Skip to main content

Montana - FCA and a Glacier

First a history lesson.  Not your usual history lesson, but a lesson about how I learn.

When I first applied for the job I am doing now, the advice I got from my friend Marsan was to study the airline codes.  And I did.  I wrote them down on index cards and that stack was about six inches high.  I needed to learn them all.  A lot of them were pretty simple - some of them were pretty hard.  Absolutely no way to reference why they were what they were.  Most of them were international ones that I had trouble with and a few were domestic.  I would go through that stack of cards every chance I got.  Then I found a website on the internet, Quizlet, where someone had already done the work for me.  It was computer based.  It would test me on the codes.  One of those codes was Kalispell, Montana.  The code is FCA and I could not get it.  So, finally I came up with an acronym for it:  effing cold airport.  You can make the effing whatever "F" word you want, I know the one I used.  When I would go through these codes and I would miss that one, I would sit and chant, not just to myself, in my living room, Kalispell is effing cold airport, Kalispell is effing cold airport, Kalispell is effing cold airport.  Then I would go through the codes again.

When I went in to my interview and was offered the position, the people there gave us a list of codes to learn.  We were told to have these codes memorized before we started our first day.  I had already been studying these codes for about three weeks!!  The one woman said, "does anyone know what FCA is?"  To myself I said, "Kalispell is effing cold airport" and then I said out loud, "Kalispell".  She looked at me and said, pretty much in horror, "how did you know that??".  I looked at her and sheepishly replied, "I can't tell you".

So after this whole process and the fact that Ted had heard me chant over and over again about "effing cold airport", he said that we needed to make sure that we made a trip to FCA.  So - this was the weekend to do it.  The weather was amazing and in the 80's.  After getting some rest after our late night flight in our awesome first class seats, we spent the next day travelling to the Conrad Mansion and Glacier National Park.  There was also a stop at the Hungry Horse Dam.  Here is our picture journal:

The Conrad Mansion.  Accidentally found out it existed.
Not sure if there is a relation, but it was a cool thing to find.

My guy in front of the explanation of the mansion.  It's now a
museum.  We didn't have time to wait for it to open and go inside.

Street named after us.

Pretty roadside artesian type fountain.  It wasn't working.  But,
there was a pipe bringing out clear spring water from the mountain.
Ted told me he wasn't going to kiss me for at least 24 hours because
I took a sip.  I wish I dared to actually take a huge drink!

The river along the road.

Driving under a rock.

Awesome travel companion.  And trophy husband.  That's another
story

What an amazing sight.  

Inside Glacier Nartional Park.  The mountain peak behind us.



I was entranced by the fast moving water going through the park.
This was a small fall up from the viewing area.

Fast moving water


Love this sight.  The mountain behind the trees with the
sun coming through the trees.  So beautiful.

Me and my guy in front of the fast moving water.  We live
amazing lives.

Ted insisted I get hugged by the tree.  My eyes are closed in
this picture.  I had to sit on the ground and make my way up
to get my hug.  Getting down was just as fun.  But, it was
still one of those things that are just fun.

Our traditional foot shot, with our shadows, by Lake McDonald

Lake McDonald with the mountains behind.  So beautiful.

Huckleberry Lemonade anyone?  Stopped at
Glacier West Restaurant on our way back to the airport.

Hungry Horse Dam.  There is a sign to not park on the dam
road.  HAHA.

The water streaming out from the dam.



This is just a video of the water flowing in the river.  It was just so strong and amazing.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CoCo's Journey - How Did I Get Here??

Malabsorption - definition - Malabsorption is a state arising from abnormality of food nutrients across the gastrointestinal tract.  Impairment can be single or multiple nutrients depending on the abnormality.  This may lead to malnutrition and a variety of anaemias (blood disorders). I have heard the term before.  But the first time I had heard it in response to me was a little over a week ago.  I was with my roommate daughter at her appointment and her doctor pointed to IVY and said, what's up with that??  So I told him.  And he said, people have no idea how hard it is when you have malabsorption.  People think you can just eat to make it better, but you can't. So let's go to the beginning.... If you have known me at all in the last few decades, you know that I was "morbidly obese".  I topped out at 245 pounds.  I had Type 2 Diabetes, high blood pressure, thyroid disease and stomach issues (gerd) for the last couple of decades and had taken...
12 comments
Read more

CoCo's Journey - Answers!! Finally!!!

 Today I finally got answers!!!  I do not have Cirrhosis!!!  I am Pre-Cirrhotic.  Very close to that precipice but still not falling over the edge and falling into a place that I cannot get out of.  I had seen my gastric bypass doctor a while ago - and was given the wrong information.  I think he was looking at the headline and had not read the story.  It's something I'm good at, too.   My doctor explained that when I was overweight, the fat in my body was damaging my liver.  Then I had gastric bypass and that should have helped my fatty liver.  But, then I wasn't able to absorb the calories, so I became malnourished. My liver was not getting the proteins I needed in order to supply my body with the proper nourishment.  Every organ you have needs protein, and it starts in the liver.  So - the malnourishment started to affect my liver.  Leading to the state I'm in now. The thing I need to work on is getting off the diu...
2 comments
Read more

CoCo's Journey - An update -- of sorts

 I was asked for an update.  So - I waited until my last appointment with my liver doctor to see what he was going to say.  What we were going to do.  What the hell is going on.   So - a little recap.  Mid August I was admitted to the hospital due to liver disease.  The initial diagnosis was cirrhosis of the liver due to malnutrition, which was caused by malabsorption. After a biopsy, that diagnosis was changed to pre-cirrhosis.  I had over two liters of fluid removed from my belly by needle aspiration the first day.  I left the hospital five days later with a PICC line with IV nutrition.  IV nutrition supplemented my regular diet for four months.  My PICC line was removed in December and now it's a matter of how my body adjusts as to what the steps are. Since August and having the IV nutrition, I gained over 40 pounds.  I was a little over 140 pounds when they disconnected IVY (my PICC line/nutrition/bag - that's her name...
3 comments
Read more