Early explorers named the mountains the Tetons after the French word for “breasts.”  Not sure I see the resemblance (they’re kind of jagged…), but I guess after years of solitude in the wilderness you’ll take what you can get.

The mountains are probably most famous as the subjects of an Ansel Adams photo shoot.  Here’s one of his well known shots:

How does Bryn’s version compare?

Hope to get back some day to ski Jackson Hole and Grand Targhee.

Related posts:

1. Seattle Weekend Had a great weekend in Seattle / Issaquah.  Hope to...
2. Home Again Back to the ‘Quah this weekend, 4th trip this summer. ...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Wildlife - We saw a couple bears from a distance, some deer/elk?, some chipmunks, and tons of bison.  Whenever you see a ton of cars pulled over on the side of the road, you know there must be something worth looking at.  And then you learn the bison are a dime a dozen.  So much so they serve them at the restaurants.  No joke.

Then he started following us.  Bryn’s theory: our car was red, and bison (like bullfighting bulls) instinctively charge red things.  Later, while on a trail and seeing another bison nearby, she put a black coat on over her pink-ish shirt so she wouldn’t get rammed.

What’s the difference between bison and buffalo? In North America, the words are used interchangeably, and, as it turns out, incorrectly.  Real buffaloes are native to Africa and Asia, and are only distantly related to the bison shown above.  Real buffaloes are more smaller, more cattle-like, and more domesticated.  Shame on new Pac-10 members, the University of Colorado Buffaloes for perpetuating the misnomer.  Points awarded to the Bucknell University Bison for animal accuracy.

Terrain - Yellowstone is filled with beautiful landscapes.  They have mountains, canyons, dense forests, open grasslands, lakes, rivers, and everything in between.  Some of the more idyllic spots looked like a scene out of Jurassic Park, and we half-expected to see a herd of brontosaurus or a pterodactyl or something.

Some areas have been scorched by forest fires but the resilient and pervasive lodge pole pine always seems to grow back.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone – One of the more famous spots, but surprisingly uncrowded.

Old Faithful – Here’s where the crowds were.  The geyser still erupts fairly regularly, every hour and a half or so.  Thankfully we timed it pretty well and didn’t have to wait very long.

Of course there was lots of other cool stuff too.  One lesser-known stop we made was the Boiling River, thanks to Chris’s recommendation.  On the one side you have icicle river water, and on the other, hot-springs fed hot-tub water.  Very cool.

Related posts:

1. Half Dome Climb Bryn and I made our first trip to Yosemite this...
2. Iguazu Falls I won’t be able to look at another waterfall the...
3. Big Sky Country I was excited to go to Red Lodge, Montana this...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

We stopped at a few places along the way, including this scenic vista at about 9200 ft.

And then again at the top:

Very cool drive, definitely recommended.

Related posts:

1. Half Dome Climb Bryn and I made our first trip to Yosemite this...
2. Half Marathon #2 I ran my 2nd half marathon this past Sunday.  Same...
3. Is I-35 the Highway of Holiness? In the Old Testament of the Bible, Isaiah 35 prophesizes...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

All the new Camaros at the airport were reserved, but our Chevy Cobalt rental at least had XM, which was pretty clutch since we did a lot of driving.

After getting into Red Lodge (pop. 2200) we explored their cutesy downtown which included a visit to their awesomely nostalgic Candy Emporium.  I’ve been on a quest for Johnny Apple Treats ever since Camp Meriwether at approx. age 12, but my search has been fruitless.  The Emporium did offer boxes of Appleheads for $0.39, and I thought they were pretty close.  Somehow I managed to get us terribly lost on our way to the Klein-family welcome BBQ, an impressive task for such a small town, but we eventually made it.

And what do the locals do on Thursday nights?  Head on down the road to bustling Bearcreek (pop. 83) for pig racing at the saloon!  Apparently this is a long-standing tradition and a fundraiser for local scholarships.  Beer + souvenir cup for $4, check.

We went whitewater rafting on Friday on the Stillwater and Yellowstone Rivers.  It was lots of fun.  Plenty of time spent floating in between rapids but that left time for some great swimming and cliff-jumping opportunities.  No pics for fear of soaking the camera.

The rehearsal dinner was huge — 100+ people.  There must be pretty lax serving laws in Montana though: an unmanned keg of IPA on the deck made for good times.

Attempted to go running the next morning, made it about 4 miles.  The altitude, warm weather, and aforementioned IPA didn’t help.  Then we grabbed some lunch and paid a visit to the Red Lodge Ales brewery for a quick sample.

And then there was the main event…

Related posts:

1. The Political Spectrum of Country Artists Surprise surprise, not all country singers are “red state” die-hards...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Go here to play the game: http://www.tripadvisor.com/TIQGame

It looks like there’s different settings so you can play a US-only version if that might help your score.

Related posts:

1. Book Review: The Geography of Bliss I really liked The Geography of Bliss.  It probably helped...
2. The Coolest Guy in the World From CollegeHumor.com… watch as this guy takes on Gas Works,...
3. Base Wars: Best Video Game Ever Remember Base Wars?  What a great game. Here’s how the...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Bryn recently returned from a business trip to the UK.  Originally the trip was scheduled for early May, and I planned to tag along and play tourist.  After I bought my ticket, the date for her trip was pushed back a month.  So I call United and the fun begins.

I ask if I can change my ticket to the new dates (same flights, same days of the week, just a month later.)  No, it is non-transferable and non-refundable, but out of the goodness of their hearts they understand plans change so for a $250 change fee plus the difference in fare, I could change my ticket.  June is apparently a more popular time to go to London so the total extra cost to change was over $500.  No thanks.

I don’t have a problem with any of this, I understand the risks of buying of plane tickets.  United simply followed their policy.  However, if the phone reservation agent had been granted the leeway to bend the policy to be more customer-friendly, she could have created a Raving Fan.  That was opportunity #1.

Then the Iceland volcano blew up, and grounded all air traffic to Europe.  While this was terrible news for thousands of stranded travelers, I thought it could be a golden opportunity for me.  Even though my scheduled flight was still a couple weeks out, I called United and said I was scared to fly because of the ash cloud, and asked if I could cancel and get a refund.  Maybe the agent called my bluff, or maybe he saw a record of my previous call, but he wasn’t having it.  I could cancel but I’d still eat the $250 change fee.  That was opportunity #2.

Finally I bite the bullet and cancel the flight, leaving a credit of several hundred dollars on my account I have 12 months to use.  This credit is not visible online, and I have to call United back when I want to redeem it.  I’d always prefer to see it in writing, so I’m going to say missed opportunity #3.

Fast forward a couple months and I want to redeem it for flights for Bryn and I to Mexico.  So I call and explain what I want, and I’m told that because my original London ticket was non-transferable, I could only buy a ticket for me, but not for Bryn.  Seriously.  Missed opportunity #4.

I get transferred to a supervisor because I’m in disbelief.  The United reservations supervisor explains to me about a ticketing loophole that will allow me to use my credit to buy Bryn’s ticket, BUT I’ll have to physically go to the airport to do it.  Seriously.  Missed opportunity #5.

The next day I go to the airport to buy the tickets.  The United agent at the ticket counter doesn’t know what the International change fee is, and instead of typing in $0 (like I suggest), she literally calls the same 800-number I’ve been talking to and (after waiting on hold 5 minutes) finds out it’s $250.  Apparently she had the freedom to charge me whatever she wanted and deliberately opted for the maximum sentence.  Big missed opportunity #6!

Either way, I get the tickets and go on my way.  Vamos a Mexico!

Why They Don’t Care

On the way home I was thinking about the kind of company that can be that unfriendly and inflexible to customers, and could really only come up with two: monopolies and sellers of commodities.  Unfortunately for travelers, airplane tickets have become a commodity.

Airlines today basically sell only a service, a promise to get you safely to your destination.  The level of comfort, service, and safety is nearly identical among all major carriers, so price becomes the only point of differentiation.  When the perceived “product” is the same (the destination) why not buy from the “store” (airline) with the lowest price?  As someone who makes their living from comparison shopping, I can tell you this is a very powerful philosophy.

What’s interesting is that United could use superior customer service as a competitive advantage (a la Zappos), but they’ve clearly decided it’s not worth it.

I’m a frequent flier, but not in the eyes of any one airline.  I pick my flights based on flight times and price, and I believe the majority of fliers are just like me.  In the past 12 months, I’ve flown Alaska, JetBlue, Delta, Continental, Southwest, American, Virgin, and Frontier.  Go back a little farther and I can add in United, LAN, US Airways, AirTran, and Northwest.

At one point I had achieved Premier status with United (made good use of their Dulles hub when I was in VA), but I’ve since lost it, and I’m certainly no million-miler.  And they know it.  Why bend the rules to help me when I definitely don’t do the same in return?

Related posts:

1. XM Radio Cancellation Scam Satellite radio is an interesting business model.  They have extremely...
2. Pro’s and Con’s of a Cashless Society Yes, I’m that guy who charges his order off the...
3. Tahoe Ski Weekend We had a great time skiing up at Tahoe (Sierra-at-Tahoe,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Related posts:

1. Tahoe Ski Weekend We had a great time skiing up at Tahoe (Sierra-at-Tahoe,...
2. Weekend Haps It was a great weekend, full of victories both large...
3. Home Again Back to the ‘Quah this weekend, 4th trip this summer. ...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

“Produced in a facility that processes peanuts and other nuts.”

Who is this warning for?  The allergic semi-suicidal customer debating whether or not to risk his life on the off-chance this bag loudly proclaiming to contain peanuts is really full of imitation, allergy-safe peanuts processed in a peanut-free environment?

I can think of two real reasons why the King Nut Company prints this warning.  Perhaps they were sued by a non-fictional version of the above customer, and the jury decided the company didn’t do enough to warn the customer of the contents of the bag.  Now they go out of their way to cover their butt.

But more likely is that it is required by law.  Silly to have on a bag of peanuts of course, but valuable to have on other less-obviously-nutty items.

Another one for the Captain Obvious files: While in New York, I saw a sign for “Japanese Sushi.”  Is there any other kind?

Related posts:

1. Jury Duty I was kind of excited to get selected for jury...
2. Bear Valley Skiing Last week there was a break in the weather and...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Related posts:

1. Home Again Back to the ‘Quah this weekend, 4th trip this summer. ...
2. Denver Fun times this weekend in Denver for Dan’s bachelor party,...
3. Summertime…and the Living’s Easy So I’m hard at work the other day and I...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Last Friday and Saturday Bryn and I had the very privileged opportunity to visit the White House.  We toured the “East Wing” and the 1st floor of the residence.  People were probably working in the West Wing because that was off-limits to us tourists.  Highlights of this part of the tour:

• The view from the “Blue Room” across the lawn and National Mall to the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial.
• The thick bulletproof plexiglass behind all the 200-year old single-pane windows.
• Learning about the online-lottery that selects kids for the annual Easter Egg Roll.  I guess I assumed it was some sort of “make-a-wish” foundation thing.  Originally the Egg Roll took place on Capitol Hill, but was canceled by Congress in 1878.  President Rutherford B. Hayes seized the opportunity to earn some goodwill and invited the kids over to the White House.  The move turned out to be probably his most enduring legacy: today the Egg Roll attracts 30,000 guests.
• Getting wanded by some super-cool handheld radiation geiger-meter device.
• The tough and heavily armed Secret Service officers serving as museum docents and discussing earnestly the upholstery, artwork, and china.
• After the daily tours are done, the staff rolls back out the giant area rugs and place becomes a normal live-able house again.
• Learning the famous south-facing facade of the White House is really the “back door.”  1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is actually on the other side, shown here:

Here we are in the driveway:

I wonder if any tourists start to go crazy and have to be subdued by the Secret Service agents.

The next day was the garden tour.  I enjoyed all the commemorative photos of presidents and first ladies planting trees in their suits.  Did they really dig that whole hole by themselves, dressed like that?  Or did the gardener do all the work and then just hand them the shovel?  Either way, how sweet would it be to play flag football when this is your backyard:

The White House itself is a big mansion, but it’s not outrageously big.  (The Hearst Castle has more square footage.)  But it’s all about the location and the real estate.  The grounds are huge!

The rest of the weekend was lots of fun as well.  The wedding was great and we definitely made the most of our time back in DC.  Thank you Kelly for your amazing hospitality!

Related posts:

1. In-N-Out’s Secret Menu I’m so hungry right now, In-N-Out sounds delicious!  Have you...
2. Mr. Sketch Markers When I was a kid, we had lots of art...
3. No Such Thing as a Free Lunch I appreciate the effort, and everyone loves a loyalty program...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.