Thought It Was Going To Be A Quiet Month

It has been a crazy few months.  In fact, I have been on the road quite a bit this first half of 2011.  After a particularly hectic summer, has had me on the road more than I have been home, I thought I had a quiet August coming.  Up until recently I only had a short National Park trip planned.  Now, I will be traveling 2 weeks in August.

Today I had to cancel my vacation tickets and tweak my trip.  My original plan had me flying to Vegas to meet a friend, from there we were headed to Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyons.  Last week a trip to Chicago was added to the back end.  The today, a short trip to Denver was added to the front end.  There was no way I was going to be able to make any part of my original plan.

United Airlines was able to credit me the cost of my cancelled ticket, minus $25 (yeah for frequent flyer status).  At first I had heart palpitations - they told me that it was a ridiculous $150 change fee... on a $400 ticket, that was insane.  When I asked, "even for super flyers", she found out that I qualified for a much cheaper change fee.  So glad I asked.  I then purchased a new ticket from Denver to Vegas; that was only $100.  Work will fly me from Vegas  to Chicago.  I can use that credit for a flight later this year...

I have not spent any quality time in Chicago.  I have only been there once for 2 days.  I will take an extra day to sight-see here... I really want to see the Bean (aka the Cloud).  I have already started making a list of the things I want to stuff into Chicago:

• Shedd Aquarium
• Art Institute
• Millennium Park
• Chicago Architecture Tour
• Sky Deck at Willis Tower
• Lakeshore Tour

I can sit back and not worry about the parks... my friend has planned that all out.  We have this crazy schedule of Zion to Bryce to the South Rim.

Not so relaxing, but that is okay.  I get to see some more new stuff.   More parks, more art, more sites... Bring It On!!!