The Grand Adventures of the Traveling Gnome

I was given a gnome to accompany me on my work trips and keep me company. He will be coming with me on all of my trips from now on and I will document his travels in photographs.

The inaugural trip was to Cleveland. It was not a smooth trip and not a good way for him to start his life of travel.

The weather was very foggy and wet in Appleton, our starting point.




















We got word that our flight was delayed.....by about three hours. Or was it four?





















We passed the time working in the business center. Managed to finish all of my work.










































We figured that we would miss our connection, that is if the flight was not canceled. Fortunately, after O'hare (our connection) was opened up again (yes, it had grounded all flights due to weather) we did take off.... and saw some of the most incredible cloud to ground lightning ever.




















The flight in Chicago was also delayed about three hours, so we had plenty of time to spare. When we finally made it to Cleveland and got to our hotel it was nearly 1:00 am. And when I turned down the covers to crawl into bed I found a nice long black hair on one pillow and the other had a big hole with the stuffing coming out. I called the front desk and asked for new pillows. He instead changed my room. This one was much bigger, not that it mattered since I was only going to sleep there for a few hours and then leave for my meeting.

On the way to the airport we enjoyed our trip through Cleveland and had deep conversation with our driver
























Being the dork I am, I asked the driver to stop at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame so I could get a few photos of my gnome (I need to name him...any suggestions? If so, leave them in a comment on this post, please). Although he thought we were nuts, he obliged.






































We got back to the Cleveland airport merely 12 hours after arriving, to find that our flight was delayed.....again, for about two hours. We passed the time talking and taking a few photos...






































Both of us were just wrecked by this time....hadn't eaten much of anything since the morning before, and we were sooooo tired.
























After boarding the plane (finally) we parked on the tarmac for 45 minutes, because Chicago was having air traffic control issues.
Eventually we took off for O'hare thinking we'd miss our connection.
In the air the captain informed us that we were being re-routed again due to severe weather and our flight would be 15 minutes longer than planned.
When we landed (again) we discovered......yep, you guessed it......delayed. about three hours.
























Exhausted, we finally made it home about 8:30.

Our next trip is to Charlotte on the 28th....