More Adventures in Public Transportation

Ashtyn and Landon have the day off from school today, so I scheduled them to see the dentist.  That meant they needed the car (just like any other day), and I was going to have to take the bus and the train to work (just like any other day).  We had a pretty good winter storm last night, and the roads were kinda yucky.  The good news is that I did not have to drive on the nasty roads.  The bad news is that things were severely slowed for everyone and everything which WERE on the nasty roads. 

I walked in the middle of the neighborhood roads to get to the bus stop, because I could walk in the cars' tracks.  When it was 10 minutes past time for my bus to pick me up, I called UTA.  The nice customer service lady told me* that my bus was stuck in a snowdrift, and the next bus should be there in 10 minutes.  15 minutes later I called Ashtyn to see if she'd just come pick me up and take me to Trax.  Just then the bus arrived.

I stepped through the snow to get to the bus stairs, and my last step sank me about 7 inches deep in slush.  Fortunately, the heat on the bus was blowing.  My poor little toes started tingling pretty fiercely; they were so cold!  We got to the station, and I went to stop off the bus and landed 7 inches deep in the slush.  *sigh*

The red line trains always blow air, but it's not heated, so it's cold on those trains.  It was a long ride into the city.  I had to transfer trains once I got downtown.  Unlike most days (for me), the sun was up, so I stood in the sun, hoping to counteract the cold wind at least a little bit.  I got on a blue line train, which takes me the remaining 2 stops to City Center.  Except at Stop 1, one of the doors (right next to me, of course) would not close.  Not only was the cold air coming into the train, but they had to come and do maintenance on the door.  I'm sitting there, just three blocks from work, and I can't bring myself to leave the heated interior of the train (blue line trains have real heat!  and believe me, I was snuggled as close to the heat vents as I could be) and walk to my building.  How lame am I?

We finally got going, and at my stop I got off the train and started walking to my building.  Everything was icy.  It was very cold.  I was so cold that my entire body was aching.

Luckily I have a great little heater to un-numb (yes, it's a word!) my feet, and I have hot chocolate mix in my drawer and a microwave in the hallway.

I have time that I need to make up at work tonight, so Spencer is going to pick me up and take me home after he massages.  That means I don't have to ride Trax tonight.  I am so grateful!  I will probably just barely have thawed when it's time to go home.

It's sure a glorious winter day here, though!  Hello, mountains!  I see you, and you look lovely!

*This woman must have apologized to me 10 times.  I think it's a sad commentary on our society that she has been so abused by callers for things over which she has no control.