Monthly Archives: September 2013

Driving away from Jackson Hole was as Beautiful as Jackson itself.   I did indeed get to see and experience part of The Grand Tetons – Breathtaking!

Grand Tetons

Beautiful Nature

We were very disappointed we did not get to see any Bears (I guess we will have to wait until we get back to Chicago…Da Bears!)

Don’t Feed the Bears

On this Gorgeous Sun Shiney Warm day I started  my drive onward through the winding roads to our next destination when out of nowhere Mr. Clouds rolled in bringing  his party friends ‘Mist’ and ‘Rain’ with him.  Only moments later I was startled by an impact on my windshield.  It started to hail.  Hail?  Who the hell invited you?  It came fast and hard but luckily decided to stay behind and annoy someone else.   Finding myself once again driving through Idaho, I still did not find it to be all that appealing.  At some point I was enclosed in mountains with signs posted on their side that read, “Report all shootings”   “Hmm,” I thought, “What am I suppose to think of that?”   I actually started looking up in the mountains as if I was going to spot a sharp shooter – hey, I don’t think it’s that far out there considering there were actual signs!  I looked at my GPS – only 1 hour to go – Yahoo!  except after an hour went by and I  still found myself out in the middle of the desert did it dawn on me that for the second time, I forgot to take into account the the timezone change.  Now it is dark and I still have another hour to go.  Driving through nothing but desert for hours there is no doubt when one actually crosses the Nevada boarder.  We were greeted by bright flashing lights and a plethora of Casinos and Hotels.  As quickly as we saw it, we passed it and were back to driving in the deserted no mans land.  Arriving with a very tired bunch at around 10:30 p.m. I walked up to the registration where I was  informed by a polite young man that they have no rooms available.  Really?!? I thought.  There is nothing or no one around, what are they hosting a convention for Geckos? HA!HA! he laughed, he was only joking.  I didn’t laugh.  Well, I didn’t want to laugh but I did because I wanted him to give me a good room.  He set me up in a room with 2 doubles and a pull out sofa.  After lugging our completely full bellhop cart of stuff up to the room it quickly came to my attention that there was no sofa in the room.  I call down to the front desk really hoping this guy is not trying to play another trick on me.  He asked me, “Are you sure?”   “YES! I am sure!!  the room is not that big – I don’t think I would miss a sofa!”   He puts me on hold for a long moment then comes back to tell me his brilliant plan.  He informs me that I can stay in the room but they are also going to give me room 217 for the kids, at no extra charge of course.   WOW! A whole other room for free! — I wanted to scream back into the receiver – Are you INSANE?!?!   217 is 5 rooms down the hall!  He checked me in, he saw I was by myself with 4 small children but still he thought it would be a good idea to have the kids in one room and me in the other – Is that even legal? (Yes of course, I admit it, for a brief moment I considered taking him up on his offer)  It is now 11:00, Beckett is beyond tired, crying ,and the other boys are offering to just sleep on the floor.  He calls me back and says, “Mrs. Machado, we are going to give you the Suite.”  — Wow! Maybe I should’ve stopped at one of those Casinos, 2 nights in a row I scored the Hotel Suite for no extra charge!!!  Good Night and Sweet Dreams!