Our return from Denver was nice and uneventful. Amy drove us down to the airport and Laurel slept on the drive down, at our gate in the airport, and on both legs of our flight. We took off on runway 17R so I couldn't see the hull of Continental 1404 (sitting barely visible from 34R) or else I would have already posted photos.

After a flight attendant's de-boarding speech included a joke that we could leave chocolate or the latest Dan Brown novel behind if we must leave things on the plane, I handed Laurel the Ghiardelli Luxe Milk Hazelnut bar to give to the flight attendant when we reached the front of the plane. I think the first officer was going to arm-wrestle her for it afterward.

The driver on our Super Shuttle return ride more than made up for our outbound experience -- he remembered us from previous airport trips, was very friendly, and even offered to help carry up our luggage! (I declined, but it was a nice offer. I pack pretty light out of habit.)

I rarely sleep well the night before traveling so after lunch with Vogon, I napped fitfully all afternoon and ended up in bed before midnight between my right ear hurting (it took hours after we got home to pop) and feeling sick in general. Vogon was irritated because he wanted to take New Year's photos but couldn't find his tuxedo shirt and I wasn't feeling up to it. We'll take belated photos this weekend because my plans for cleaning today were derailed by a stomach bug that finally let up after a whole day of not being able to keep anything down.

I'm feeling better now and holiday-delay trash pickup is in the morning, so I'm going to pick up what I can to run down in the morning, get some more sleep, and continue to rehydrate.