ALMOST HOME~~ March 14

Nearly Midnight in Madison (Huntsville), AL

We left the ship at the pier in LA when we disembarked at 9:00 a.m. It surely was a nice home away from home for 14 nights. Here is a picture of our ship, and I put a yellow line over our balcony doors. See it? Right under the second "s" in Princess. We were on deck 14. We had never stayed up there so weren't real sure about it when we booked it. WE LOVED IT!!! We were just down from the area where you catch the elevators or take the stairs. That was very handy (and we never heard any noise regarding the elevators.) We were just a few doors down from "hitting the deck" which took us to the Horizon Buffet ~~ out there is where the pools, hot tubs, pizza place, hamburger/hot dog/grilled chicken stand/fries, as well as the beverage bar (which kept us well supplied in Diet Coke) are also located. It was such a great view from that high up and a fantastically handy location. Next time, we will REQUEST Room 301 on the Lido Deck! Did you spot our balcony yet? The yellow line is right over our sliding glass doors. We are in the top set of rooms with balconies. Not having anyone above us was very nice.


At 9:00 a.m. we caught a transfer bus from the ship to the airport. That went without a hitch as shown below. This was early on before our flight which ended up being delayed delayed for an hour.

Our gate's waiting area got very busy and folks were sitting all over the floor~~ so much so that you couldn't hardly walk through there to make a trip to the restroom. Anyway, we camped out at LAX and the hours went real fast. Our incoming plane was late in getting to LAX because of a medical emergency and having to divert to Phoenix, AR with a sick passenger. It was a huge 777 with 9 seats across. Richard and I were in the 2-seat section on the right side of the plane. There was a row with five passengers in the center of the plane, and then a row double-wide down the other side of the plane. Here is a pic I made looking across the plane from our seats as folks were still getting on and settled in:


We each had our own "video" screen. We could watch the map of the flight with the stats as to how high, how fast, the air temperature, etc. Also, you could choose from some TV shows and movies. Everyone had earphones so it was all very quiet. Anyway, we finally made it to Dallas and didn't have a minute to spare. We got off of the packed plane, caught the sky-link to get to another terminal. They were waiting on us and as we "ran" into the gate area and approached the ticket lady who was checking boarding passes, she said, "You must be the Deans" with a smile. We were the last ones on and then they had to wait another minute for our luggage to make the transfer so it would arrive in Huntsville with us. That was a mad dash, but we didn't miss that plane. We made it!! Here is a pic I made as we were flying out of Dallas. We were pretty high up so it didn't take very well but I shall post it for posterity:


The flight from Dallas to Huntsville was about 100 minutes (little longer than expected because for whatever reason the pilot had to circle around Huntsville before landing) and we were finally here at 9:50 p.m. It took a while for our luggage to come out on the carousel (I thought it might be first since it was the last loaded, but that wasn't the case) and then to get out and hail a cab.

It was 10:45 when we arrived at Chip's house. We got our stuff in and decided to go get a sandwich for we hadn't had much to eat all day. At 11:30, we were off to McDonald's for a grilled chicken sandwich. We felt like we were living on the wild side. HA!!

It's 12:22 a.m. and I really need to get off and get to sleep for we have FOUR grandchildren to see tomorrow when we get home. Not to mention our daughter and son-in-law!!!!

It was a fantastic 2-week trip and we thank the Lord for keeping us safe and healthy and even allowed us the privilege to be a witness for Him along the way.

Good night!!