The return trip to Sacramento was one you only hear about in horror stories. As we got to the Washington DC airport, we noticed that our flight was delayed. When we asked why, we learned that there was a storm over Houston, where we were supposed to make our connecting flight to Sacramento.

We didn’t think much of it, because the flight was two and a half hours long and we figured the storm probably wouldn’t be that bad by then. Some of us fortunately decided to grab a quick bite before getting on the plane. We got on the plane and we found a sweet surprise! A new advancement in plane technology meant that for six bucks we could each watch TV. After passing around Madame Albrand’s credit card, we all sat happily with movies, television, and the idea of going home.

After watching Land Of The Lost, I was just about to start another movie when I heard the airplane pilot state that the storm that had been going strong over Houston when we took off was still going on, and we were going to circle the airport until the storm passed. After waiting for a bit, the pilot said that we were going to try to land anyway.

As we began to descend we got a few bumps but nothing too serious. Then things started to turn for the worse. The turbulence bumps got bigger and bigger, until I think we freefell at least 100 feet. We then pulled back up and the pilot said that we weren’t going to try that again, and we were headed over to New Orleans to re-fuel.

After we landed we never actually got off the plane. We took off and headed back to the storm. As we approached we had a few bumps once again, but somehow made it through without anything happening. We landed, gave a round of applause to our pilot, and got off.

At this point, it was about 1:00 a.m. in Houston. We were supposed to get on our connecting flight an hour and a half earlier. We crashed in the airport lobby, and at that time of night there weren’t any food places open that we could see. So all those who had planned on grabbing a bite in Houston were denied that.

With starving kids and a missed flight, things couldn’t get much worse right? Well, that was a hope too good to be true. I walked over to a sign that showed the departing flights to Sacramento. The next one was at 6:00 in the morning, five hours away, and it was full. The flight after that was at 6:00 in the evening, and only had three seats open.

The teachers at this time were thinking about what they could do, but first they had to get us a place to stay. So while the chaperones discussed options, we were all just about passed out or calling to parents.

Eventually we got a hotel, a Holiday Inn, and we had to get on a bus in order to get to it. Unfortunately, the bus was on one end of the airport, and we were on the other. We began to trudge over to the other side, passing closed store after closed store.

We made it to the parking lot and waited in the rain for a few minutes until our bus arrived. However, when it arrived, it wasn’t actually a bus. It was half a bus, one of the ones that carry small groups of about twenty people. We had over forty. Everyone started to pile in, some sitting on top of each other, others standing in the middle. When we arrived, everyone dived for the one canteen of ice water they had and crashed on the sofas in the lobby.

The chaperones got our keys and told everyone to be awake and in the lobby by 5:15. They had found a flight, but it was going to San Francisco. As we got up after a quick nap, we split up into three groups. Group 1, Group 2, and what came to be known as Group Late. Group Late was all the people who didn’t make it to the lobby on time.

We got to the airport and realized that we were actually at the wrong terminal. After panicking for a few seconds, we bolted for the electric train and somehow got on the flight on time.

We settled down on the plane and headed home, or at least headed to San Francisco. I was fast asleep for the entire flight, so when we arrived it was nice to see the San Francisco sun. As we piled on the bus, we realized that our luck hadn’t turned around yet. The Bay Bridge was out, and that was the main road to get to Sacramento. So we had to take a detour, like hundreds of other people, across the Golden Gate Bridge. We were supposed to arrive at the Sacramento Airport at about midnight on Thursday night. We arrived at 1:00 PM on Friday afternoon. After a lot of fun, good times, good tours, and an all around good trip we finally made it home.