Parking Garage Fun

I have decided I need a new blog label called A Day in Our Life.  Here is post #2 under that name. And here is your daily chuckle at my expense.

There is kind of a joke in our family and the kids circle of friends about me and parking garages.  I rarely get in and out of one without some kind of fiasco.  Several years ago, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with all the kids and my mother in law we got in fine with our luggage topper on the car, but the exit was lower than the entrance....yeah, you get the picture.

Then, right after we moved to Arizona, one of the kid's friends was visiting and we went to eat near the Arizona State campus.  We parked in a parking garage and when it was time to leave, none of the exits would open without a ticket.  When we arrived, the gate was up and we had no ticket....yeah, again, you can picture the problem.

So, today my oldest two and one of their friends from Florida left to go to Summit Worldview camp in Colorado.  Their flight left at 12:20 and for once in my lifetime we were actually arrived at the airport 20 minutes earlier than I planned.  That had nothing to do with me, it was simply God who knew that I was going to have a blog worthy issue in the parking garage AND at the ticketing counter.

We just moved from our apartment into another rental home and so Joshua put the luggage carrier on top of the Suburban to help us move.  We decided to leave it there until we could take it to our new house tomorrow and store it in the garage.  I ALWAYS forget it is there and usually Joshua reminds me.  I guess he forgot this morning too because when I went zooming into the parking garage at the airport, I heard that horrible clunking sound that most of you are probably not familiar with.  It is the one that says, "Yeah, genius, you just hit this huge metal bar and raked it across the top of the luggage carrier.  Indicating that you may NOT enter the parking garage at risk of never getting out."

So....right there blocking the entry lane into the parking garage at the terminal of an airport in one of America's larges cities, Joshua and Riley jump out of the car and as quick as possible take the luggage carrier off the top of the car.  Now, these things are pretty large and with the luggage already in the back of the Suburban, it wouldn't fit.  These two had to carry the luggage topper up the ramp and into the parking garage, while I drove the car.  Bryce does have a picture of this on her phone, I will have to add it later. Once the luggage was emptied from the back, we put the topper into the car.

Then we headed into the terminal to check them in for their flight.  We arrive at the Untied counter with time to spare, thanks to our early arrival.  The next problem arises when after about 5 minutes of frantically searching for their reservation, we realize they are flying US Air!!

The situation was entirely my fault, of course, because I did not pull up their itinerary on my phone before we left.  I just knew that I booked them the 12:20 flight on United - and there was a 12:20 flight to their destination on United and I almost booked it because it was $20 cheaper than the 12:20 flight on US Air.  The problem is that it had a long layover in Dallas and the arrival time didn't work out.  All this came back to me when the lady behind the United counter looks at the itinerary that I handed her (once Bryce got it pulled up on her phone), points with her finger and says in a gruff voice, "Is it just me, or doesn't that say US Air?"

Oops!!


Now, I am about to panic, because our "time to spare" was pretty much gone.  She advised us to jump on the shuttle bus rather than try to drive to the next terminal.  We did.  We checked them in without further ado and they boarded their flight in plenty of time!!

I told you there was never a dull moment with us.  Go ahead and laugh.

The End