Saturday, July 06, 2013

BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: BIG SKY EDITION

(Have courage, dear friends, this tale is almost over!)

5/26/2013 Bozeman, MT to Minneapolis, MN to Atlanta, GA to Huntsville, AL

We had to get up at the butt crack of dawn and get back to the airport.  I don't know why, but there was something completely disheartening about this flight that took off while it was still dark outside.  Usually I equate getting up before dawn to go somewhere with an adventure, but I was so tired that all I could equate it with this time is being water boarded.  The Bozeman airport is very nice, though, so if you've got to be up that early, it isn't a bad place to be I guess.

Unfortunately, I didn't make any fun single serving friends on the plane this time.  It was really just very uneventful.  I'm fairly certain I slept on and off until we landed in the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport.  That airport is just flat out awesome. It was like hanging out in an episode of The Jetsons!  At the different concourses, they have eating areas and every chair has an iPad docked there for people to use.  That is kind of brilliant, because that lets everyone check the internet/weather/news without having to drag out their own computers or tablets.  They also let you order food from the snack bars!  Ah, we live in the future, you guys!

This was the longest leg of our flight home, and I swear the woman in front of me had a complete come apart on the plane.  I'm not sure if she was scared of flying, or if she was very sir sick, or what, but she was making me nervous.  The flight was very bumpy, and I'll admit that I had a couple of moments of saying goodbye to my loved ones in my head, but this lady...oy.  She had pulled a blanked over her head and was rocking back and forth so hard that she was bouncing the seat, and she was moaning.  The lady in the same row of seats (who I'm fairly certain didn't know her, just from their conversation) started patting her on the back and trying to soothe her, all while flagging down a flight attendant for a handful of air sick bags.  I expected her at any moment to go all "THERE'S SOMETHING ON THE WING OF THE PLANE!" and have to be tackled by the airplane staff.  Luckily, we landed before that could happen.  I sincerely hope that woman just drives cross country the next time she needs to get somewhere, because that was just too much.

The Atlanta leg of the trip was uneventful (I still hate the ATL airport) and we finally got home!  Steve and I were worried that we'd miss the tiny Sunday window of time, literally only 30 minutes, that we could pick up Butler from the kennel, so I sent Mr. Lee and Steve on ahead to get him while I got the luggage and waited.  I was worried Butler would think we'd abandoned him!  Plus, tomorrow is a holiday and the kennel would be closed, and we didn't want to pay for an extra day if we could help it.  I grabbed the bags and waited until they drove to Huntsville and back, and then we went home!  I'm so very glad to be here!  I'm also glad tomorrow is a holiday and the office is closed so that I can sleep!

It was a wonderful, wonderful trip and I'm so glad I got to go!  I am always amazed at the beauty and variety of our country.  Seriously, you all need to go out there if you can!

Just don't step in a thermal area!

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