Yellowstone (Part 2)

Well, it took a less than impressive ice storm for me to finally sit down at my computer and finish my Yellowstone story. I apologize to my readers (all 3 of you) that it has taken so long, but things have been a little crazy lately and it is hard for me to sit still for more than 5 seconds and it definitely takes longer than that to write this stuff. Anyway, sit back and enjoy....

On Sunday morning, my friend and I woke up to a beautiful day, went to a small, but lovely church in Great Falls and returned home. I was excited that he was taking me to Yellowstone and appreciated the fact that he was even splurging a bit for a nice hotel. So, I did what I'm best at and went to the kitchen to whip up a little pre-trip "thank you." This consisted of coffee and my special 3-egg salsa/veggie omelets which are, if I can say so myself, delicious! We then headed out into the unusually sunny Montana afternoon to tape a bit of women's soccer and go straight to the editing room.

After my friend was done doing work, we met several of his friends in a local park for a lively game of touch football. I wanted to join in, but was told I was not allowed, so I dressed up a bit just in case a potential Mr. Right happened to be at play that day. No Luck. Some of the other guys asked why I wasn't playing which just made me mad at myself for not insisting. I should have told my friend to screw himself, put on a pair of sweats, and run out onto the field. Instead, I sat in a lawn chair on the sidelines and ran for Gatorade when the boys got thirsty. Lame. I know.

As the sun went down and it began to get a little chilly, they wrapped up the game and we headed back home to get our stuff ready for Yellowstone. I had waited patiently most of my life and now all day to finally go and was completely stoked about what I was about to do. Unfortunately for me, my friend had worn himself out playing ball and was tired and in a miserable mood. We barely spoke on the 3-hour ride to the hotel. In my mind, I thought of a million things I could ask him and of all the things we could talk about, but didn't want to bother him any more than I had to. I figured if I left him alone that night he would get a good night's rest, and be fun to be with again in the morning. Little did I know….

When we arrived at the hotel, we walked into the impressive lobby and I immediately felt like we were back in the old west and that everything was about to get better. The woman who worked there was small-town and friendly. The décor was straight out of a John Wayne film and I was excited that I was going to get to stay in such a unique and Montana-esque place. I felt like I was about to be rewarded for being so patient for so long.

Despite the fact that I had called two days prior to make reservations, given my credit card, had a confirmation number and a room number and there was a sign out front that said "vacancy," we were quickly informed that they had no record of us and had no available rooms. Here is where the trip started going completely down hill.