Last of the Homeland and Traveling Hell

One of my mom's nicknames is "Gibbon". It is fitting.

The last couple of days with mom and grandma were mostly lounging around and avoiding the heat, but it did include one more fun trip. To the zoo! It was 93 degrees, but I hadn't been to the Reid Park Zoo in Tuscon since I was around 12 and I was ready to hear the gibbons with their musical morning howls and the peacocks chilling near the giraffe pen.

Eeeee anteater!

Grumpy sisters

I sent my husband a pic of a giraffe. He asked me how I got home already and took a picture of Bacon.

So that's how they do it...

Much of the zoo was just how I remembered it. Coloring posters for kids to purchase were the exact same, and the tiger was there to greet you at the entrance. I could hear the gibbons before we even made it into the facility. We made sure to visit every animal and though it isn't the largest zoo, it is still pretty great.

Blending in

Beautiful girl

Hello handsome

My last night included one more ride in the dune buggy during the sunset.  I'll give Arizona one thing, it has awesome sunsets. The mountains were turning purple and the sky painted fiery as we hauled ass through the sandy terrain. It kept the sadness of knowing I would be leaving my family members the next day hidden in the blurry cacti and tire tracks.

Don't worry, my uncle is kinder than he looks

The next morning was rough, but I held it together until we got to the airport. I was checking in and was told that my flight was cancelled but if I wanted to make it to Idaho that night, they would rush me onto the next and only flight out that was leaving in 15 minutes. I took that option and had the most rushed goodbye to my mom and grandma ever (which I absolutely hated) and tears flowed as I hobbled through the security.

I'm the tallest! At 5'2"...

I made it to my lay over destination in San Francisco around 2:30pm. I was already pouting because I would have to wait until 6:45pm to go to Boise. My phone started to notify me that my flight had been delayed until 8:30pm. And then 9:03pm. And then...cancelled.

My face upon finding out that info.

DAMNIT. Stupid United Airlines. All I wanted to do was go home. I wanted to bury my face in my husbands arms and be able to be sad without weirdos watching. I didn't drink anything that whole day, so I finally tried to sit down with a water and some soup. It wouldn't have been as bad if I wasn't alone, but I was. Whenever I had to go to the bathroom, I had to carry everything with me. And I would lose a coveted seat next to a plug in. Everything was expensive and I was freezing cold. It was as if time stood still. Later on, I was able to snag a dining table with a long booth to try and sleep on. I thought I had at least 2 hours of sleep (which made me excited about helping the time pass by) but it was only 30 minutes. The earliest flight I could get was at 10:40am and it couldn't come fast enough. Fortunately, that plane actually left and I was finally able to go home.

What my hair resembled when I got off the plane.

I felt like a zombie. I looked horrible. I did learn that since I have a cane, I get to preboard, so that was kind of nice. But they didn't even have a SkyMall! Fail. My husband had also had a crash on his motorcycle and hurt his back, so the house was kind of a disaster when I got home. I went outside right away to see all of my critters and was immediately bummed out when I saw that a storm had hit while I was gone and had destroyed the paint girls' shelter. And some super dirty pens.

:(

BOO

I tried to clean them, but got in trouble with the husband and was told to go rest. But this had arrived while I was gone...

OOOOOOOooooo