Yellowstone - July 2008

We got back from Yellowstone/Big Sky last Monday. Had a good 9 day vacation and finally caught up on sleep over the weekend and can post this. The agenda was:

Saturday - arrived and drove to Lake Yellowstone Hotel
Sunday

• Ranch' Dinner via horse buggy short distance into the park
• Stayed at Mammoth Hot springs

Monday/Tue/Wed

• Big Sky Montana: water rafting, horseback riding, pool for the kids.
• Interesting being in a ski resort off season. Place is empty.
• Took lift to the top and walked down

Thursday

• Caught up with my parents and my sister Deb along with my two nieces
• Stayed at the Old Yellowstone Snow Lodge

Friday/Saturday

• My other sister Laura, her husband and Deb's husband drove up from Denver
• They all stated at a campground, we stayed nearby at the Jackson Lake Lodge in the Grand Teatons

Sunday - returned on a long series of flights

Photos can be found here

Airplane Travel enjoyment

Got back from vacation in Yellowstone last Monday and somehow lost all of last week to 'stuff'.

I think it had to do with loosing the sleep at the start of the week due to Delta. Somehow we left on time out of Jackson Hole, then had a 1 hour connection in Salt Lake that also left on time. Headed to Cincinnati for another 1 hour layover and then got hosed on a 2+ hour delay while they found a crew for the plane that was sitting at the gate the entire time. By the time we got home and to sleep it was 230am and I had to get up at 6am to head into the office.

As to why we would have booked a return with 3 segments - we did not. Thanks to all the cancellations this was how Delta rebooked us. All that said, somehow we landed at LaGuardia fine and our bags all made it through the connections.

That said - I was sitting next to two ~19 year olds on the flight from Salt Lake -> Cincinnati who were all cheerful about traveling. He stated he did not travel much at all, and she was heading out on her first business trip and was looking forward to the hotel and the expense report.

I found myself just shutting up and listening. I don't mind the trips, but wonder when in the 1.4M miles I've got with American I lost the enjoyment of it all...