First the bad part of the trip ...

Last week I went to California for my grandmother's funeral and to spend time with my Grandpa and the rest of my family. If you recall, my flight schedule was pretty nasty. I was supposed to leave Baltimore at 3 then stop in Dallas and LA before arriving in Medford, OR for a half-hour drive to northern California (my Grandpa's house).

We left Baltimore a little late and my layover was very short, so I had to huff it to get to the terminal for my connection. I make it there with 10 minutes to spare and what do I see but a flashing delay sign at the gate. Not too bad, just a few minutes and with an hour and a half layover in LA, I was still feeling pretty good. We boarded the plane only 15 minutes late or so and things were looking OK.

Then we sat there. Apparently Hurricane Dean (not quite a hurricane at this point) was wreaking a little havoc along our route. So we sat there some more.

Then they put a movie on. Uh, oh. Not good. Thankfully the guy next to me had a watch ... and reported to me every 10 minutes or so about what my chances were for making my flight. Yeah, he was "that guy." Actually he was very nice, but all he was doing was making me stress and I had used up most of my stress on the first leg of the flight.

Finally, we take off ... an hour and a half late.

That's right, exactly the same amount of time as my layover. I was supposed to catch a 9:40 flight to Medford, the last flight of the night. We landed at 9:38. You can probably guess where I'm going with this. I missed the flight ... and apparently LAX airport shuts down at 10:00 because I couldn't get a flight anywhere. I could've flown into Reno or Sacramento or any number of airports within driving range of my Grandpa's house, but there were no flights.

So, at this point I'm nearly in tears because my grandmother's funeral is the next morning and the first flight out didn't put me there until noon. Oh, and to make matters worse, the airline doesn't pay to put you up when you get stuck there overnight if it's caused by bad weather. They only offer you a discount at a nearby hotel. So I was headed to the La Quinta Inn in a fabulous part of town. You know the kind that has flashing XXX Adult signs and bail bondsmen shops everywhere. Good times. The hotel was actually very nice.

Luckily I met a girl from my flight who was just as stressed -- and stranded -- as I was. She was a lifesaver. We turned a really bad situation in something pretty funny and ended up just sharing a room and splitting the cost. So, Molly, wherever you are, thank you, and I hope you caught up with your luggage. :)

Anyway, I got up bright and early the next morning and since I was paranoid about missing this flight, I was there more than 2 hours early. Oh, and I finally got to eat. There hadn't been any time for that all day so by the time I got a meal, it had been nearly 24 hours since my last one. And American Airlines doesn't even give you peanuts anymore. Thank God for the Odwalla bars I brought with me!

I made it to Medford shortly after noon and they pushed the funeral back to wait for me. It was a small family service, so it wasn't a huge problem, and I was extremely grateful.

Stay tuned for more about the trip, pictures, and the exciting ride home ...