As Day 8 started, we were heading back to Boise for one last night in Idaho before heading to our respective homes. 

Marilyn: It was a very relaxing ride back to Boise. The sun was setting and the drive was a pretty one.

As we were coming into Boise there was a great sunset.

Marilyn: How beautiful!

Chad: Glorious, isn't it?

As we came into Boise, we had to deal with a lot of traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian, because there was some sort of sporting event going on.  Couldn't tell you what or why.

Marilyn: But of course Chad would know what was going on since it had to do with sports.

Chad: Boise State football game.  They're the team that plays on a blue field.  It is a shame they didn't get a chance to play for the national championship.  Bring on the playoff system!

Moments later...  well, after I made a few wrong turns...  we got to our hotel.

Marilyn: I was ready to pass out but we still had to check in and pack everything better than when we left Sun Valley.

Chad immediately collapsed on the bed.

Marilyn: I wanted to chill out too but I was being nice and offered to repack Sam’s suitcase which was a mess. That was an understatement.

And Marilyn started checking out the situation.

Marilyn: And the situation was not good.

There were several things Marilyn was concerned about.  First was flights the next day.  Chad had an early morning flight.  Marilyn and I had been booked on an afternoon flight.  But that would get Marilyn (and I) home really late.  Marilyn wanted to get home earlier.  The second thing was how I had packed, or not packed, as the case may have been. 

So while Marilyn ripped apart my suitcases and repacked me in a way she felt was appropriate, I got online and checked flights for the morning.  There were morning flights possibly available for Marilyn and I.  So we decided the plan would be to go with Chad in the morning, then see if we could get our flights changed to an earlier flight.

As Marilyn packed, one of the things she did was put the film from the disposible cameras we used on the river trip in my carry on bag.  But my carry on bag was really heavy, and I wanted some stuff from the suitcase, so I second guessed Marilyn, and switched the cameras into the checked bag to make room in my carry on.

But then I was all packed, and our plan was made.  Marilyn headed back to her own room to get herself settled and ready as well.

Marilyn: Sam is so good at figuring out our next day’s plans but literally sucks at packing

Chad: It took you guys way too long.  I was very very tired, after not getting any sleep the night before and all that hiking!  

Chad went to sleep pretty quickly.  I had a few things I wanted to do before that though.  First, I wanted to get the last several days worth of pictures downloaded off the camera and on to the computer.  So I did that first.

Then was time for postcards.  I had bought my usual 20 postcards for the current annual top twenty people emailing me, but through this whole trip, I hadn't sat down to do them.  And I had to do them now, or I wouldn't get to mail them from Idaho!  So I sat down and did postcards for several hours until they were done.

And then I was tired.

ZZZzzz...

Marilyn: Ah, sleep what a novel concept

Now, as far as I was concerned, Chad's flight was ungodly early.  I would have been perfectly happy waking up hours later and getting the afternoon flight I was booked on.  But since Marilyn wanted to leave earlier too, I managed to drag myself out of bed with the others and before long, we were on our way out.

Marilyn: I could have slept a lot longer myself. I was still very tired but managed to get up and get going to the airport.

Moments later, we had parked our rental at the airport to see Chad off and find out about our own tickets.

Chad got his bording pass and then posed one last time with Marilyn as he said good by.

Marilyn: Bye Chad. See you around. Perhaps on Sam’s next random vacation.

Chad: Or, goodbye.

Then Chad went through security, and was gone.  Goodbye Chad!

Marilyn: Silly Me! Check out my hair.

Chad: Later dude.

After Chad was gone, Marilyn and I had to deal with ourselves. 

We had to change our tickets, check our bags, return the rental car, then run back and get through security and to the gate, and we had only a matter of half an hour or so to do it.

I left Marilyn in line for the ticket thing, because there was a long line.  I knew I needed to be there too probably, but she could hold the place in line while I quick returned the car.

When I returned the car, I realized I still had all the luggage, and I couldn't possibly carry it all by myself.  I was in the process of calling Marilyn to come help carry stuff, when the rental car guy helpfully found me a carry cart for the luggage.  That really helped!!

Marilyn: This was all a bit confusing and very chaotic to say the least.

Then the rental car guy told me there was a problem with the card that I had originally made the reservation with, so I would have to go to the counter afterwards both to return the cart and to check out with a different credit card.  Argh!  The clock was ticking.  The flight Marilyn and I wanted to get on was coming up very fast!  Somehow I thought we would have more time!

I got back up to the counter just as Marilyn was getting to the front of the line.  I joined her, and they were indeed able to get us on the flight we wanted.  But we would have to run to make it!  (If we didn't there was another a little later, still earlier than our original flight, but Marilyn really wanted to make this one!) 

First thing after the tickets was checking luggage.  Right after my bag was on the belt heading away down the chute, I mentioned to Marilyn something about the camera.  The guy behind the counter said "There wasn't a camera in that bag you just checked, was there?  The x-Ray destroys all film you know!"  At first I said no, but then I remebered the disposable cameras that I had moved to the luggage at the last minute.  Argh!  "Well, it is too late, already through" said the guy at the counter.  Apperantly they had increased the strengths of the X-Rays since 9/11.  Urgh.  Goodbye river pictures!

I was all agitated and upset by this for the entire rest of the trip.  [Note: Although seeing as the Day 6 report has a bunch of those pictures, you know eventually they came out OK.  I didn't know that at the time though.]  Anyway, although I was freaking out about the cameras, we had to get to our flight!  Now!

But first I had to return the cart and finish paying for the rental car.  I started to tell Marilyn to just run to the gate without me, and I would join her if I could, or catch the next flight if not.

But then as I was heading to the rental counter and she was headed away, I realized I wasn't 100% sure that ANY of my credit cards had enough on them for the rental.  Since the one I thought for sure was fine had an issue, I just didn't know which to try.  So I called Marilyn back, just in case we needed her card.

We ran to the rental place.  Had to wait in line.  Then they retried the first card.  No go.  Then a second.  No go.  Third try...  YES!  Cart was returned, car was paid for....  RUN!!!

Marilyn and I dashed to security, got through, then got to our gate as the plane was finishing bording.

We made it.  Whew!

Marilyn: More like RUN like hell!

A few minutes later, we were climbing out of Boise, on our way to Minneapolis!

Marilyn: Mall of America…here we come!

Idaho from the air looked pretty good too...

Marilyn: Barron.

I think I fell asleep, or maybe read, because next thing I remember, we were coming in for a landing in Minnesota.

Marilyn: Before you knew it, we were ready to land in Minneapolis.

When we got off the plane, Marilyn had this inqencible desire to go see the Mall of America (largest mall in the US).  There were a decent number of hours until my flight, but only a couple until Marilyn's flight.  But Marilyn asked at an info booth and they gave us the bus schedule and there was enought ime to go and get back and spend a few minutes there.  Barely.  So it was off to the bus stop, and off to the mall.

Marilyn: Thanks Sam for being flexible. I know that you like to stick to your rule to never leave the airport when there is a layover. I was so excited to go to the Mall of America.

The bus dropped us off in a non-descript garage, but as soon as we took the escalators upstairs you could see that this mall was a little different.

Marilyn: Very different.

And then you get to the center and see the rides.  There was a flume right in the middle of the mall!

Marilyn: I could have spent hours just in the amusement park alone.

And there were huge things made out of Lego!

Marilyn: I definitely felt like a kid again.

Marilyn also played with the dinosaurs.

Marilyn: It was a mechanical dinosaur mouth that almost ate my hand.

And then she made us wear hats.

Marilyn: Sam I am! Green eggs and ham! Ah come on, Sam you have to admit that the hats were cool.

Then we rode on the indoor roller coaster, and even paid for the crappy picture!

Marilyn: Yes, I agree. That was a crappy picture. Oh well. At least Sam paid for it and not me.

We also took one of those virtual reality rides, but we needed to get Marilyn back to her flight, so it was time to say goodbye to Snoopy!

Marilyn: Bye Camp Snoopy! See you around!

Uh, but as we left a few more pictures...

Marilyn: Bye Mall of America! Too bad I did not get to shop more. Next time!

I promise!

I was busy trying to hurry Marilyn along to catch the bus back toi the airport so she wouldn't miss her plane, but she was impossible to drag away!  She even kicked a young mother and her baby off this bench so she could pose with Snoopy!

Marilyn: I was not that rude as Sam is trying to make you think.

And then she had to get somethng to eat.  I don't know what it was, but it looked disgusting.

Marilyn: Actually it was quite good. A bean wrap and I was very hungry.

But eventually, we got out...

Marilyn: Come back again soon!

After getting back to the airport we ran through the terminal to get back to the locker where we had left our stuff, then through security, and we were rushing to Marilyn's gate...  but first things first.  Marilyn had to get herself a lottery ticket.

Marilyn: It is tradition that I always have to buy a lottery ticket whenever I visit a state.

But even with all this, we did make it to Marilyn's gate on time.  With 15 minutes to spare before bording in fact.  So Marilyn grabbed the camera for a few minutes and took pictures of a few things she thought were important to have.

Just minutes later, it was time for Marilyn to wave goodbye and get on her plane.  Goodbye Marilyn!

Marilyn: Goodbye Sam. Thanks for an awesome random vacation in Idaho! I had a blast.

And then Marilyn was gone.  And I was alone again.  I had about an hour until my own flight.  I leisurely headed from her gate to my gate, and then waited for them to board my plane.

Before long, the plane did board.  We took off and headed to Newark.  The flight was uneventful.  I slept some more.  I read some more.  As we were landing in Newark, Day 8 ended.