Emails from the Road: Park City to Home (Part 6)

It's been a long day of travel. We started early but apparently not early enough for the regular LA Quinta Inn patrons as at 7:30am the continental breakfast had been demolished like a a 50s era Vegas casino. All that remained were gross egg substitutes, cold sausages and frosted flakes. Yum! This will not bode well for their Trip Advisor review. And the night was sleepless, anticipated silence replaced by our hotel neighbor's dog barking. Not sure how Jake sleeps through these things but I never do.

It was a short drive to Park City from Rock Springs. Short in comparison to the eight hours through the parks, 2.5 hours approx. Some pictures of the gorgeous terrain as well as Park City which is where Sundance is held every year in January. I've gone many times. This is the first without snow, and shitty Hollywood people. But it was still expensive so we ended up skipping lunch in favor of our pre-trip purchased snack bag that we needed to finish eating before we got to the airport. Trail mix and beef jerky...we are foodies you know.

We got to the airport extremely early and unfortunately had to abandon the remaining bottles of water from the case we purchased to travel with. I hate to have to do that particularly in the middle of a drought. Hopefully the rental car folks made use. We almost made it through security sans incident until I got flagged for having liquid in my bag. I'd forgotten the Huckleberry maple syrup (Huckleberry is a Wyoming staple) I'd gotten as a gift for our neighbor nestled at the bottom of my backpack. I had two choices; throw it out, or go all the way back out of the security line, hope to find my bag and re-pack the syrup bottle. Gee, hmmm, I wonder which choice I'll make. Jake suggested a third, "Perhaps we could eat it here together." The TSA agent didn't think that was funny. Utah coffee mug it is! I actually found a nice one as an alternative gift. The Salt Lake City airport is quite fancy actually. And so clean. Again with the clean!

Our flight was delayed an hour which seems to be par for the course these days. We spent much of the wait determining whether or not we would be sandwiched on the plane, again. If you're unfamiliar with Southwest Airlines, when I say the seats are small, and there's no legroom, picture wooden school desks circa turn of the century. How on earth can airlines expect us to sit in these ridiculous seats??? Jake is 6"3 and a big guy. His knees were down his throat. And I'm no waif myself. Add on the scores of orthopedic surgeries and injuries I've had and, woo hoo you've got a party ! Thank God it was a short flight.

So alas it's all over. And we're home. Wishing it were Saturday so I would have an extra day to recooperate. It was a pretty exhausting trip. But a special and meaningful one as well. Very happy to have been able to have a glimpse into another American life. What a beautiful country it is, warts and all.

Thanks for cheering on my adventures. Much love to you all.

xoS

Picture Gallery

• Rock Springs to Park City