Old Pecos Trail

Will and I headed down to Santa Fe a few weekends ago. Will had never been and our friends, Brian & Amy, invited us to join them for the weekend. We had a great time, and Will even drank a margarita.

Anne & Will

Really, Will wanted a beverage with a salt rim and Brian and I ordered margaritas that were really weak. Amy didn't drink margaritas because, well, see photo below. We convinced Will he could handle a weak margarita, so he joined us for the second round - and the margaritas this time were wicked strong. He toughed it out and tried not to make too many funny faces while he choked it down. 

Will, Anne, Brian, Amy

(I never realized how much shorter I am than everyone else...)

Teh Anxiety, I Has It

Seriously people.  Another plane crash?  This is the second time in as many months that I've landed in Denver, turned on my phone and saw an email alert from the NYT about a plane crash.  And add to that a friend's death in an airplane crash the same day as the Hudson River crash and you get a nervous Anne on a flight.

Flying in and out of Stapleton and DIA over the past 30+ years means that I laugh in the face of turbulence.  Lightening storms are really just good laser shows.  A fun activity with Will is being towed in a glider behind a prop plane.  And apparently donkeys kill more people every year than plane crashes.

But still.  I'm getting nervous.  I've already been on 15 flights since the start of the year.  Big jets and little commuter planes.  I have four flights scheduled for next week alone.  I hope I have an abundance of luck that isn't about to run out.  And some incredibly skilled pilots in charge.  And take-control flight attendants who don't loose their cool under pressure.  And a strong person sitting in the exit row who won't fumble with the emergency exit door. (Yes, I've started sizing up all of these people as I get on a plane these days.)

So, wish me good luck.  More so with the whole not getting anxious part than with the plane part.  That's going to go swimmingly, right?

17 Days and Counting

I bought some "airport trash" to read on my plane flight out to Seattle over Christmas. Yes, we finally made it to see Will's family - and there's photographic evidence here.

In my airport trash, there was an interview with the Bush family reflecting on leaving the White House. I have to admit that I've always kinda liked Laura, Jenna and Barbara. I could separate them from the idiot male Bush family member. Plus, a lot of my friends have commented that my mom looks like Laura Bush - and I have a very soft spot in my heart for my own mom.

They talked about showing the Obamas around the White House - and showing Malia & Sasha all the fun hide-and-go-seek spots. But then Barbara made a comment about how she was really excited for her parents to move back to Texas where her dad would be respected again and treated more fairly.  And that comment just made me bristle.

The dude at one point had the highest popularity rating for any president - and he's plummeted to the one of the lowest ratings ever. That's his own fault. And I just hope history judges him harshly for not only his complete and utter lack of leadership for the American people, but also for his incredible inability to take responsibility for his failures. I'd respect the guy a whole lot more if he could go into an interview and identify one thing, just one thing, that he would have done differently in his 8 years as president. Jeebus, I can think of one thing I'd have done differently already today (um, I ate a chocolate bon bon for breakfast, and I'd change that to something healthier).

So sorry, Barbara, that we're so harsh on your dad. It must be hard to love somebody so much and have so much criticism heaped on your loved one. But he volunteered for the job, twice. And he did a really bad job with it. And a lot of people are suffering because of that. 

Also? I'm excited for a president that can talk Engrish better with, you know, complete sentences and stuff.

Our Unintended Staycation

How depressing is the term, "staycation"? It means that you don't have the money to go somewhere for vacation - or, in our case, it means Frontier sucks and you can't get to where you want to go until 3 days later!

Will and I are supposed to be visiting his family in Gig Harbor for the holidays. We were supposed to leave last night. But while at a holiday party at my parents' house, Will's dad called to tell us that our flight had been cancelled.

Now, I'm a reasonable person. Seattle is socked with snow that they can't handle so they shut the airport down. That's a perfectly acceptable thing to do. And I can be patient with a weather delay. But we were supposed to be in Gig Harbor on Sunday night, and now Frontier is telling us that they can't rebook our flights until Wednesday - arriving in Seattle at 8 pm. Yep, that's right. We get in late on Christmas Eve - at best we'll be at the house around 9:30 pm.

Here's the kicker - we're supposed to come home on Friday night. Our week long vacation to the Northwest is now going to be 48 hours and 30 minutes. And Frontier is being a complete jerk about helping us extend our time out there.

Sucky Frontier: "Sure, we can book you on a later flight coming home - when would you like to come back?"

Me: "Umm, Monday?"

Sucky Frontier: "No flights available that day."

Me: "Umm, Sunday?"

Sucky Frontier: "Sure, let me look. No flights available that day either."

Me: "Saturday?"

Sucky Frontier: "Sure, let me look. No flights on Saturday."

(Side note - if we wanted to BUY a ticket for any of these days, we could for an outrageous price. So Sucky Frontier is cramming even more folks onto already oversold flights for a premium price.)

Me: "So, our week long vacation is now reduced to 48 hours and you can't do anything to help?"

Sucky Frontier (now with an attitude): "You know, you're really lucky to get out there before Christmas - we have lots of passengers that aren't getting out to Seattle until the 27th."

That may be true, but it doesn't make the situation suck any less or make me feel any warmer or fuzzier towards your airline.

I estimate that I've spent about $15k on airline tickets in 2008 between work & personal travel. And while I really hope I don't have to travel that much in 2009, I can guarantee that Frontier is not getting any of that business next year, unless they start making this better ASAP.

Okay, now it is time for an attitude adjustment... Any thoughts on what we should do with our 3 extra days of time in Boulder?