Weekend Standing By

I flew to Missoula this weekend to visit Tom, Kat and the baby. The rest of the Tylee clan (minus Kate) made the drive over from Seattle. I took advantage of having a family member who works for the airline and managed to get a very cheap ticket for what otherwise would have been a very expensive weekend trip. I had a very good time hanging out with everyone, I get very homesick whenever I return to the mountains. It is just so beautiful out here, I feel so much more at home in the northwest than I do anywhere else. Tom and Kat live in a great little house in a little town outside Missoula, complete with local malt shop. I got my pizza, I washed dishes for the new family, I admired the little baby.

And now I am trying to get home. Dear lord. Remind me never to fly stand-by on a Sunday! Yes, I got a very good deal on my trip here this weekend, but the downside is that I have to fly stand by, and I have the lowest priority of everyone. Right now I am in Salt Lake City. I have thus far been bumped from two flights and there is only one flight left. This last flight seems to be running at least an hour late (although if you believe the flight status indicator on the computer, it is actually going to be 3 hours late and is currently somewhere over Michigan. This would of course be the one time I choose to travel without a book. I've managed to entertain myself through the brief wait at the Missoula airport and the very short flight to SLC. I had a beer once I got here, and then played solitaire for awhile. Then waited and waited and waited and hoped that that plane they were waiting for was going to be late and all 5 people were going to miss their connections... but no. They all came running at the last minute and I was bumped.

So now I wait again. And since I have used up all my entertainment tricks, I shelled out the $8 for internet access, because the internet can keep me busy for hours, which apparently I'm going to need. I actually wanted to buy the new David Sedaris book, because that too would keep me entertained, and I was trying to protest the idea of charging for internet access in airports. But no, the Salt Lake City airport bookstores do not stock David Sedaris (I checked 4 different stores) so I threw my priciples out the window and paid for the internet.

And I still don't have a cord for my camera, so still can't show you any new pictures. I did however take a picture of Little Bear on my cell phone, so for your viewing pleasure I give you "Blue Steel":