Dallas Trip Part 3- I hate DFW airport!

Ok, so after mom decided she wouldn't be a whore for history, we headed on back to Red and Jon's house, chilled for a bit before meeting Uncle Rich for dinner at this place my sister had picked out called Love and War in Texas (interesting name for a restaurant, I know). The place promised us "Texas Food", "Texas Music" and "Texas Heritage", how could you go wrong? Well, it was actually pretty good food (most of us had big ol' Texas steaks-yum!). My sis was a little disappointed with the lack of "heritage" but everything else panned out, so all in all it was a good dinner. When we returned to their house, we basically just chilled-it was almost 10pm, so the guys (dad and Jon) were downstairs watching God knows what on TV and the girls were upstairs plotting out our Sunday trip to Southfork and Ikea....we were in the office, Red at the computer, mom on one of the other chairs and me on the papasan chair (what I like to call the "salad bowl" chair)-the chair was a bit wobbly on the base, but I thought nothing of it at the time...... Chloe was with us, and Red mentioned that Chloe likes to sit with them when they are in the salad bowl chair, and she apparently wanted to sit with me too. Brace yourself-this gets good. So, Chloe takes her first flying leap up in to the chair to sit with me, but doesn't quite make it. So, she tries again. She makes it this time, only as she does, the entire chair tips over with me and Chloe in it, we go flying out of the chair, I bang my head on the door behind me (well, it was more of a head/neck combo) and when it was all said and done, I had the chair on top of me. Time sorta froze for a second. My mom and sis were all panicked because I didn't move and was totally silent-I think I wasn't sure whether I was hurt or if I should laugh or cry (or if they took United Healthcare insurance in Texas....). They pulled the chair off of me and I must have had this dazed look on my face. My head didn't really hurt too much, and I told them I was fine. I did have a headache immediately, however. As time went on, I got quite nauseated. I wasn't sure if it was from the huge dinner I'd had or if it was from my head injury. I decided to shrug it off and just go to bed (uh, if you have a concussion, don't they say you can't go to sleep for fear you will die?). In the morning, I had a bit of a stiff neck (still do), but no knot on my head, thus, I am assuming no concussion. Leave it to me to find a way to get injured while on vacation....

So, Sunday was quite exciting-Southfork and Ikea in the same day? How could it get any better? Southfork itself is a bit disappointing-during the show Dallas, they shot a lot of the scenes outside the house but the inside shots you saw? They were from some sound stage in LA. Boo! It was still fun though-we went through the Southfork museum, where they were showing clips of the show (Jon educated himself on who's who). We were reminded of who shot JR-it was that bitch Kristen, who was Sue Ellen's sister. But then again, she was just pissed because JR knocked her up and wouldn't marry her, so maybe he deserved it.....did you realize the show ran from 1978-1991? I had no idea. What I DO remember is being totally in love with Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) when I was like 9 years old....man, 20 years ago he was HOT! After our fun at Southfork (where I added a Southfork magnet to my collection), we headed out to my mecca and yours.....IKEA! Now, mom and dad had never been to an Ikea (or ever heard of it, really), but I do believe they are now converts! In fact, Red and I were like "geez, they are taking longer to look around than we are and we were the ones who wanted to come!" I do belive they are ordering a new bedroom set from there...out of control, I tell ya! I got a new dresser (that I sent home with my parents seeing as it most likely would not have fit on the plane...) and some other knick knacks, then we headed back to Red and Jon's so I could pack as I had a 6:45pm plane to catch.

On our way to DFW, we made jokes about how every time Red and Jon have gone there to try to fly to St Louis, something always happens to delay them-once they sat there for hours only to be told that their flight had been cancelled and that they could fly out the next morning....fun stuff like that. But, we figured it was just their luck, so no worries, right? Wrong. As soon as they dropped me off, I went inside to check my luggage and noticed that 1. they told me that I had to go to the A terminal (after previously checking online and being told it was the C terminal, but whatever...) and 2. that boarding began at 7:15pm-a full hour after it was supposed to. I asked the lady if she knew why and she says "oh, they're waiting for the plane to get here". Oh, ok, great. Here is why this is a pain in the ass-when you have a very very nice friend coming to pick you up from the airport, the last thing you want to do is call them and tell them that the flight has been delayed by an hour...especially on a Sunday night when they have to get up at the crack of dawn the next day to go to work...but this is exactly what happened when I called Mikey to tell him-he assured me he could still pick me up at 9:20, so I set about trying to get my ass over to the A terminal (it involved escalators and a tram) and then bought some magazines since it was clear I'd be sitting awhile. The plan was still in tact for us to start boarding at 7:15 as far as I knew....well as 7:15 came and went, we all started to get a bit antsy, when they announced that our plane was there, but that wasn't the problem. No, now it seems one of our flight attendants had called in sick and they were waiting on a replacement one to get there so that we could actually load the plane and take off....near tears at this point, I called Mike back and told him not to worry about coming to get me because, at this point, it wasn't clear what time I was actually gonna leave or get home. Finally, around 8pm, we started loading the plane. I was just so tired and just wanted to be home....they actually loaded us up and took off in record time and we landed in St Louis at around 9:30pm. Great, right? Yes, well then the fun of waiting at the baggage claim for my luggage began. Lambert is not known for their speedy luggage arrival....I waited about 30 minutes or so and finally got my luggage, then headed out in search of a cab-since I had told Mike not to worry about getting me, I had to find a way to my car parked in the parking lot at work. Well, a $20 cab ride later and I was at my car-finally! I ended up walking through my front door at about 10:45pm, threw my crap down, got my jammies on and basically went to bed. And that sums up my Dallas trip....I actually had a lot of fun, in spite of my near-concussion and delayed flight. I loved being with my family and can't wait to see them all again, which will be in about a month at Thanksgiving. Red and Jon-you have a beautiful house and I know the transition has been hard, but it will get easier. Know that your family back in Missouri loves and misses you. Mom and dad-I hope you don't kill each other during your drive back to Salem today....Love you!