It's RootsTech Week in Salt Lake City

I've been waiting for a year. A full year. I have had my hotel booked since last year's RootsTech. Toward the end of last week, pre-travel preparations were underway. 

Conference nails done: 

List for the FHL made, dinner and lunch dates for this week booked, laundry done and just the packing left to do when Mother Nature decided to rear her ugly winter head once again. She was threatening sustained hurricane force winds and blowing snow. On the day I was supposed to be traveling to the airport. Determined not to have the weather interfere, it was time for a Plan B to be put into place. 

So, a day ahead of time, I made my way to a hotel near the airport. If the weather was manageable, I would only have a few blocks to travel. If the weather caused delays or cancellations, I was safely ensconced nearby. 

Yesterday morning it was raining but the mess that was predicted hadn't arrived. I checked the airport website and saw that most flights heading east or to the immediate west were cancelled. I watched and waited. No wind. No snow. And no change to my flight. 

Oh! An alert from the airline! Rather anticlimactic. A 10 minute delay. The winds had kicked up at home so I definitely made the right decision getting to the airport ahead of the storm. I made my way over to the airport. Still no further delay. And because of the cancellations, no line ups either! Not for the check in kiosk. Not for bag check. Not for security and not for customs. 

The incoming flight was delayed by about 10 minutes. In the end, we boarded about 20 minutes later than scheduled but all in all, we were doing well. Then came take off...

Oh those winds! Up. Down. Sideways. Up. Down. Up. I kept waiting for the announcement that we were going to abort the take off. But it didn't come. The first few minutes were tense and then finally we were above it all. 

And now, here I am safely in SLC and READY FOR ROOTSTECH!