Day 0: Getting to San Francisco

We arrived at Hartford airport with plenty of time to catch our flight, more time than needed. Our flight was delayed, yet soon enough we boarded the plane. On the way to Chicago, I had a lovely chat with a retired Air Force flight nurse making her way back to Seattle, while Becca enjoyed the extra leg room in an emergency exit aisle. Although we were enjoying the short flight, it soon turned into what seemed to be the hurdle of our trip. With powerful thunderstorms over the windy city, we could not land and had to divert back to Ohio to refuel. At this point we were sure to miss our connecting flight to San Francisco and began to regret not planning two nights in our first city. We waited anxiously in our seats until the storm passed before heading once again to Chicago. It turns out, the storm ended up being in our favor, for not only could flights not get in, flights couldn’t go out either and our connecting flight was delayed but still on. This flight was uneventful and I tried to get a little shut eye in vain, while Becca sat next to a women who, when finished with her book gave it to her because she mentioned interest in it; reminding us all of the little kindnesses that people are capable of. We arrived at the San Francisco Airport after 5am EST, got our rental car and took off to our hotel. We were so exhausted from the 16 hours of airports and flights we didn’t even seem to mind that our luggage was still in Chicago. We were here and ready to begin (who needs clean clothes anyways).