Bascom's Babble: Arrived Safe and Sound

I am now safely tucked away in my hotel room, which is rather nice. The flight from Texas had its points. First off, on Thursday it was 92 degrees in San Angelo (The Friday temp got to 81). My Friday route, however, took me through Salt Lake City, which was a balmy 30 degrees Farenheit or -1 degrees Celsius. The picture on the right was taken from the terminal. Now, you might think that the cold wasn't a factor, except that I was flying a commuter from Salt Lake to the Bay Area. To get to the commuter you formed a line outside the terminal and patiently waited while the brisk chilly air refreshed my outlook on living in West Texas. One other interesting thing happened there while I waited for my connection. At one point all these giant females showed up and sat all around me. I looked at the sweat shirts they had on and I realized they were the BYU Women's Volleyball team. I asked them if they were going to a meet and they said yes. I wished them good luck. They joked some, and offered me blackberry jelly beans (one girl had a huge jar of just that one flavor). Finally I asked who they were going to play. They said they were heading to Colorado Springs to play the Air Force. I said oops, I retired from the Air Force, so.. um.. good luck, sort of. They all appreciated that.
On the flight into the Bay Area my seat companion maintained a steady dialogue with me, complaining a little about all the travel he has had to do lately. He was a nice guy who had spent 10 years in the Navy before going into the private sector. I asked him what kind of work makes him travel so much now then before? He said he worked for the Treasury Department as a bank examiner. He was flying home today and was flying off to Maui on Sunday.
When I arrived at my hotel I was warmly greeted by the hotel clerk who kindly told me that I had been upgraded due to lack of room space. I now have a room with a little meeting space with all the amenities. I still haved to get used to the idea that the hotel lobby is on the 3rd floor. When I entered from the street that was not evident. However, it becomes completely plausible when you turn to the parking area and can't see the road in front of you because you are about to drop two floors almost instantly. There is an Ihop only a couple of blocks away. On Saturday I will meet Van Dyke Roth and his wife there. Van was one of my best friends during the three years I spent at Riordan. I have not seen or heard of him at all since I left Riordan. That might be a good place for the planned Sunday breakfast as well.
So tomorrow is the day, and I will do my best to take enough pics to give everyone an idea of what it was like. I understand now that we will not be the focus of the night, as another group is celebrating their 50th anniversary (1959). Still, it should be great!