Frozen to a standstill at O’Hare Airport

[By Marcia Milner-Brage, stranded in Chicago, Illinois, USA]

 On our way home to Iowa last week, flying from Jacksonville, Florida, through Charlotte, North Carolina, expecting to take the third and last flight that night onto Waterloo, we landed in Chicago to a dizzying mass of flashing red CANCELLED notations on the flight status monitors. Not a surprise that the airplanes were having mechanical and fueling issues and the ground crew were unable to cope: it was a blistering -15F (-26C) with a stiff 25+mph (40+kph) wind that brought the windchill down to -30F (-34C). My husband and I made our way to a nearby hotel, hoping that conditions would improve so we’d get home the next day. With a sketchbook in hand, it wasn’t difficult making the best of being stranded.

Above, the hotel restaurant had a nicely shaped loaf of bread and tasty butter. 

With sunrise, I was delighted that our 10th floor room faced due east and the Chicago downtown skyline.

When we couldn’t stay at the hotel any longer, with time to spare before our rescheduled flight, we returned to the airport and hung out at Wolfgang Puck Express in the K Concourse of Terminal 3. They have a woodfired pizza oven, lovely bowls of fruit, and a decent breakfast.

And when our rescheduled flight was delayed five-and-a-half hours, I drew the other stranded passengers. 

Finally, we made it back to Iowa! We landed in a blizzard and with a hard touchdown, but safe and sound nonetheless.