Yesterday Nina drove south for the day. She stopped in Layton to visit with a friend and have lunch at her favorite restaurant (Mimi’s) and then continued south to Orem to pick up three grandchildren: Christopher, Michael, and Danielle (aka Blitzen). They will be here with us for the next week or so while their parents flit around England and Switzerland. Nina and the grandkids got home late last night. We’ve had a fun day today. The weather was lovely. The kids played around the house in the morning mostly downstairs with the various toys and stuff. Michael is a major Star Trek fan and enjoyed watching several episodes of Season One of the original series. Nina needed to go help out at the women’s prison in the afternoon so when she left, we left for a stop at the bank, then to a scrap booking store for some supplies for Danielle, then to a sporting goods store for a badminton / volleyball set and other outside toys, and finally a stop at Arby’s and Taco Bell for lunch. After Nina arrived home we went down to Pocatello’s annual River Festival. The kids had a good time on the huge slide and the rock climbing wall. After that we had dinner at Applebee’s and then came home. The kids are watching a video and are pretty tuckered out. We had a very pleasant Saturday. It’s fun to have the grandkids around!

It’s also good to be back home. I’ve pretty well recovered from jet lag and the trip to Manila. The week at work was very busy with a lot of catchup after having been gone for two weeks. I did take Monday as a recovery day. We drove over to Soda Springs in the morning to visit with mom and dad and then I mowed the grass in the back yard. Tuesday morning it was back to work. The routine of home is now back in motion and I’m glad to be here. I did hear from a person at our office in Manila who had stumbled across my blog. She wrote a nice note and told me that she also kept a blog — but it was written in Tagalog. That would be hard for me to read! I asked her to send me the URL, however, because I can see how well the Google translator works.

Tomorrow afternoon we’ll go to Soda Springs for dinner with my folks. They enjoy getting to see and spend some time with the grandkids. Life is indeed back to normal!

The flight from Salt Lake to Pocatello landed on time, my luggage arrived, Nina was waiting out front, and I’m home. I’ve called my dad to wish him a Happy Father’s Day. I’ve had a lovely shower. I’ve had several kids call. Life is indeed good. I’m home!

The flight from Narita to Portland arrived about fifteen minutes early. That extra time makes no difference for me as my outbound flight time doesn’t change. The fellow sitting next to me, returning home from Shanghai, China, lives about twenty minutes from the Portland Airport. He was home getting ready for a nap as I settled in at the Delta gate waiting four hours for my connecting flight to Salt Lake City. Then I’ll wait again for a connecting flight to Pocatello. There was an earlier flight to Salt Lake City by SkyWest, but that little airplane was overbooked and two people volunteered to stay behind for some compensation. There was no hope for me to get onto that flight. It wouldn’t have made much difference, anyway, as I wouldn’t make the earlier connection from Salt Lake to Pocatello. Waiting in Portland has one small advantage — the airport has free WiFi for travellers. I think that is a very significant bonus. The airport is practically empty of people right now, so it is very quiet. There isn’t a good place to take a nap, either.

The Japanese have invented the short-time bed for late-night commuters who miss the last train. These small one-person cubicles have a bed, a toilet, and a small TV with just enough space to lay down. I’d think something like that would go over well here at this airport — say $20 an hour — I’d be in one right now grabbing some Zzzz’s. As it is, the nearest hotel is about fifteen minutes away and doesn’t have a short-stay option.

That made me think about where to live if one travels a lot. Pocatello probably isn’t the best choice as you can’t get anywhere without going two other places first. The fellow who lives just a few minutes from the airport flies quite often to Asia. He buys building products for import into the USA from Asia. The Northwest flight to Japan is ideal for him. He gets to Tokyo and four hours later is at his destination — late a night and ready for bed. He comes back through Tokyo and ends his trip here in Portland where he is home within about 40 minutes of landing, ready to take a nap. That’ll never be the case in Pocatello! However, I’m not sure it is worth it to live here in Portland just for that advantage….