radonc1

I will be happy to relate my experience on that day as well as the week afterwards.

My wife and I were at a conference in San Fran and had arrived there from CLE on a Saturday. The meeting progressed well until that morning when I actually watched the second event occur in the hotel lounge while eating an early breakfast. Needless to say, the conference ended and many people rented cars or buses to drive back across the country.
San Francisco was completely shut down for 2 days. All bridges were closed and people were told to stay home. The Hilton we were in actually told us not to go out of the property. They fed us and housed us without charge for the 3 days we stayed there.
One interesting outcome of this was that on the third night, a number of us decided to go out for dinner and we were able to get into a 3 star restaurant without reservations (standard 3-4 month wait) that night. It was about 1/2 full and the food was great. Who knows where the help came from.
By Thursday, we realized that SFO was not going to be opening anytime soon. Since we were on CO, they told us that if we could get down to LAX, we could catch a flight on Sat. We did need to get back home since our 3 children were with a baby sitter who had not planned on their parents taking an extra week to get home.

So on Thursday, we managed to rent a car and drove down to LA. It was surreal since overpasses were draped in flags and people just standing there watching the traffic. Needless to say, traffic was light. We did luck out in that my in-laws lived in LA, so we had a place to stay.

On Sat., CO first told us that the only flight that day from LAX-CLE was booked full but we went to the airport anyway. The airport roadways were closed and the only way to get in was to board a bus which would drop you off at the deserted terminals. It is the only time in my life when I didn't see any civilian cars in LAX. Totally empty.

As stated, the CO terminal (7) was empty, but there was one flight going which was the CLE one. It also was only about 20% full and we were upgraded. It was a very interesting flight. They boarded us in about 5 minutes, slammed the door shut, fired up the engines and literally without stopping taxied to the nearest runway and took off. The flight was about the fastest mid-con I have been on. No turns or banks and literally a direct approach and landing. We zipped up to the gate, opened the door and told us to leave the airport. CLE was also deserted as well.

All in all, it was a surreal period of time in my life.