A Scenic Place to Rendezvous

Last weekend it was up to Jackson Hole, WY for my first event for the new job. In an effort to save some money, I flew in to Salt Lake City and rented a car to drive the 5 hours to J-Hole. I love road trips, so I was pretty excited about driving through a part of the country that I've never been before.

My flight was set to leave at 7:11 am, so I was up before the sun and at the airport with about an hour to kill. Due to sushi the night before, I hadn't watched Grey's yet so I figured this would be a good time to catch up on the internet. Wrong. The announcement guy at the airport felt the need to provide us with the most unnecessary announcements all morning. At one point, the following announcement actually interrupted my viewing experience: "The airport chapel is located on the second floor of Terminal 3." WHAT? There are a number of things wrong with this announcement:

1. It is Friday morning around 6:15 - why does anyone care where any chapel is?
2. Why is there a chapel in an airport?
3. If you are the kind of person who goes to the chapel in an airport, don't you ask where it is? Not just wait for a random announcement to come on and tell you where it is...

Furthermore, did that announcement spur anyone to get out of their seat and go to the 2nd floor of Terminal 3??

Without finishing Grey's due to the asinine announcements, I boarded the plane (which was a majority empty proving my point that no one actually wants to go to Salt Lake City). The plane ride was mostly uneventful, the same cannot be said for the rental car counter in Salt Lake.

I was carrying my Virginia is for Lovers bag (what? it's a great travel bag...) waiting for my turn at the counter. The couple in front of me finishes their transaction and the gentleman working for Alamo looks up at me and says, (I am not lying about this) "Come here, Lover." WHAT??? Don't worry, it gets better. So this guy looks like Chris Farley singing "Fat Man in a Little Coat" and he is grinning ear to ear at me. I give him my reservation sheet and my license. He asks for my phone number and says, "You might want to say it quietly, he (pointing to the other man behind the counter) may take it and start calling you." Seriously? Can we just finish this process and get me the keys to my car? Oh we can, and we can give me the keys to a Chevy Cobalt...

I get situated in my clown car and head on down the road to Wyoming. The scenery did not disappoint, the leaves were starting to change and the mountains were beautiful. (I did feel a little like I was in Big Love though because large suburbans with dark tinted windows were all over the highway.)

I stopped in Pocatello, ID for lunch and had a most delicious meal. (I am kind of a nerd and I look everything up on the internet prior to doing it, so I found the restaurant before I got there.) As I drove along the Snake River in ID, I decided that having a second home in this part of the country would be divine!!

On Scenic ID-31, I enter Victor, ID, where the sign actually says, "A Scenic Place to Rendezvous." Which I thought was most interesting considering there was nothing in this town. I don't even think there was a hotel. However, once I got to Main St. I did feel like I had driven into 1934 - it was a little crazy.

The Cobalt didn't love the 10% Mountain Grade through the Teton Pass, but we made it and headed into town to check in at the hotel. (Because of the timing of my hiring and this meeting, I wasn't able to get a room at the hotel where the meeting was being held and instead found my hotel on hotels.com.) It turns out - this was not a hotel - it was a condo complex. Seriously, I was staying in a one-bedroom full condo.

I have decided that this is place and time for IT Girl and I to take our next vacation. The scenery was beautiful, the weather (while a little cold) was nice, and the men were MEN! (But I think we'll skip the Alamo counter at SLC Airport.)