Day 1: Thursday, January 21st

My suitcase is exactl 50.00 pounds. The iron is now in my carry-on, but totally worth it. The Lady at security checking tickets asked how old I was. They only do that if tey think you are under 16 and therefore need to show ID.

The plane from Spokane to San Fransisco was tiny. Thankfully I sat next to a Canadian who owns a cajun restaurant in New Orleans, and not next to the idiot. The kid was 4 rows ahead of me, probably about my age, and I could hear him loud and clear the entire flight (3 hours long because of delays). He never shut up. He graciously informed the entire first half of the plane about getting drunk, doing extacy with 13 year olds, cutting down trees in 25 below and in general being such an awesome bad ass dude. Yah. Wow.

Anyway, I much prefered my Cajun cooking Canadian. We talked the entire way about family, kids, twins, New Orleans, food and travel. And we made fun of sky mall and the $200 stool/chair.
Here are the highlights of the food conversation:
--coconut brownies: pour in half the batter, cook for 5 min, put in chilled coconut ball (shredded coconut, condenced milk, butter, powdered sugar) add rest of the mix.
--put sugar in steak seasoning to make a crispy sear--always let steak thaw out to room temperature, self tenderizing-
--roll out self-rising dough very thin, roll in ham and cheese, let rise
So, generally awsone flight, even though it was longer than expected.

We got in late and I ran with a guy going to Austria to get to our next flight. We got to the gate, which is on the very very tip of the international gate, about 3/4 the way across SFO, and the gate agent pointed at the plane making its way down the runway. So, after attempting the auto-rebook machine and visiting united counters, I found myself in the customer service line for over an hour. There two poor agents were tying to rebook everyone who was delayed because of weather, which was 5 flights full of people when I got in line. Many many more came after me. Should have brought my cell phone.
What I learned:
People are a lot nicer because I look 13
Also, be nice to people, and even those who are really stressed will be nice to you and it makes their day better.

While waiting under the awning for the airport shuttle I met a family of 4 who had gotten delayed as well. The little girl smiled at me and told me that she was 4 and her name was Lucy and introduced me to her stuffed black bear, Ginger. Her 7 year old brother, Jack, wasn't quite as interested in me. From there I started talking with her parents and found out that they live on Saunders Street in Helena! The wife's name was Shannon McDonald I think. So I left Spokane, flew to San Fransisco and found a family from Helena! So now I'm in the Comfort Inn, which is quite nice, and getting some needed sleep. My plane leaves at 12:30 pm tomorrow and I'll arrive in Marsaille at 6:15pm on Saturday.
What I learned:
Airport shuttle is really hard to find in SFO.
San Fransisco is more fun with Kyrstin
People are generally pretty cool, especially Montanans.
Stuffed bears are very important, but you don't bring them to the beach. They don't like all the sand.