On the Road Again

I'm sitting in my corner hotel room, staring off into the hills and listening to Eminem blasting from outside my window. The Holiday Inn in West Yellowstone is doing some renovations and it's shocking nobody on the first floor has complained about this jarring morning soundtrack. I love me some Eminem, but at 9 a.m. while I'm on vacation? No thanks.

I'm supposed to have a roommate in this huge hotel room, but my brother never made it. He was scheduled on a 6:20 a.m. flight Monday from San Jose to Jackson, my parents left at 8 a.m. to go pick him up (Jackson is about three hours south of West Yellowstone) and I got a text from him at around 7 telling me he missed his flight. Back in civilization this wouldn't have been a huge problem. I could have called my parents, they would have picked up and they would have turned around and we would have figured out T-'s next move. Only out here in the middle of this beautiful wilderness there is no cell phone service to speak of so my poor parents drove all the way to Jackson expecting to pick up my brother and he never made it.

T- spent an entire day in San Jose and finally flew out at 4 p.m. He checked in to the Super 8 Motel in Jackson where we are heading to pick him up. It was a stressful day for all of us, but we tried to relax with a couple of IMAX movies in town and a nice dinner at Sydney's Bistro.

Now it's time to head through Yellowstone one last time. I'd love to see the bald eagles again. I don't know why, but I'm obsessed with these magnificent creatures and had a meltdown when I saw my first one. Dad caught it all on camera...

Hope you had a nice July 4 weekend. I heard it was HOT in New York City. What a novelty -- being able to see fireworks from anywhere in town.