After weeks of idle time on reserve and no flying, I received a call Sunday morning to go to Salt Lake City to sit reserve. This was somewhat exciting because I was beginning to tire of sitting around doing nothing. In my head, I envisioned Salt Lake to be warmer than Minneapolis, but when I checked my phone, it was 30 degrees. Nevertheless, I had no intention of spending all evening sitting in the hotel (which by the way allowed pets, so I found myself suffering from congestion). I put on a hat and gloves, donned my jacket, and headed out for dinner. I stopped at a place called The Bayou for some cajun cuisine. Sure, Utah may not be known for its gumbo or jambalaya, but one can't always be choosy. I ended up ordering something called gumbolaya - a mixture of the two signature dishes. On the menu, it jokingly warned that eating this concoction guaranteed cardiac arrest. Just for an extra kick, I tossed in a little bit of Louisiana hot sauce. I thoroughly enjoyed my southern cuisine . . . in northern Utah.
After my meal, I decided to walk toward Temple Square. It wasn't super close and it was quite frigid out, but the trek was worth it. The entire square was illuminated with christmas lights of all colors. The mormons were admiring the lights as well. How do I know they were mormons? Naturally it is too cold to be sporting white short-sleeved dress shirts and black ties. In winter months, it appears they don pea coats and put their name tags on their outermost garment. And now you know. . .
As I lay in bed that night, congested from the 87 cats that must have at one time occupied my room, I periodically woke up and checked my phone to see if the airline had assigned me a trip. I got a call at 4:40am. Time to go to work. I would be flying to Twin Falls, Idaho. When I was told this, I didn't even know where it was on a map. Turns out it is just a short hop from Salt Lake City. Twin Falls seemed eager to give Minneapolis a run for its money with a temperature of 1ยบ. I may or may not have conducted the walkaround at a brisker pace than usual. I looked the town up on google after flying back to Salt Lake, and it looks like it might be a nice place, but I was too busy chattering my teeth and convulsing to observe much beyond the small airport terminal.
Meanwhile in Los Angeles . . .