Into The Great Unknown
It's always fun being able to go new places and do new things. Lynnell and I both really enjoy the adventure that comes along with it. It's even better when you aren't the one paying for it.
Two week before vacation, my manager asked me if I would be willing to go to Hailey, ID for two weeks. I said "no way man, I have a brand new baby. There's no amount of money that you could pay me to ditch her for two weeks." Then I remembered that Shirley (mother in-law... stay with me) was coming the next week (week before vacation). So, I went and told my boss that Lynnell's mom was coming into town next week anyways. My boss called the project manager that was trying to get me to come down there and told him the bad news (... the I-can't-come news). Then like clockwork my boss comes back over and says "If you can take your family, can you go the week after?"
I honestly didn't even want to go. I did, but I didn't. It's one of those things where you are still enjoying the fun of your newborn baby and you just want to stay home and take it all in, but a little travel is also fun. So, I said "I am on vacation the week after, but if he (the project manager) wants me to come down there that badly then I can go the two weeks after vacation AND the family comes with me AND we get a condo because my wife will go nuts in a hotel for two weeks with a baby AND I get to expense food AND he pays for my travel down there." My boss went back to his office, called the project manager, told him what I said and then came back to my cube. He looked at me and said "Ok, you can take the family, you will get a condo and POWER pays for food and travel." I thought "OH CRAP! They went for it." Obviously they were desperate. So, I called Lynnell and said "Do you want to go to Hailey for two weeks after vacation?"
Now, if you've been paying attention, you'll realize that I've gotten myself into this little deal without talking to my wife. I didn't really think that they'd go for it in the first place. Luckily I have the best wife ever. She said "Sure. That sounds like fun." Deep down I was kind of hoping that she would have said no just so I had an excuse to get out of the deal, but she didn't.
So, the deal was sealed and we were scheduled to be in Hailey the following two weeks after vacation. Turns out I began to grow anxious to go on the trip and see a new office. I do enjoy it, and it was looking like this trip would turn out to be enjoyable after all.
Sunday (Aug. 5) morning we got up on our own sweet time, I packed ALLLLLLL of the stuff back into the van, we ate breakfast and then set out on the road.
The night before I had checked out directions online and figured out the optimal route (you know... one of those postman/calculus things). We (ok...I) decided to go to Missoula and then head South.
Everything went smooth. I can't really say too much about it because all we did was drive and drive and drive and drive and drive and drive and drive and .... you get the point. One thing I can say is that the views were not spectacular like everyone said they were. I'm sure they are any other time of year, but they weren't during fire season. In fact I was thinking to myself (like you do) ... I thought "If I came across a cannibal at this point he would probably think I was a tasty smoked morsel (ok...I realize I'm a bit bigger than a morsel, but that's off topic). The air was so filled with smoke that you could taste it. You could barely see a mile down the road in some spots. I'm not a writer, so I can't describe it in great detail. I can say that it felt like I was in San Fransisco in the morning only the town was comprised of only Cheech and Chongs. It was this nasty smokey haze and it did wonders for my throat.
About 5 hours into the drive Izzie wanted to eat. So, we found a nice little unoccupied camp space in a campground and stopped for a while. I got out the camp chairs so that we could relax (because sitting down in a camp chair is so relaxing after sitting for 5 hours). It was mostly for Lynnell. I took my shoes off and played in the freezing river like a little boy while Lynnell fed Izzie.
After about 40 minutes, we loaded back up and hit the road again. It took us another 3 hours to get to Hailey. So eight hours of driving, 500+ miles and two pit stops (one for mom and dad to eat lunch) later we had arrived. It had just gotten dark when we go to the valley, so we couldn't see much. We were just glad to be done.
How did Izzie do you ask. Well, she made it about eight hours, and after that she wanted out of her car seat. She started screaming. Lynnell managed to make it tolerable by climbing in back with her and talking to her and giving her the all mighty pacifier. When we got there and got unloaded, we decided to out to grab a bite to eat. We put Izzie back in her car seat only 20 minutes after arriving and as soon as I set her down in it she screamed bloody murder. She knew what it was and she didn't want anything to do with it. I took her out and she was fine. It was the greatest. So, I left Lynnell and baby and went to forage up some grub for dinner.
Here's Izzie somewhere mid trip after I nailed the rumble strip, woke her up and mom gave her the binky:
Life would not be good without binkeys.
Two week before vacation, my manager asked me if I would be willing to go to Hailey, ID for two weeks. I said "no way man, I have a brand new baby. There's no amount of money that you could pay me to ditch her for two weeks." Then I remembered that Shirley (mother in-law... stay with me) was coming the next week (week before vacation). So, I went and told my boss that Lynnell's mom was coming into town next week anyways. My boss called the project manager that was trying to get me to come down there and told him the bad news (... the I-can't-come news). Then like clockwork my boss comes back over and says "If you can take your family, can you go the week after?"
I honestly didn't even want to go. I did, but I didn't. It's one of those things where you are still enjoying the fun of your newborn baby and you just want to stay home and take it all in, but a little travel is also fun. So, I said "I am on vacation the week after, but if he (the project manager) wants me to come down there that badly then I can go the two weeks after vacation AND the family comes with me AND we get a condo because my wife will go nuts in a hotel for two weeks with a baby AND I get to expense food AND he pays for my travel down there." My boss went back to his office, called the project manager, told him what I said and then came back to my cube. He looked at me and said "Ok, you can take the family, you will get a condo and POWER pays for food and travel." I thought "OH CRAP! They went for it." Obviously they were desperate. So, I called Lynnell and said "Do you want to go to Hailey for two weeks after vacation?"
Now, if you've been paying attention, you'll realize that I've gotten myself into this little deal without talking to my wife. I didn't really think that they'd go for it in the first place. Luckily I have the best wife ever. She said "Sure. That sounds like fun." Deep down I was kind of hoping that she would have said no just so I had an excuse to get out of the deal, but she didn't.
So, the deal was sealed and we were scheduled to be in Hailey the following two weeks after vacation. Turns out I began to grow anxious to go on the trip and see a new office. I do enjoy it, and it was looking like this trip would turn out to be enjoyable after all.
Sunday (Aug. 5) morning we got up on our own sweet time, I packed ALLLLLLL of the stuff back into the van, we ate breakfast and then set out on the road.
The night before I had checked out directions online and figured out the optimal route (you know... one of those postman/calculus things). We (ok...I) decided to go to Missoula and then head South.
Everything went smooth. I can't really say too much about it because all we did was drive and drive and drive and drive and drive and drive and drive and .... you get the point. One thing I can say is that the views were not spectacular like everyone said they were. I'm sure they are any other time of year, but they weren't during fire season. In fact I was thinking to myself (like you do) ... I thought "If I came across a cannibal at this point he would probably think I was a tasty smoked morsel (ok...I realize I'm a bit bigger than a morsel, but that's off topic). The air was so filled with smoke that you could taste it. You could barely see a mile down the road in some spots. I'm not a writer, so I can't describe it in great detail. I can say that it felt like I was in San Fransisco in the morning only the town was comprised of only Cheech and Chongs. It was this nasty smokey haze and it did wonders for my throat.
About 5 hours into the drive Izzie wanted to eat. So, we found a nice little unoccupied camp space in a campground and stopped for a while. I got out the camp chairs so that we could relax (because sitting down in a camp chair is so relaxing after sitting for 5 hours). It was mostly for Lynnell. I took my shoes off and played in the freezing river like a little boy while Lynnell fed Izzie.
After about 40 minutes, we loaded back up and hit the road again. It took us another 3 hours to get to Hailey. So eight hours of driving, 500+ miles and two pit stops (one for mom and dad to eat lunch) later we had arrived. It had just gotten dark when we go to the valley, so we couldn't see much. We were just glad to be done.
How did Izzie do you ask. Well, she made it about eight hours, and after that she wanted out of her car seat. She started screaming. Lynnell managed to make it tolerable by climbing in back with her and talking to her and giving her the all mighty pacifier. When we got there and got unloaded, we decided to out to grab a bite to eat. We put Izzie back in her car seat only 20 minutes after arriving and as soon as I set her down in it she screamed bloody murder. She knew what it was and she didn't want anything to do with it. I took her out and she was fine. It was the greatest. So, I left Lynnell and baby and went to forage up some grub for dinner.
Here's Izzie somewhere mid trip after I nailed the rumble strip, woke her up and mom gave her the binky:
Life would not be good without binkeys.
posted by Joe at
7:42 AM
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