SEPTEMBER 11 , 2001

 

Nancy, Bobbi, Chris, Charlie

GUEST BLOG BY CHRIS:

September 11, 2001 is a day most us will never forget. Bobbi and I were in Alexandria, VA for Bobbi’s high school reunion. We decided to stay an extra few days. We were sightseeing  with Bobbi’s best friend from high school Nancy Pavey and her husband Charlie. We were all staying in the Alexandria Hampton Inn.

During breakfast we saw the news feed in the restaurant that a plane had crashed into tower one of the World Trade center. At the time it was thought to be a small plane as no one really knew what was happening or was to happen that day. So, we went about our day planning to take the Metro light rail train into Washington D.C. with plans to visit one of the Smithsonian museums. We finished breakfast and went back to our rooms to get ready for our day.

I remember vividly standing in our hotel room while Bobbi was finishing up in the bathroom. Of course the TV was on and I watched the live feed as the second plane was crashing into tower two. I yelled out “another plane just hit the World Trade Center.” At that time the other two plane that crashed subsequently weren’t being reported on, so we all went down to the Metro station and boarded the train for the city.

As were were approaching Metro’s Pentagon stop, I overheard another passenger say “I can’t believe they bombed the Pentagon.”  I told everyone to look out the window where there was a plume of black smoke rising.  Charlie said, “Today isn’t a good day to go into the city.” We exited the train at that stop and crossed over to the other side and caught the Metro back to Alexandria (we later learned that this was the last train to stop at the Pentagon Metro station).

When we got back to the hotel we learned that all the flights in the region were grounded (later in the day the entire air travel in the country, and much of the world were also grounded).  Our problem was that we were to fly out of Reagan National airport the next day and to compound that I was scheduled to take pictures of a large wedding at Ft. Lewis the following Saturday, the 15th. We started considering our options as it quickly became apparent we wouldn’t be leaving the next day. We thought of taking the train, but that travel was stopped initially. We thought about renting a car, but that was impossible as none were available. We even thought about buying a car, but we had just bought a new car and that didn’t seem like a good idea. So we stared calling the airlines.

We were told that we could probably fly out the next day,  Thursday. We had a flight booked and  arrived at Reagan National that morning only to find out that all flights were canceled. We had checked out of the Hampton Inn, but we managed to get a room at one of the airport hotels. As an aside, one of the other passengers on the plane was a United Airlines pilot and while talking he said the plane he was supposed to fly that day was stranded in Germany. He went on to say planes are stranded all over the world and he had no idea how the airlines would sort that all out.

Anyway, we called and called and we managed to get booked on a flight out of Dulles airport the following evening, Friday. We weren’t all that confident and starting to panic about the wedding shoot. So I called our daughter Heather and told her that she might have to shoot the wedding by herself; she has assisted me at other weddings but never shot one solo. To compound that I had purchased new equipment that she wasn’t familiar with so I arranged for a friend at Kenmore Camera to go over the new cameras with her. I could tell she was uncomfortable with the idea (maybe even terrified as it was big military wedding that normally took both of us to shoot).

Friday we arrived at Dulles only to be told that our flight was canceled as they didn’t have a crew to fly it. But we were able to get booked on a flight early Saturday morning and with the time difference we could still make the wedding. So we found another hotel near Dulles. Saturday morning we went to the airport and stood in a long line only to be told by the Delta ticket agent that our flight to Atlanta (where we were to connect to a flight to Seatac) had been canceled, but she said no worry as she could book us on a flight and have us home in Atlanta that evening. (We were flying on frequent flyer miles by the way.) I told her that wouldn’t work as we had to be in Seattle for a wedding I was to shoot that afternoon. She said just a minute and when she came back she said that a small airline (I don’t even remember the name) had a plane flying through Minneapolis, directly to Seattle. We moved to their counter and the agent said she only had first class available and I said we’d take it. Then she said they couldn’t honor our frequent flyer miles and I handed her my credit card and I said, “book it.” She said, “don’t you want to know the cost”, I said “whatever the cost we’ll take it, just book it.” We went to the gate. The gate agent finally called for first class boarding and proceeded to board the plane.

I called Heather before the plane doors closed (this was probably about 7 AM local time, 4 AM in Seattle). I remember this vividly: a very groggy sounding Heather answered on the first ring. “Heather we are on a plane.” “You are on a plane” she replied sounding far more perky but sounding almost in disbelief. “We land at Seatac at 11AM. So you and Jes (our son) need to go to our house and load all the equipment into the Lincoln LS” we had just purchased.  “Yes I almost yelled.” I also gave her instructions to have Jes get me a change of clothes for the wedding (Bobbi had one long dress with her in her carry on) and to pick us up at the airport. I also told her I’d call when we stopped in Minneapolis with a better arrival time (fortunately we could stay on the plane).

Well, to make the rest of the story short, we arrived at Seatac at about our scheduled time. Heather and Jes were waiting and I had never seen a happier young woman in my life. We went to the car and Heather drove to the Ft. Lewis chapel as I changed clothes in the back seat. And, we made it to the wedding before the bride arrived. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was a lot of fun. But, Bobbi and I were totally wiped out as Heather drove us home. The pictures turned out well. 

Grandmother, Groom, Bride, Mother of the Bride, Father of the Bride

Wedding Party