Saturday morning came early, and 
Plumpylumps (dhpbear) drove me to SFO for my 09:00 flight to JAC via DEN. The first leg of the flight was so cramped that I decided to see if I could upgrade to United’s Economy Plus seating for the second leg. Sure, the friendly gate agent said, for fourteen bucks. That was a small price to pay, so I whipped out my plastic and plunked it down.
As an aside, Economy Plus is so worth it – those five extra inches of leg room was utterly delightful, even on the window seat I had on my DEN to SFO leg on the way back home. But back to the tale.
Jason had to work until 15:00 on Saturday, so I hung out at the airport for an hour, waiting for him to arrive. Thankfully, my cell phone has a browser built in, and I could chat with friends while waiting. I was sitting on a chair in a window overlooking the passenger pick-up area when I saw him walking up to the entrance near the restaurant, so I hopped up and walked over in that direction. When we saw each other, we smiled, shook hands, and walked to the parking lot. We spent that evening getting to know each other better.
Sunday, he had to work again, and the altitude was making me feel tired (didn’t sleep the night before), so while he was working, I lazed the day away, napping and watching TV, trying to get accustomed to the atmosphere at 6200 feet. Insomnia is one of the symptoms of altitude sickness, and is the primary one I exhibit when I go travel to high-altitude regions. When he got home, we spent more time talking and snuggling and watching baseball. We were low-key for the first two nights knowing that he has Monday through Wednesday off from work, and we’d have our adventures then.
Monday, we got up and went out to breakfast at Bubba’s BBQ, which does lousy barbecue but really good breakfast. I had chicken fried steak and eggs, hash browns, and a huge pancake. All of it was so tasty and good. From there, we gassed up the truck and headed up toward Yellowstone, passing through the Teton National Park on our way up. You’ve already seen the pics from Jackson Lake, those Teton mountains are impressive and beautiful, and we spent some time at the lake shore admiring them.
A quick stop at a general store for batteries for my camera (I forgot my charger), and the proprietor of the store asked me if I was related to Cleveland Browns’ founding coach, Paul Brown. It had been years since I was asked that question, but I made some joke about it, and he laughed.
From there, we headed up to the shore of Yellowstone Lake, and the bubbling pools or water and mud there. You’ll be seeing the video of that soon. Next up was Old Faithful and the geysers surrounding it. I pointed out to Jason, who is relatively inexperienced in these matters, that we had been cruised a couple of times. I purchased a t-shirt in the gift shop, and we walked around the geysers, talking about our lives and enjoying each other’s company. We were walking by Plume Geyser right as it erupted, splashing us with hot water and steam. As the air temperature was in the low 50s and windy, getting wet right then wasn’t so fabulous, and we trekked back to the car. Well, we were already walking back to the car anyway, but wetness added a touch of haste to our walk.
We got in the car again and headed to the Middle Geyser Basin, with the Great Prismatic Pool. Since it was really cold, the steam rising from the pools there obscured the colors except in brief bursts of wind. The steam did feel really nice, though, as did walking around the raised boardwalk pathways with Jason. The months of talking and IMing with him on a near-daily basis meant that our time together in the flesh was comfortable and easy. We laughed and held hands, and it was during that walk around the basin that I felt like we really connected.
It was starting to snow, but we made a couple of short stops for more photo ops before we started driving back to Jackson. Once we got home, we watched some football and snuggled before heading to bed.
Tuesday, we got some breakfast, then hit the road over the Teton Pass into Idaho for more site-seeing. Well, OK, honestly, there wasn’t a lot to see there except a whole lot of small towns and rolling prairies. But being able to just be with Jason was great, and when we got back into town, we had dinner, came back home, and watched Fantastic Four 2, before he got to discover just what that rope I bought at K-Mart on Sunday was for…
Wednesday, our morning love making was urgent and very intense, our emotions were running high with my imminent departure. I packed up all my stuff, and we headed back to Bubba’s for breakfast, then back to the airport, where we sat in the parking lot trying to get our last bit of time together. Finally, though, it was time for me to leave, and we kissed each other tenderly farewell. The flight home was completely uneventful on uncrowded planes, and I slept through most of them. Plumpy picked me up at the airport and brought me back home.
It doesn’t sound like much happened on the trip, but everything is different now. I feel light-hearted and happy. I know I’ll be seeing him again soon. Very soon.
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