I had a direct flight out of Atlanta around 11:15 a.m. in the morning. I booked the 3:15 a.m. Groome shuttle from Birmingham. And then as the day approached, a weather system appeared which had me re-thinking my plans. So that evening, I found a gap in the rain, booked a night at the hotel where my shuttle would pick me up, and walked over.
The hotel I stayed at was a Hilton, not my normal Hampton or Hilton Garden Inn, a step up from my usual. And the very short stay was filled with all kinds of little delights, berry infused water in the lobby, a comfortable chair in the corner even with a two queen room, a rainfall shower head and thick, plush towels. And even with a really early alarm of 2:30 a.m., I slept uninterrupted and felt rested as I started my journey. I'm really glad I made this last minute decision to book this night.
The next morning, the shuttle driver arrived almost 10 minutes early. I was his first stop and the driver was chatty. I quickly learned his entire life story - extensive career, marriage and passing of his wife, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and more of his medical history than I really needed to know but it passed the time. We briefly stopped at their office so we didn't get too far ahead of schedule and then picked up two women in Oxford who were headed to the Dominican Republic. As we continued on, the rain really picked up. It couldn't have been easy to see through the pouring rain, fog, and darkness and so I was extremely grateful to not be driving myself.
He dropped me off at the South Terminal about 7:30 a.m. I checked my bag and then made my way through security by about 7:55 a.m. That left me with almost three hours before my flight so I went to find a good sit down restaurant for some breakfast. I ended up at Cat Cora's Kitchen in Concourse A where I really enjoyed coffee, eggs, potatoes, sourdough toast, and some really good chicken sausages.
After breakfast, there was still time to leisurely walk to Concourse D and admire all the artwork in between each concourse. José Ibarra, a photographer has a nice series on migrants in the American South. And I always admire the crayon sculptures by Herb Williams as you go up to Concourse D.
My flight boarded on time but as soon as we had all boarded they announced there was a ground stop because of a storm to the north of us that would last at least 45 more minutes. Once the ground stop was lifted, we had issues with the jet bridge pulling back. They ultimately fixed that issue and then we got in the very long line of planes waiting to take off. We were about an hour and twenty minutes late arriving in Albuquerque.
My parents picked me up at the Albuquerque airport and we proceeded to Socorro where we had two nights at the Holiday Inn Express in Socorro, New Mexico. I believe we ate at a Mexican restaurant in Socorro that was not very memorable before checking into our hotel and spending the rest of the evening catching up and planning the next day.
