IND-MSP-DEN

The flights for this trip were relatively normal, no complaints, and actually I have compliments for the professionalism and good service I received onboard my flight from MSP to DEN.

I left Bloomington over the lunch hour and went to The Abbey up in Indy, where I had some kind of chicken quesadilla and a big ole latte-I was feeling tired and I didn’t really want to sleep on my trip. For dessert I had my favorite Abbey dessert, the Mocha cake-talk about heaven on earth; I got the last slice. Most of my time at the Abbey was spent perusing various free publications.

Indy seems to be in the midst of some kind of Alternative-Newspaper war. There is the long standing traditional Nuvo Newsweekly, and the INTake. One of these “alternative” newspapers is owned by that not insignificant “alternative” news provider called Gannett. One had an interesting article about the evils of Wal-Mart, the other had an article about take out cuisine, and whether or not this is a good or bad idea. I doubt that it will take much guessing to which is which. Regardless, the competition is probably a good thing.

I headed out to the airport and got to my gate about 45 minutes before the flight. The flight up to MSP was on a DC-9 of some variety – I didn’t discern which type, other than it wasn’t the -10. The flight was nice and I sat next to a guy from Carleton College, where one of my sisters went to school. He was a rather chatty guy (or perhaps I was in an unusually extroverted mood) and we talked off and on for the length of the flight. We were in luck and the plane landed around 10 minutes early.

I made a mad dash across the airport and got to the gate for the flight to Denver that left at 6:35, put myself on the standby list and hoped for the best. Unfortunately it was not to be. The flight was well booked, and between the fact that I am only silver and I was on a frequent flier redemption ticket, I did not make it off of the list and onto the plane. I ended up heading to Chili’s too where I got a bottomless bowl of dip and chip and sat for the next couple hours surfing the wireless web and accomplishing a decent amount of work. I actually surprised myself at how much I got done, namely because I hadn’t realized that I had any work to accomplish in the first place. The backlog of email was vanquished before it had a chance to get established.

The flight to Denver pushed back on time, but was held for a few minutes because of developing weather between MSP and DEN. According to the pilot we had to go about 100 miles out of our way. We ended up arriving in Denver about 20 minutes late and my sister picked me up promptly. What made this flight stand out was the exceptionally friendly and interesting Flight Attendant. She was an example of why I actively prefer Northwest over other airlines-we ended up getting engaged in a long conversation comparing notes about cities, airplanes, and BBQ in Memphis. The number one reason to connect in Memphis is the BBQ across from gate B-17. Yum!