Wow! What an exciting couple days and a great lead into the Thanksgiving holiday! My dad and I flew down to Fort Knox/Louisville, Kentucky to go see my brother graduate from Basic Training. It has been so fun! Considering the factors against us this week - connecting flights, traveling all day, and being the Thanksgiving week holiday - traveling has been an absolute pleasure! It has been fantastic!
We started our journey by driving down to Salt Lake City International Airport and getting all checked in (2 hours early) and then hopping on our plane and landing in Minneaoplis. The airport in Minneapolis was so cool! They had the neatest gift shops that were all bear and moose themed. Me, wanting to be a total tourist, made my dad pose and made him take photos of us in the airport at the coolest things.
We had about a 2 hour layover and then boarded on the TINIEST airplane I've ever been on! It was cozy, but it made me so sick! But, the flight landed in Louisville about a half hour early - which was great! So I didn't have to be on the plane for too long...
We took more photos at the airport - I got a new camera and REALLY wanted to use it! Then we got our luggage and our rental car - and seriously, within 20 minutes of landing, we were in our car and on the highway headed to our hotel!
This morning, we got up SUPER early (5 AM - Eastern Standard Time - OUCH!) and got ready for Mitchell's graduation. It was so exciting! We got to the field house and found our seats and waited for the fun to begin. There were a good number of people there, but it wasn't too crowded. Then, the soldiers came out! It was so exciting! We tried so hard to look for Mitch, but ALL of the Privates looked alike! They handed out awards to the best performers of the D company and then the soldiers shouted their "Soldiers Creed" - it was so great that it gave me goosebumps! We still couldn't find Mitch, so we took my dad's camera lens and were looking through it to try and see his face...it didn't really work.
The ceremony lasted for about 45 minutes and then the soldiers were allowed to "mingle" with their family members and catch up. Mitch found us right away! He said that he spotted us right away and was trying so hard not to smile when he saw us. It was so cool to see him in his uniform and he just looked so mature! I was overcome with emotion and I couldn't help it - I was crying like a baby! It was so cool! He looks great and he has really grown up a lot, but he is still the same-old Mitch. We signed Mitch - I mean, Pvt Nelson, out and we got in the car and headed to E-Town or Elizabethtown, we went to the Waffle House and had breakfast. It was so fun! Here are some photos of our time in the Waffle House - keep in mind - I was the only one who actually HAD waffles...
Then we just hung out for the rest of the day. We had to return him to the base by 7:45 so they could do roll call so we got him back and headed back to the hotel. I am suffering from some serious jet lag! I am so exhausted - and it's only 6:00 Mountain Time! Time changes are so weird!
Anyways, I was just so excited about these photos, so I wanted to put them up so you could see them! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we will be having dinner on the base. I'll post more photos from the day tomorrow.
Happy Thanksgiving!
1 comment:
I'm so glad that you had a great time and what a special experience you had at Cracker Barrel. I love you and think that it's a great idea to be nicer to our brothers and sisters.
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