H.A. Larson's Blog, page 7

Autumn Awaits

 

I don't know where the times goes...I really don't. It seems like Spring was leading into Summer mere weeks ago, and yet here we are, staring Autumn in the face.

Autumn is my favorite season, and I'm excited for it's arrival. The colors turn making everything beautiful, the air is crisp and cool, and many of my favorite activities fall within this season: attending my favorite renaissance festivals, taking hayrack rides in pumpkin patches, sipping libations around a roaring bonfire, searching for ghosts in places of repute, hiking over golden hills, and, of course, celebrating Halloween. 

The days are warm enough to be outside in a long-sleeved shirt, while the nights are cool enough to snuggle under a soft blanket with a cup of something warm. The days get shorter and the nights get longer. 

Every year, sometime in October when the leaves are in full autumnal glory, I take a drive down to Indian Caves States Park via Highway 75 to take it all in. Afterwards, I make a stop in Brownville to have a glass of wine on the deck of Whiskey Creek Run winery before driving back home in the waning sunlight. 

I can't wait.

I'm Debt Free

Well, it's finally happened. I am officially debt-free. Sure, I paid off a big chunk of debt two and half years ago, but I was still left with my student loans and a new car payment. If you remember, though, I had a plan for that about two years ago. 
Plans though, if anything, can often change and mine were no exception. My second part-time job was just too much so after a few months, I hung up my apron and got back to tending to other things in my life that really needed tending to. Still, I paid a chunk of money on my student loans so was in the process of figuring out my best plan of attack when the email came. Because I had fulfilled my twenty years in the IDR plan (income-driven repayment plan), I was eligible to have the remaining balance of my student loans forgiven. I was ecstatic but hesitant...I mean, was it really going to happen? I calculated previously that I had already paid back quite a bit more than I owed, so I was thrilled at the idea. I waited impatiently (not my strong suit, I admit) for the required month before the Dept of Ed sent my information to my student loan servicer. After the month was up, I was like a woman possessed - checking my email and the website for both my loan servicer and FSA like 100 times a day. Finally, I logged into my loan servicer's website one morning and my student loan debt....was gone!!! I cannot even begin to describe how that felt. 
This left only one debt in my path: my car loan. I had already paid off a significant portion of that, so I figured I should just get it off my back as well. I decided to take some of my big emergency fund, combined with my regular savings, and just pay it off. And that's exactly what I did.
This means your girl is debt-free. I mean, really and truly debt-free. I'm taking my car payment amount each month and funneling half back into my emergency fund and the other half into a new high-yield savings account that I plan to use for building up a down payment. On what, you might ask? Well, some land and a little house to put on it, that's what.
If you ask me, it's about damn time.





 

Summer Vacation 2023: Maquoketa Caves

About 30 miles south of Dubuque, Iowa, and 40 minutes north of Davenport, Iowa, is a true gem: Maquoketa Caves. When the kids and I went camping in Eastern Iowa during the tail end of my vacation, it was our first destination. So, the morning after setting up camp we made the drive.
Maquoketa Caves is an Iowa State Park so is free to visit, as are all Iowa State Parks.



From the parking lot, we took the right-side trail north of the parking lot so we could encounter the caves in order. 






After making our way down, we made it to Widemouth Cave. A set of wooden stairs leads up to it from the trail.



My daughter's cell phone flashlight illuminates the inside of the cave.



After a brief stop, we continued on...



to Dug Out Cave.



The caves after this point were further up the cliff face so a boardwalk becomes the trail to see the caves, although the regular trail is down below if you don't care about seeing the caves.






Here we are entering Twin Arch Cave. 



Up-N-Down Cave



Cave #5 sign.
The cave after this, Window Cave, is a hole in the wall and then straight down which means my photos of it don't really show what it looks like, unfortunately.



We continued on to the Natural Bridge - about the third such one I've seen over the years. While not a true cave, it is cave-like and incredibly impressive...as you shall see.



Approaching closer.



Making our way under the "bridge".



After you come out from under the bridge, you can take a side trail to Caves #7 and #8 but something really cool prevented us from taking the trail. See that cave wall in the background? Follow me.



Looking back at the Natural Bridge.



My son was already moving towards the cave wall.



My daughter joined him. It was a hot and muggy day and you can see the humidity layer behind the kids as we moved into cooler climes. At this point, all the other people continued back up towards the other trails. They must not have thought there was much to see beyond this...but they were wrong.



As you climbed down, you can see that little opening that my daughter is in. We thought we'd go down in there and just look since it had a light in it.



Much to our surprise, you can scrunch down and walk through that short section where it opens up into this! We decided, of course, to continue down this walkway.



It continues on and on, with lights installed above so people can walk through. At this point, we were somewhere under the parking lot where our car was.



Eventually, the cave began to open up more and we could see the exit out in the distance.






Looking back from whence we had been.



Looking up the staircase out to opposite side of the park from where we entered. To the left, you can see more walking trail underneath more cave, so that's where we went.



All good things come to an end, though. See how large the space to the right is?



There, now you can see just how massive that is. Those are my kids back there.



We got back on the boardwalk heading towards Balanced Rock.



And there it is: Balanced Rock.



A view down from Balanced Rock that shows where we came up from. This trail led us back to where we had parked, so we ate our picnic lunch before we left the park. 



Taking the park road back out to the main road, we decided to stop at the winery we saw on our way in: Iowa Grape Vines Winery. It also so happens to be on the Iowa Wine Passport.



The owner, Mary, was very friendly. Besides wine, they have craft root beer, slushies, and some other homemade goodies.
After a glass of wine for my son & I and a glass of root beer for my daughter, we headed to another winery that was on our way back to camp: Wide River Winery - also on the Iowa Wine Passport.






All I can say about this winery is, "Wow!" Not only are their wines spectacular, but the views are as well. The winery takes it's name from the fact that it overlooks the widest park of the Mississippi River.



So, of course, we decided to enjoy our wines on the expansive deck with the view.


Without a doubt, this was probably our favorite day of the trip. Maquoketa Caves truly is an amazing place in Iowa and a place I'd highly recommend you visit should you ever get the chance. And, if you like libations, you can't beat a fantastic glass of wine in a gorgeous setting.

For more information:
Maquoketa CavesIowa Grape Vines WineryWide River WineryTravel IowaIowa Beer and Wine PassportsIowa Distillery Passport

I'll be back (eventually) with the next installment of my summer vacation. Until then, my friends.

Summer Vacation 2023: Part One

A recent Friday night at my happy place: Soaring Wings Vineyard

Hello, friends. In my last post, I mentioned that I was on vacation. I planned my vacation for the last two weeks of June but since that would put me back at work on Monday, July 3rd, and because the 4th is a holiday, it seemed silly to come back for one day. So, I took the 3rd off, too. This means that between vacation days, weekends, and the 4th of July holiday, I had 18 days off. I needed it, I really, really, REALLY did. I think we all need a good chunk of time away from work a few times a year to just relax, which is exactly what I did - although plenty of fun was also involved. 
Since I'm going to Europe next year, I decided to make this a more cost-efficient vacation. Instead of flying somewhere far away, I spent my time hanging out with my closest friends, the friends I don't get to see much of, taking various short trips, grabbing another high point (finally!), and being with my kids. 
I left work on Friday, June 16th and with all these days off ahead of me I didn't waste any time. A coworker friend and I headed out to my favorite Friday night spot in the Summer: Soaring Wings Vineyard.



In the Summer, the vineyard has live music on Friday nights for $5. The cheapest bottle of wine is $16 and you can bring your own food in, a rarity in the winery world. So, we enjoyed live music, wine, food, and good conversation. It was a great way to start off a long vacation. Apparently, the wine was going down good because I couldn't take a clear picture to save my life. haha!
The next morning, I had a long, leisurely morning drinking coffee and relaxing. I finally motivated myself to shower and pack for a short jaunt up North to spend the weekend with one of my besties, Amy.



She greeted me with this bottle (not my photo, obvs) of Rhubarb Gin her husband had brought back from his recent trip to Iceland. Made by Reykjavik Distillery, this gin was sweet and amazingly delicious, with a hint of tartness from the rhubarb. We had some drinks, watched both Knives Out movies, and relaxed.
The next day, we took a drive out to her family farm, a place I hadn't been to in over 30 years, so it was a nostalgic journey. She drove me around the fields, talking about what's she doing with the land and her future plans for it all. Since she didn't have to work the next day, which was Juneteenth, I drove back home late in the evening.



The next afternoon, Monday, I ventured up to the Benson neighborhood to hang out with my friend Maggie, someone I don't get to see very often. We started off by going to Barchen Beer Garden for supper and drinks. 



We went to another bar a few doors down for a drink after that, before landing at our third, and final, stop of the evening: Eleven Eleven, a wine bar. This wasn't here the last time I went out in Benson, so it was nice to see this establishment up here. 



Cheers!





The next day, after another leisurely morning of nursing a mild hangover, my daughter and I made the hour drive West to spend a couple of days hanging out with my son in Lincoln, NE. We went swimming at his friend's apartment complex and stayed up late doing our hair, talking, and playing games. 



I have a wife-husband friend who also lives in Lincoln, so I got together with them the next evening in the downtown area for drinks and supper. After a few beers at Kinkaider, we walked to Tipsy Tina's for Mexican food and a goblet of cider. Yum!
We headed back home Thursday evening and I spent the rest of the night relaxing, as well as most of Friday. On Saturday, my bestie, Rebecca, and I drove down to Brownville, NE to see the museums, the winery, and spend the night at a riverboat hotel - along with a riverboat dinner cruise. I'll do a separate post for that.



That following Tuesday was my daughter's birthday, and my son had come home the evening before to celebrate and prepare for our upcoming vacation. Her dad came over that afternoon, and we all packed into the car to get outside for a while. We ended up on the banks of the Platte River.



The kids skipped rocks and I got a decent photo of a raptor flying overhead. I believe it's a red-tailed hawk, but I'm not 100% positive.



Right across the road from the Platte is Schramm State Recreation Area, a place I've hiked hundreds of times over the past 15 years. Although we didn't hike this day, we had to stop and climb around on the park's geologic rock wall.



My kiddos!
The next day, Wednesday, was spent buying groceries and packing up that and our gear into the car for our four-night camping trip on the Mississippi River in Eastern Iowa. 



We hit the road early, Thursday, and made a pit stop at the Iowa 80 Truckstop, the World's Largest Truckstop. They're not kidding either.



There were old cars around the place.



As well as a myriad of shops. The green sign in the upper right-hand corner tells one that there are showers, a barber, a movie theatre, a dentist, and public laundry on the second floor.



There is also a handful of restaurants in restaurant row that reminded me of a mall food court. This side is more like the gas station side while the other side is a legitimate truck stop for truckers to get gear, parts, and supplies for their rig. Between the two are the myriad of shops I mentioned earlier.



A mural adorns the wall next to the dining area. Directly off to the right is an arcade.



Goodbye, World's Largest Truckstop! Our destination was only a thirty-minute drive from here so it didn't take us long to reach it after this.


We did so many cool things during our trip to Eastern Iowa that each day deserves its own post. I will get those edited and out in what I hope to be in a timely manner.
Until then, have a great weekend friends!

H.A.

Day Trip Adventure: The Bridges of Madison County

Hello, friends, it's been a while. I have so many pictures and posts on the back burner, yet I just haven't bothered to put any of them together. The reason is two-fold: partly, I am kinda lazy, and the other part is that I've been busy living life again. Since I started my new position nearly a year ago (a year?!) it's kept me busy and I find myself coming home in the evenings not thinking about things like blogging. On the weekends, I've begun living my life in the same manner I did back in 2018. You can trust that I'm working hard to get back to the best parts of one of my best years, so please forgive my absence. 
Alas, I digress. Back in late April, on a pleasant Sunday afternoon, my best friend, Keith, his baby girl, and I took a day trip adventure to check out the famed Bridges of Madison County, near Des Moines. I had been wanting to do this trip since I got the idea back last fall, but it just didn't happen then. I got the idea because I keep travel books, pamphlets, maps, and guides for many states, particularly the ones nearest to my own state of Nebraska. I was perusing through my Iowa ones when I came across a pamphlet for the Bridges. It gives good information about Madison County, the Bridges, and a couple of maps. Armed with this and a picnic lunch, we set off. I decided the best way to tackle all the bridges - plus a couple other points of interest - was to go around in a circle.



Our first stop, then, was Roseman Bridge. 








All of the bridges are made using timber lattice trusses overlaid with Queenpost frames. It makes for visual interest. 



The next bridge on our list was Cutler-Donahoe Bridge which is located in Winterset City Park - Winterset is the major town and seat of Madison County. 









After our stop, we drove along the road that circumvents the park. This old stone bridge is interesting and allows for foot traffic to cross a creek.






On the opposite end of the park is Clark Tower. It was built in 1926 out of native limestone as a monument to one of the county's first pioneer families by their descendants. 



A view into the first floor of the tower.


These stairs lead to...



the second floor.



A smaller set of metal stairs leads to the third and uppermost floor of the tower. This open floor gives one an incredible view of the Middle River below.






We made our way out of the park and continued on with our bridge journey, where our next stop was at Holliwell Bridge.









This bridge crosses the Middle River and provided a lovely view of it.



We carried on to the smallest of the bridges: Imes Bridge.









After leaving Imes Bridge, we had to backtrack to Winterset, so we stopped at Madison County Winery.



As it was April, it was still a bit chilly outside so sitting on the couch next to this fire was nice.





Their wine tasting also helped warm me up.



The next bridge up was the Cedar Bridge. It was the only one that seemed to allow cars to drive through and the only one without a sign over the entrance of it.



So, I took a picture of the sign located a few yards away.



The final bridge was the Hogback Bridge. 






This was the only bridge that had a guestbook to sign - you can see it hanging on the left. Again, it has that characteristic truss and Queenpost frame.
Since this was the last site on our adventure, we decided to end the day at Winterset Cidery. I mean, I love a good cider! Unfortunately, they are only open May-October so we were a few weeks early. I was totally bummed, but since it's literally a half mile from the Covered Bridges Winery, we took our sadness down there.






Since it was Sunday, and most wineries have acoustic music on Sundays, we were able to have entertainment with our wine. Now, if you remember from a post I did a few months back, you know that I've been to this winery before.
If you ever want to get away for a day, or even a weekend, Madison County is a great place to do this. Winterset has plenty of things to see and do, particularly in the warmer months, as well as motels and camping. It's also a mere 30 minutes away from Des Moines so there's no shortage of things to see and do in this neck of the woods. For more info, check out the Madison County Chamber website.
I'm currently on a much-needed vacation until July 5th, so I'll have plenty of things to post from these next few weeks in the future. Let's just hope I get them out a bit quicker. Until next time, friends, be well...and have some adventure.

- H.A.








 

Preserving Food

As someone who lived many years of adult life on the edge of poverty, I firmly believe in cooking food from scratch. I also don't like food to go to waste so always use various ways to preserve it. Since it's just my daughter and myself in our home, buying produce from my favorite CSA can be problematic. I mean, we love it but since there are only two of us, we just don't eat it fast enough. This is why employing different preservation methods is a must.



On my last CSA pickup, I got the standard fruit/veg box along with the Mexi-pack. The Mexi-pack was filled with tomatoes, onions, different kinds of spicy peppers, some sad-looking cilantro, garlic, green onions, limes, and lemons. I roasted the tomatoes (it's easy to peel off the skins if you roast them in addition to making them taste better), along with a few poblano and jalapeno peppers. I then blended them up with onion, some green onion, some garlic, what I salvaged from the cilantro, and fresh lime juice to make salsa. I then canned the three quart-sized jars it yielded, although there was a bowl left for us to enjoy. Yum!



I got garlic with both boxes resulting in an excess of garlic. After using what I needed for the salsa, I roasted two bulbs and chopped up the rest. You can't chop up garlic unless you plan to use it fairly quickly, so my trick is to peel all the cloves, run them in my food processor just long enough to get them into small bits, scrape all the bits into a jar, cover completely with olive oil, and store it in the fridge.



I'm a big fan of pickled onions and pickled jalapenos - both of the sweet variety - so I made big jars of each. These are simple refrigerator pickles and will last in there for an incredibly long time. 
As I still had limes left, as well as oranges from my standard box, I decided to ferment what was left of the limes along with two of the oranges for future use. And yes, I put them in the jar whole. After three days of fermenting on my kitchen table, they were placed next to the pickled onions & jalapenos in the fridge, where they will last for a year. This summer, I'll have citrus at the ready when I need some.



It is my solemn duty, as a Swede, to make schnapps - something I do quite frequently, as evidenced by several blog posts here over the years. I've had two bags of frozen fruit in my freezer since I moved in (two years, cough cough) that I've been trying to use up and get out of my tiny freezer. Since I wasn't going to be making smoothies (the fruit's original intention) I decided to do one better and turn them into delicious, delicious schnapps. The first one is Tropical to which I added chunks of lemon from my CSA box, while the other is Pineapple. 



I also made Apple Pie schnapps a different weekend. Now, to wait for three months. 



Have I mentioned my tiny apartment-sized fridge/freezer before? Oh, yes, only many times! As someone who once had a large freezer plus a full-sized standup freezer, not being able to put more than like two pizzas in my teeny, tiny freezer was driving me nuts. So, I shopped around and bought myself the smallest chest freezer I could find, which is 3.5 cubic feet, and put it in my kitchen. It's amazing and I love it so much I just might marry it.
In all seriousness, though, it's allowed me to take advantage of meat, cheese, butter, and other sales, as well as being able to preserve food for future use. 



Like these chicken bones and scraps, for instance. I've been saving these from chicken quarters as I cook them and will make chicken stock out of them. I also got a ham shank on sale for a steal that I roasted, cut up, and froze in bags. I froze the ham bone, too!



From my CSA box, I got a big bunch of celery. I chopped it up into small pieces and put them into this large freezer bag. I also kept the ends and tops that I cut off from the bunch, put them into smaller freezer bags, and put them all together.



I did the same thing with my onions, both chopped and sliced, along with the rest of the green onions.



Here I have bags of sweet Italian peppers (I like to keep them separated by color), along with the rest of the poblano peppers. 



Even though people may tell you not to freeze mushrooms, I do. It's better than wasting them! When I want to use them, I slice them frozen and cook them immediately.



Whenever I peel carrots, chop up an onion, cut up celery or garlic, and pull stems from mushrooms, I put all the scraps in a gallon freezer bag and freeze it. I add to the bag as I go along. These scraps can be made into vegetable stock or added to the aforementioned chicken/ham bones to make chicken/ham stock.



Bananas are another great thing to freeze. I either freeze them whole if I'm being lazy or cut them into chunks. Then, if I want banana bread, or decide to finally make one of them smoothies, I have bananas in which to make them.
 Freezing, canning, pickling, or fermenting vegetables & fruits are the easiest way to store them long-term. The best part is that they're all processed and ready to use. I mean, let's face it, after working all day, the thought of chopping up a bunch of veggies is not high on my list of things I feel like doing after I get home. That's why I process all my produce on the weekends for either freezing or storing in the fridge so I can easily throw together a meal during the week or some other time.



Like that Saturday morning when I wanted an omelet filled with bacon, poblanos, garlic, and onions. 
Besides spending time on the weekend doing the aforementioned, I will also cook up different meats and cut up fresh veg and greens then put them into containers in the refrigerator. This past weekend I cooked some taco meat, roasted a pork loin & a few chicken breasts, made a loaf of keto bread, cut up broccoli & cauliflower florets, chopped up a bunch of romaine, and washed a package of clearance baby butter leaves. Combine any of these with the vegetables and/or stock I have in my freezer, and I'm all set to make easy meals for dinner and my work lunches during the week. 
Spending a bit of time on your days off to get food processed for later use is incredibly helpful and prevents waste. I hope this helps inspire you to preserve your own foods, especially during these trying financial times.




 

Learning Charcuterie

As a fan of wine and cheese, there's nothing I love more than charcuterie. While the word charcuterie actually means "cured meats" in French, here in the States we use the word to refer to a board filled with a variety of cured meats, cheeses, nuts, fruits, crackers, bread, olives, or whatever else your heart desires (or is found on one purchased at a winery or restaurant). 
A friend of mine asked me earlier this year if I wanted to attend a fun event later in March and I said yes. I mean, who can turn down a fun event? She bought our tickets and turns out it was for a one-night charcuterie class put on by a former work friend and her best friend. I was pretty pumped for this because friends + charcuterie always makes for a good time. The only thing that would have made it better would have been wine, but it was a class so I digress.



The three-hour class was held on the north campus of Metropolitan Community College in this historic Fort Omaha, by Miranda of Miranda's Cheese Love and her bestie Melissa, the former work friend in question. This campus of MCC has a catering/cooking school so it made sense to have the class there. We walked in to this beautiful sight!



Beautiful sight continued.



We had to bring our own charcuterie board with us, but we were given four delicious samples, a introduction card, a blank piece of paper to take notes, some recipes (more on that later) and a pen, of course. Miranda began the class by talking about the beginnings of charcuterie and about different kinds of cheeses. She explained each sample as we ate them. The samples were as follows, starting in the upper left-hand and going clockwise: Gruyere, Mont Mare, Fontina, and Chevre. We were given some blue cheese and Fromage d'Affinois along the way, as well. 



Here's Miranda giving us instruction on the different samples as we ate them. Yum!



After the cheese lecture, we split off into groups of four. Each group was given instructions of make two of the recipes we were given in our packet. The recipes were: Small bath raspberry or blackberry jam, quick pickles, quick pickled radishes, savory nut mix, and cinnamon sugar candied nut mix. My friend, Dora, and I made the Savory Nut Mix while the other two ladies in our group made Quick Pickles. Since we were in the cooking school, we were given all the items we needed to make the recipes. Dora and I are both fans of spicy, so we put extra cayenne pepper in ours. 
 

Here's the lovely Dora mixing up our nuts to go into the oven.



While our foods were being prepared, Miranda had us all come back over to the cheese table with our boards, where we got some cured meats and our choice of three different cheeses. The end game with the class is that we would all get to build and take home our own charcuterie. In addition to our choices of cheese and meats, we also got to take some of the things we made that night, as well as some other items that Miranda and Melissa put out for us to adorn our boards.



Cheese pairing suggestions were all at our work stations which I took a picture of for future reference. I mean, I do like to put out charcuterie at parties that I host.



The final reveal of my charcuterie board! I chose and arranged Fromage d'Affinois (similar to brie but softer and creamier, olives, both kinds of quick pickles, small batch raspberry jam, Chevre (a semi-soft goat cheese with a bit of a bite), honeycomb, grapes, Mont Mare, blackberries, dried apricots, cured meat, both kinds of nuts we made, sweet peppers, dried figs, and a sprig of rosemary. Melissa came around later and gave Dora and I a piece of Fontina as well, which is a hard cheese similar to Parmesan or Reggiano. Yum!



If all this wasn't awesome enough, I won a prize for being the first person there. It also came with a piece of chocolate that has long since been eaten. 
Funny story about being the first person. I got there two minutes late because it was on the edge of northeast Omaha. There was nothing in the information about which door to go in so I parked and went into the closest door. I easily walked through the halls and found Melissa in a kitchen where we were excited to see each other. No one else was there yet, which considering I was two minutes late was kind of odd. Melissa went off to see if she could find the others and not long after arrived with the rest of the group. Apparently, they had all gone in a different door (I didn't get the memo?) and were waiting in an area where they had been given name tags. So, due to this fluke I ended up being the "first" person there and therefore won the prize. Dora and I laughed about that, and I sure wasn't going to complain.

This ended up being a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the class, the people, spending time with my friends, sampling tasty cheese, making fun recipes, and, of course, taking home an amazing charcuterie. I was leaving the next morning for Kearney to meet up with my dad and my uncle, so I grabbed a couple of cheap wines from my wine rack and my cheese board to surprise them with it. That's a post for another time, though.

I hope you have a good weekend, friends. The weather has been drastic the past few weeks in its wide temperature ranges, so today's a good day for getting some things done around the house, baking, cooking, and having a glass (or two) of wine. Whatever you end up doing, make sure to have some fun.






 

Why I Won't Fly with American Airlines Ever Again

It's no secret that I'm a miles traveler. This means when I fly, I typically fly using airline miles. Several years back, I acquired many miles through American Airlines (AA) by churning their branded credit card. I used the bulk of those miles to fly my daughter and myself roundtrip to Texas in March of 2021. 
When it came time to make my annual trip to Portland (and Seattle, too, this time around) in the Fall of 2022 I didn't have enough miles to fly roundtrip with AA but I did have enough to fly one way. As the miles were going to expire, I wanted to use them. In addition to that, I no longer use the AA credit card because I find AA to be a subpar airline with a subpar flying experience. So, I booked my flight out using what remained of my AA miles. For my flight back home, I used my Delta miles. I love love love Delta Airlines - they are simply the best - so I wanted my trip home to be on my favorite airline. 
I booked my flights pretty early in 2022 and as the date got closer, they made some changes to my connecting flight - fairly standard. Instead of a layover in Denver, American had me booked for not one, not two, but THREE layovers - Dallas, Salt Lake, and Seattle - before landing in Portland 16 hours after takeoff in Omaha. I was a bit alarmed, but I knew that one can usually call customer service and get a better route, which is exactly what I did. The customer service lady was incredibly nice and professional and fixed my flight - one 2.5-hour layover in Dallas. Perfect! It was just enough time to grab dinner and a bloody mary before my connecting flight. 
The day of my trip arrives, I board in Omaha and all goes well, or as well as can be expected on an AA flight, until we were nearing Dallas. At that point, the pilot comes on over the intercom and tells us all two things:
1. There's bad weather over Dallas2. The plane is low on fuel
Because of these two things, the pilot informs us that we'll have to divert to Oklahoma City to refuel while we wait out the storm. I groaned because I knew this meant I would probably not be able to get that dinner and bloody mary I was looking forward to, but I understood the situation so instead focused on how I'd get what I wanted when I finally reached Portland.
We diverted to OKC and landed on the tarmac, where we sat...and sat....and sat some more. By the time we finally took off again and arrived in Dallas, I realized that there was going to be little time to catch my connecting flight to Portland. We finally land in DFW at a gate that was clear on the opposite side of the airport from my connecting flight. I start booking it across the airport but was graciously picked up by a guy who runs one of those airport shuttles that drives around. We get to my gate about 15 minutes before takeoff but the crew refuses to let me on. I argue with them because I know the industry standard of closing the plane doors 15 minutes before takeoff but since none of it was my fault and the plane hadn't taken off I felt they should let me on.
Instead, they direct me two gates over to where AA customer service is. I look over to see a ridiculously long line forming. Defeated, I join the line along with a couple who had been on my flight out and were also supposed to be on the same connecting flight.  At some point, she noticed the connecting flight was delayed so goes back over to that gate to talk to the crew. She comes back and says that the crew said she could get on so she ran to go get her husband while I rushed back over there. Again, the crew says the flight is ready to take off and won't let me on. This is when I started seeing red flags.
I get back in line, at the back again, and wait for customer service. The couple returned, also rejected from boarding a plane they were told not more than a handful of minutes before that they could. Very frustrating, to say the least. They leave again to do who-knows-what and I end up chatting with the lady right behind me. She tells me she was on her way to Dallas (from a different location than Omaha) but was diverted to OKC because the plane was low on fuel and because there was bad weather over Dallas. She also missed her connecting flight. Interesting, another red flag.
I start talking to the woman in front of me. She came in from somewhere other than Omaha or the location of the woman behind me but had the same story. Diverted to OKC because of fuel and weather, and missed connecting flight. This meant one thing: American Airlines lied to all of us.
Now, if this wasn't bad enough, an AA customer service supervisor started walking the long line and talking to each of us briefly - to tell us that AA can't be responsible for passengers because of bad weather. WHAT?! As the words left his lips, I was thinking of how I was going to have to probably spend the night sleeping in an airport chair so I was ready to unload on him when someone came and whisked him away. 
When I finally reached the customer service counter, the agent gave me a ticket for a flight the next morning and vouchers for a hotel (Hyatt Place, one of my favorites), transportation to and from the hotel (Hyatt has an airport shuttle so didn't need those), and for $12 of food in the airport. I wasn't happy to not be on a flight to Portland, but at least I wasn't going to spend the night sleeping in an airport chair.
On the way to the hotel, I told the shuttle driver about the events of the day and he said, "We had no bad weather in Dallas today." Call me shocked. I knew without a doubt that AA screwed us all over. I felt bad for the girl next to me in the shuttle because her checked luggage was on the connecting flight she was denied from. This is one of the main reasons I use a carry-on luggage set. I always have what I need with me at all times. At any rate, I got checked into the Hyatt then went downstairs where I finally got dinner and a bloody mary. 
The next morning, after a fantastic continental breakfast, I took the shuttle back to the airport for (finally!) my connecting flight to Portland. My gate was nearby so I went to Starbucks (it was close to my gate) where I used my $12 voucher for snacks. No sooner had I returned to my gate and sat down than I got a notice that the gate for my connecting flight had been changed. Of fucking course it had and of course, it was a long haul across the airport. 
Once again, I booked it across the airport, making it to my new connecting flight (that we were given barely any advance warning for) with about 25 minutes to spare - or 10 minutes if you consider the shutting of the door 15 minutes before takeoff where no one is allowed to board thereafter. A handful of hours later, I finally made it to Portland.
The original plan was to fly into Portland the day before I actually made it, meet up with my bestie Lisa (my reason for going to the PNW) at the airport, take the train downtown, stay in a nice hotel there, and get a drink or two before bed. We had train tickets for Seattle, leaving at noon the next day. We were set to arrive in Seattle around 3 pm.
Instead, AA screwed me and Lisa spent the night in the fancy hotel in downtown Portland alone while I stayed at the Hyatt Place in Dallas. We had to rebook our train tickets for later in the day, at an extra charge of $60 which was more than the original ticket and we didn't make it to Seattle until late in the evening. 
How do I feel about it all? Well, yes, I was traveling with free miles and they did put me up in a nice hotel that had breakfast, along with transport and snacks, BUT...American Airlines lied to me, and everyone else flying into Dallas that day. They got me to my destination 24 hours behind schedule and caused me to spend extra money on a train ticket I didn't need to. 
Make no mistake, American Airlines did this on PURPOSE. Why? I don't know. I'll never know because they will never tell us anything other than the story they presented to us in the first place. All this withstanding, they have other issues that make them not worth flying with anyway - uncomfortable seats, terrible snacks if any are offered at all, no in-flight entertainment except on the rare occasion, all for the same cost as better airlines - AND they treat their employees like shit. After my trip, I found a group on Facebook called "American Airlines Sucks" and the group is filled with stories just like mine. Lots and lots of them.
Luckily, I flew home on Delta. As expected, it went without a hitch, and I sat in a comfortable seat, had great snacks, and watched in-flight entertainment for the same amount of miles as I used for the nightmare above. 
It's funny because having flown AA before, I knew they were pretty subpar, and I had a conversation in early 2022 with my friend Keith about how I just wanted to use up the AA miles and be done with them. He responded with, "There are airlines, and then there's Delta." He's not wrong. I still have about 4000 miles with AA, not enough to do anything with, and I'm glad. I'll never fly with American Airlines...ever again.

Early Spring Hike

Good morning, friends. I had meant to get a post out quicker than this but life has been quite busy lately. I've been pulling extra duties at my job during the week, I've been out of town a handful of weekends in a row, and this past weekend I was super busy at home getting things done that desperately needed to get done. 
One lovely Sunday, though, I did manage to squeak in a lovely, easy hike at one of my favorite local nature spots: Fontanelle Forest. For years, I would get an annual pass but over the past few years, I let it lapse. The Omaha Public Library came to the rescue as they have a wonderful program that lets anyone with a library card get a day pass to several places in the Metro area - one of them being Fontanelle Forest.



This was the first time in several months that I actually strapped on the old day pack and took a legit hike. Granted, it was an easy, short hike as I'm easing back into healthy habits after injury. 



It was a perfect day with sunshine and a temperate climate. I first walked around their massive boardwalk.



The boardwalk winds around and down by the Missouri River. I could see hints of the passing winter as little ice pieces floated down the current.



In addition to the river, you can the tallest buildings of downtown Omaha as well as the Desert Dome at the Omaha Zoo.






After I had come full circle around the boardwalk, I went off onto one of the forest trails.



It wasn't as muddy as I thought it might be - it is Spring after all - but I also didn't go down into the valley where it undoubtedly was.



There's no better way to cap off a lovely Sunday afternoon outside than with a crisp hard cider. Glacial Till's new Cherry Vanilla variety is dangerously tasty.


I hope your week is going well and that you're planning some fun stuff to coincide with that great weather coming up. I have a few posts to get caught up on, but since I finally have some spare time coming up, I will be getting to those. Happy Spring!





 

All My Best Financial Links in One Place

 

Over the years, I've written a bunch of blog posts dedicated to frugality. Whether I talked about it through my series "Basic Financial Fitness", general posts, or in my book The Urban Prepper , my goal throughout has been to empower people to survive and thrive in any situation on a low income. 
I've been thinking quite a bit lately about the global financial situation and how it affects us low earners more than other people. To that end, I had thought about writing a detailed, long post about how to deal with this situation, but I realized that I already have - albeit in a handful of separate posts. I have posts on ways to cut down on bills in a large variety of ways, how to save money even when you think you can't, how to budget, and how to still live life & have adventures even when finances are minimal. Instead of writing a mini-book in blog form, I thought it would be a better idea to link these different posts here.



1. How to Survive a Recession
2. Frugal Living in my New Place
3. Saving Money and Being Less Wasteful
4. Saving More, Spending Less
5. Real Ways to Save Money
6. Having Fun with Little to No Money
7. Adopting a Smart Money Mindset
8. Making a Simple Budget
9. Why Saving Matter
10. Investing in the Future
11. Making More Money
12. Credit Card Churning
13. Planning the Perfect Staycation
14. I Stopped Using My Debit Card
15. Everything Costs More


You'll find good nuggets of information in all of these posts on how to save money for a rainy day, how to save money on food & bills, more advanced things like sinking funds & credit card churning, and how to have fun & live a life of adventure on the cheap. So, don't let the titles of some of these posts fool you, I've included them because they have good information. I hope by having all these links in one spot you can begin a journey to surviving and thriving on a low income. If you have any questions or tips to share that I haven't, comment below.