time, though, because the shuttles are always scheduled way too early. We got to the car dropoff site only to realize the gas station next door wasn&#8217;t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[242],"tags":[504,503,100],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"geo":{"latitude":33.943500499999998964995029382407665252685546875,"longitude":-118.4088669000000066944267018698155879974365234375,"description":"Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), 300 World Way, Los Angeles, CA 90045, USA"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/storage\/2010\/10\/5082161358_9e9018b736_o.jpg?fit=2381%2C1786","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Z5R-9h","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":166,"url":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/hawaii\/hawaii-june-30-july-9-2005\/","url_meta":{"origin":575,"position":0},"title":"Hawaii","author":"Jenni","date":"07.26.2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Stephanie and I went to Hawaii and visited three islands: Oahu, the Big Island, and Maui. We saw volcanoes and beaches and rain forests and many amazing things. I love Hawaii and want to go back as soon as possible. You can see the entire Flickr photoset here! Read from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hawaii&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hawaii","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/category\/hawaii\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":544,"url":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/hawaii-2\/hawaii-october-2-13-2010\/","url_meta":{"origin":575,"position":1},"title":"Hawaii: Oahu, Kauai, and Maui (and our Engagement!)","author":"Jenni","date":"11.13.2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier in 2010, we planned for this to be the year to go to Europe with Steve and Colleen. Then we started checking airfare, and after a few months it became clear that we weren't going to be able to get there for cheap. So we did what any smart\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hawaii #2&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hawaii #2","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/category\/hawaii-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/storage\/2010\/11\/5082140438_2657f376b3_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":63,"url":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/hawaii\/thursday-6302005-day-one-oahu\/","url_meta":{"origin":575,"position":2},"title":"Minneapolis &#8211; > Oahu","author":"Jenni","date":"07.25.2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Thursday morning, I went to work bright and early, then headed to the airport at 1pm. Our flight left at 2:30, but we sat around on the tarmac for an hour because apparently the plane was fatter than expected, due to some overbooking and general poor planning on the part\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hawaii&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hawaii","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/category\/hawaii\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/storage\/2005\/07\/316904307_d705eecf6c_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":71,"url":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/hawaii\/friday-07082005-day-nine-oahu\/","url_meta":{"origin":575,"position":3},"title":"Circling Oahu","author":"Jenni","date":"07.25.2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Only one of the two elevators at our 15-story hotel worked, so I felt like I was riding in a Japanese-tourist clown car on my way to get coffee. The elevator was packed full when we stopped on the 5th floor and were presented with a family pushing a stroller.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hawaii&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hawaii","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/category\/hawaii\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/storage\/2005\/07\/319158557_44db2719e2_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":573,"url":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/hawaii-2\/tuesday-10-12-2010-oahu\/","url_meta":{"origin":575,"position":4},"title":"Waikiki","author":"Jenni","date":"10.31.2010","format":false,"excerpt":"We got up and drove a few blocks to the post office for a flat-rate mailing box. We were really glad they had them sitting out, because the line at the Waikiki post office was about a mile long. From there, we went to Aloha Shirts so Matt could get\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hawaii #2&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hawaii #2","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/category\/hawaii-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/storage\/2010\/10\/5082154222_5c3f769649_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":70,"url":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/hawaii\/thursday-07072005-day-eight-maui-oahu\/","url_meta":{"origin":575,"position":5},"title":"Iao Valley, Maui -> Oahu","author":"Jenni","date":"07.25.2005","format":false,"excerpt":"We got up and checked out of the hotel, then drove north five miles or so to the Iao Valley. Every morning up til then, the valley had looked dark and cloudy compared to the rest of the island. This was unusual for Hawaii, which is 99.5% sunny with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hawaii&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hawaii","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/category\/hawaii\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/storage\/2005\/07\/319149305_3061571cca_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C887&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}