Little did we know what an odd day our trip home from Mom and Dad's would be. We flew standby on Southwest (thanks to some thoughtful friends) which means we take our chances on catching flight, and if there are empty seats available, we are last to board and you know what that means—squishing between two strangers and frequently waving at your husband from across the plane who is vying for shoulder room between his neighbors.
This time I was stuck next to someone who kept tooting! I'm sorry but what is a girl to do?!? Every few minutes a new wave of foul air wafted my way. I tried different methods of breathing techniques, through the mouth, short quick breaths...not breathing at all. In the end I decided it would be best to be unconscious—and tried to sleep. Thankfully we reached our layover at San Diego an hour and half later and I could breathe again. I found Adam, sat next to him, and we were off to our next layover in El Paso.
El Paso provided a new kind of adventure; all power to the terminals was out due to bad weather. We exited the plane down a set of stairs on roller, onto the tarmac and entered a cold building with no heating and no available food. I knew I should have packed a lunch and a coat! We waited to board standby through two flights, and to our dismay, found there were no more planes heading out to Dallas that night.
Welcome to El Paso.
Normally I would have gutted it out at the airport. But with no power, no food, and already freezing...we were ready to pay the cost of a rental car and a hotel. We asked the woman at the car rental for a restaurant referral. I mean, we were in El Paso...what should we NOT miss? El Paso is close to the border so she suggested heading toward Carlo's and Mickey's Authentic Mexican. 
These weary travelers couldn't have been happier to find somewhere to relax, warm up and eat. So if you're ever stuck in El Paso, try it out. The food was great. Check out my giant tostada chip!
The atmosphere was fun and crowded (despite the photos.) and there's live music every night! I'll bet you can't guess what kind :) 
Everything was quite spicy. We are told everyone and their mother eats here. I'm glad we went. It was just what we needed to lift our tired spirits.
Later we bought some toiletries and headed to a hotel. After ANOTHER layover in Austin, we finally made it home the next day. I'll tell you, I was VERY happy to be done. And although we made the most of it...I hope we don't get stuck in El Paso, (or next to someone with intestinal distress) ever again.
