Archive for September 8th, 2008

8th September
2008
written by bob

Friday, August 29…
Pretty much all our guests arrived today. Later in the afternoon, we headed out for a hike at the ice caves. Neat place although there was no ice in the middle of August. We took pictures anyway and get back to our condo in a couple of hours. Shower time!

We ran into most although not all but managed to have dinner at Mezzaluna with Katherine’s side of the family; aunt Delia, aunt Joyce, cousin Shara and her husband Kevin, along with a few of the bride’s maids. Dinner was fabulous. It was now time for the girls to get together for an evening with Katherine. The guys and I gathered at Bentley’s Irish Pub to have a few pints (or so). I saw quite a few people that I had not yet run into on the street. With some 80’s hair-band music playing in the background, the cold beer flowed and good times were had by all. Don Dole and I proceeded to close the pub as they pushed us out the door at 2am. We walked back to Don’s place for yet another beer that I’m sure I didn’t need. It was now 3am and I needed to head back to the condo. Shortly after my arrival home, Katherine and her aunt Delia appeared in the courtyard where we had one last drink, chatted, and then called it a night.

8th September
2008
written by bob

Thursday, August 28…

I didn’t sleep very well last night. For “some” strange reason I kept waking up every half hour in a panic that I had forgot something or something terribly was wrong!! It was a long night. Today was just a day for us to walk around Aspen and see it in the summer time without snow since we were last here in February. We strolled over to City Hall and the Court House to get our marriage license. In 10 minutes we were finished. Can you believe in Colorado you don’t require witnesses to be married? Strange. I believe this was the last thing we had to do for the wedding. Now we can relax and proceeded to walk over to Zele’s for some soup and a sandwich. This is definitely a favorite spot of ours to grab lunch! A little more window and grocery shopping and we were set for the trip. It always helps to have a few snacks and beers on hand!

8th September
2008
written by bob

August 26, was the last day of work for both Katherine and I prior to leaving for our wedding in Aspen, Colorado. We are so excited! If I haven’t blogged about this before, Katherine and I are getting married on August 31st and have chosen to perform this commitment of love to each other on the top of Aspen Mountain. Since the age of 13, it has long been Katherine’s dream to be married on the mountain and now both of us can make this dream come true.

Today we both have a few errands to run and I’m having lunch with a couple programming buddies, Chris and Ron, whom I used to work with at the Scottsdale Insurance Company. Following lunch I arrive home around 1:30pm to find that Katherine is still out running her errands. She calls me around 1:50pm and I inform her that I’m home and I will check us in for our flight to Aspen tonight. When we originally booked out trip, we are both pretty sure our early evening flight out of Phoenix was at 6pm. Approximately 5 weeks ago, Delta called to say that the departure flight we were on had changed and that they would send the new itinerary. They did (although I didn’t pay too close attention to it – it was 5 weeks away.)

I checked us both in around 2:10pm and still haven’t paid close attention to the altered departure time that Delta had earlier informed us about. Katherine arrived home and decided to re-pack out bags since we had quite a bit of clothes for 4-5 days. While she was downstairs, I was upstairs on the Internet take care of some last minute banking. For whatever reason, I decided to look at what time our flight departed and noticed on our freshly printed boarding passes the time said…4:05pm. I looked at my watch. It read 3:05pm!! Oh S**T! Immediately double checking this and with sheer PANIC now setting in, I tell a friend of ours, Jen, who happened to be at our condo to yell down to Katherine that we NEED to be gone and headed to the airport, like NOW! Of course, she is surprised beyond belief and very obviously angry with me. She was yelling…”How did you not know what time we were departing?” Also, at this point, I’m sweating profusely. That tends to occur with me when I’m under such stress. “I didn’t look at the departure time on the boarding pass when I checked us in.” I replied. No time to argue, we have to go. Katherine shoves the rest of the clothes into our bags (3 suitcases along with Katherine’s wedding gown, my tuxedo, and a backpack with all our valuables) and we race to the airport. Fortunately Jen was there to give us a ride. With 55 minutes until our flight departure and us still at our condo, calling a cab would have been the death of me.

We throw our bags into Jen’s car; blow a couple red lights, arriving at the airport with a screeching halt after driving MACH ONE to get there ASAP. It’s also a good thing that we only live 1.5 miles from the airport! Katherine and I sprint to the Delta counter and check our bags in. Our first bag was exactly 50 lbs – which was the bag limit on our flight. However the second bag was 56 lbs! The Delta agent informed us our bag was overweight and we need to remove some things from it. Our first reaction was to ask, “How much for the extra weight?” The agent informed us, “Ninety dollars.” OUCH! At this point it’s 3:30 and our plane departs at 4:05. Oh…and I’m now drenched from sweat. My shirt is soaked to the point that I could wring it out. We open one of the suitcases and pull out a big sweatshirt and a pair of jeans and re-weigh the suitcase – 53 lbs, not enough. I went back into the bag and pull out my tux shoes and re-weigh the bag again. Fifty-one pounds, the scale reads. “Can you work with that weight?” I ask. The agent says “Yes” and we bolt for the security checkpoint! At the checkpoint, the TSA agent asks us for our ID and boarding pass. Again, still in a frantic hurry, I’m sweating my butt off; soaked from head-to-toe. Not realizing that I looked suspicious, I run into a blonde-haired TSA agent for the second time at the end of the x-ray machine. I grabbed the wedding gown and my tux and Katherine grabbed our suitcase and we headed for the gate with 10 minutes to spare. We sweat rolling down my face still; Katherine suggested that I go to the restroom and wash up a bit. On my way into the men’s room I run into the same blonde-haired TSA agent for the third time. I washed my face and dabbed my hair dry and go back to where Katherine was waiting at the gate. Once more, who do I see…the blonde-haired TSA agent at our gate. We finally board and make it on our flight taking our seats. The Delta flight attendants where great finding closet space to store our wedding attire without having to stuff and fold it into an overhead bin!

We arrive in Salt Lake City with a two hour layover. Both feeling hungry we decided to head up to the Terrace Restaurant for a quick bite to eat. Two dinners and 4 beers later we are ready to board our flight to Aspen. Once aboard the half empty flight the attendant again accommodates us by allowing us to keep our wedding attire is the seats next to us. I would definitely fly Delta again!

Now in Aspen, we departed the plane and headed to baggage claim to collect our checked luggage and call a shuttle. With luggage in hand and four calls to the shuttle service, we are relegated to getting a taxi since our limo guy is AWOL. Glad we paid for that! The survey about my stay will be sure to point this out. At 11pm we are now checked into our condo and we unpacked our things. At midnight we decided to walk around the corner to Zane’s Bar for a couple of beers and a few wings. After ordering from the bar and bringing Katherine our beers, I asked her where the backpack was since I didn’t remember unpacking it. “Oh SHIT…it’s in the back of the cab!” she says. I can’t even tell you the words that came out of my mouth! You see…our backpack had ALL of our valuables; both wedding rings, our brand new Canon Rebel XTI camera, 2 PSP’s and games, chargers, and most important to me – my wedding gift to Katherine, a Cartier necklace worth a handsome penny! That backpack being so expensive which is why we wanted to carry it with us at all times.

I quickly ask the bartender what the cab company’s number is and called that back immediately. The same gentleman that dropped us off at our condo answered and I told him I left a backpack in the far back seat of his cab and that I DESPERATELY needed it back! “I’m a block and a half away,” he says “I will be right over.” I ran back from Zane’s to the condo just as he pulled up. I open the door to the cab and reach over the backseat…nothing! I was about to lose control of all bodily functions at that point! “Oh crap!” (pun intended) I thought. Then I look over the seat and notice it had fallen over. WOW…I cannot believe I got it back as the cab driver proceeds to tell me he’s been running people steady from the airport since he dropped us off!! I can’t believe no one took the bag! Unbelievable!
Finally somewhat relaxed, I walk back to Zane’s where Katherine now has our wings and is half done her beer and informed her that I got the backpack back in our possession! Thank God! I’m sure worse things have happened for other people on their wedding but I probably would have died if we didn’t get that back! And…that was enough excitement for one day; time for bed! Let’s hope the rest of our time in Aspen is a lot more relaxing!