The long road home

Nicole and I decided to spend our last day at Coney Island because we had done everything else that we wanted to do and we noticed that Coney Island wasn't too far from where we were staying. Even though we knew that it would be closed and really cold there, we decided to take the trip. We got onto the subway at around 9 am and slept most of the way there. It was about an hour away, so we had plenty of time to relax. About halfway there, the subway route changed from an underground track to one outside , high above the traffic. It was very much like the route we took in Paris, when we got further out of the city.
It was raining pretty hard by the time we got to Coney Island so we tromped through the giant puddles and fought the wind with our umbrellas. I can't remember the last time I was in wind and rain like that. We were soaked from the knees down by the time we walked out to the beach.

We walked around a little, taking a few pictures, which took talent considering we were holding umbrellas in one hand and trying not to get our cameras wet. It was cool to see Coney Island, because I've heard so much about it but it looked a lot like the Boardwalk we have in Santa Cruz so I felt happy that I haven't missed much. Still, I would love to go back there someday in the summer and see it brought to life. I imagine it's pretty cool.


After walking around for maybe fifteen to twenty minutes, we decided we'd had enough. I was freezing. I don't think I got warm for another twenty-four hours. It was a nice way to spend our last morning, though, because we were able to take it easy.

We got back to the hotel with about 30 minutes to spare so we sat down and looked through our pictures from the week, to commemorate a great trip. Little did we know how much waiting we had left to do. When we got to the airport at 4 pm, we found out that the weather was so bad that no planes were allowed to fly out of the La Guardia airport for another 3 hours. Although that seemed a tad longer to wait than we wanted, it didn't seem so bad...until we realized that this delay would cause us to miss our connecting flight. Turned out that the only flight we could make from the Denver airport would have to be at 8 am the next morning!

I have had delayed flights but I've never had to wait longer than a few hours. 12 hours was a loooong time! We ended up sleeping in the baggage claim area of the Denver Airport that night. What an adventure! At least I got to miss work the next day. Nicole wasn't so happy about this unexpected turn of events, however. We stayed away from each other as much as possible that night. This was for sheer preservation of our friendship. I admit it was the most tiring night I have ever spent. There is nothing like trying to sleep in a chair when you're exhausted from five days of very little sleep to begin with. The only way to lay down completely was on the floor, since all the airport had were chairs, no benches. We could only sleep for about 30 minutes at a time. We moved around every inch of that airport, which was kind of cool since no one was there, being after hours and all.

My favorite part, though, was sitting next to the giant windows facing the tarmac and watching the sunrise over the mountains. I never get to see the sunrise so that was a real treat for me.

Overall, what a crazy way to end a whirlwind trip. I wouldn't have traded one minute of the sleepless nights, hours of waiting in the subway stations, being hounded by black market purse vendors, or laughing so hard I cried. Every minute was spent with my entertaining, fun, adventurous friend. Nothing beats that!