I meant to post yesterday, but ran out of time. Hope all the U.S. folks had a happy 4th of July yesterday! We went to my brother's late in the day for BBQ and fireworks, which is always a lot of fun. It's over an hour away, but still worth it. My niece's in-laws were there too, and they are SUCH awesome people. Way more fun than my family. ;)

LJ Idol voting for this week closes today. My entry is here, and details my trip to see my sister in Idaho. It wasn't terrible, but went in an unexpected direction (and I thought I'd anticipated everything). Too much to rehash here, so I'll just talk about the logistics.

First, the Sacramento <=> Boise plane: I don't think I've ridden on this model before. I carefully chose my seats so that the wings wouldn't obscure the view. Hahahaha! The wings were overhead (wing-mounted twin-engine plane), and I actually wound up right across from the engine both times. Loud. On the return, the right engine sounded like a hive of angry bees. When anything mechanical fluctuates in pitch like that, I anticipate imminent failure. :0 We made it back safely, but I wonder about that engine. The other surprise was that everyone's carryon rolling suitcases were taken away and stowed, because the overhead luggage compartments were so small. Mine is a basic black lookalike bag, so I made it "weirder" for the return trip, so I could ID it later.

I tried to take a few photos for my daughter, since she's only home on a short break between summer camp sessions and needs to build up more Instagram installments for posting whille she's gone. Unfortunately, since I didn't understand the difference between Instagram's camera and the phone's built-in camera app (god, could I hate iPhone more?), the pictures of the Sinclair gas station sign (with dinosaur!) and Stinker Station (with giant skunk!) were lost. I got a few others, but coudn't get the zoom function to work, so they were not great. No other pictures on the trip (see story post), but I did find Zotz at a couple of gas stations and brought some home for the kids. They're really hard to find in Sacramento, but local gas stations in more remote parts of Oregon and Idaho seem to have them. No cherry, though. :(

I'm still behind on my f-list (sorry. I made it to June 26th, and I'll try to get caught up soon). Some of you added me recently via a friending meme, but only a few of you are talking to me. If you tend to be quiet but are enjoying yourself, it's all good. But if I'm not your cup of tea, I won't be offended if you change your mind!

Everyone else: no one leaves the room. ;)