LITTLE OF THIS & LITTLE OF THAT!

I am back!---I am alive!---I am in one piece!  Friend Sheila picked us up at the airport and the other 3 girls headed East & she and I ate DELICIOUS Mexican food!  Home now with my feet up---resting---we are going to see the Yankees & Rangers play baseball tomorrow---FUN IS NOT OVER YET!  Our official picture taker on the trip is sending me all the pictures soon & you will have to wait for all those stories---AND there are PLENTY!  I will give you a little preview by posting the PRELUDE BLOG TODAY!  Stay tuned the other is coming---you may just have to hear all my other mundane thoughts between now & then!

DAY ONE-2013's GREAT ADVENTURE

Who knew this day would be 16 hours before we arrived at our hotel and that carefully made plans would all go to the wayside.

We flew a "NO FRILL" -INEXPENSIVE - i.e. CHEAP airline.  I must say that fare was VERY cheap but that is the precursor to "GOTCHA"!  To begin with if you have baggage that weighs more than 8 ounces--OH DEAR---an additional charge--EITHER Carry on or Checked.  AND no drinks and certainly no peanuts unless you were willing to buy them from the airline attendant whose only duty that I saw was selling their refreshments.  Remember you cannot take a bottle of water through security so you can buy a drink at a gift shop for $3 or on the plane for $4.  This all came after our lecture on use of all the flotation devices for 15 minutes.  Color me ignorant, but I did not realize you flew over water between DFW and Denver.  

Not having slept much the night before with the girls in house and us all trying to finish packing, I tried to take a nap while stuffed into the total of 15" of space.  It is just wonderful to realize that your mouth is hanging open as your neck pops as your head slowly begins to fall off it's axis.  Such a pleasant experience, napping on the plane.

Then we had the excitement of the rental car agency.  Following waiting in line for over one hour, we step up to the agent.  The nice lady laughs at us when we tell her we plan to put 5 people and 9 bags in a full size car (TAKES LOTS OF HIKING GEAR) and explains a full size vehicle will never accommodate that--but she can give us a sweet deal only costing 3x as much since we definitely need a SUV!

Our Eagle Scout Jim has missed his flight following a traffic ticket and we killed time at Wal Mart while waiting for his delayed plane.  Side note the Wal Mart looks very different on the outside in CO--in fact we did not recognize it, but inside--a Wal Mart is a Wal Mart.!

FINALLY we start our 4 hour drive to Snowmass using the scenic route.  Seven hours later, we are here.  WHY DOES IT TAKE THAT LONG?  That answer is coming when I post Day 1-part II soon!