Wyoming's a long way from DIA

I can see the rockies in the distance. There's still snow on some of the peaks, but the view isn't that spectacular from this vantage point. In the fore ground, United Airlines has a plane at about every terminal, with B37 right in front of me. The fact that I'm posting a blog from the Smoking Lounge in Denver International Airport should tell you that something has gone awry in our travel plans today.

This mornings flight from KC to Jackson Hole Wyoming through Denver was supposed to be an early one. Kathy had saved a couple hundred bucks booking the 6:20am departure, but I think next time we'll kick in the extra to sleep in. Being excited about our upcoming adventure to Wyoming, Montana and parts of Idaho, I was up until almost 11 last night in anticipation. Then for what ever reason I was up and at'em at 2:30 this morning. Still had some packing to do, and needed some time to geek and get caffeinated anyway.

We finally got out the door and to the airport by 5:15, but we were greated with a very long, and slow moving line at the United counter. Don't know for sure what happened, but anyone with a connecting flight through Denver were being guided away from the check in kiosks and forced to wait. Bottom line, we didn't get out of KC until 7:45 this morning, and of course missed our connecting flight.

So, here we are connected to the fabulous wi-fi at DIA, drinking our tea and pop and hording a corner of the Smoking Lounge near an electrical outlet. Gonna be here until 1:30 this afternoon, so plenty of time to count the number of Southwest flights continually taking off while United planes still perch at the gates in front of us.

This changes our itinerary for the day a bit. Not a lot of time to spend in Jackson Hole on the front end, and we are going to try to push for Lander Wyoming by tonight. The Grand Tetons are on the way, so don't know for sure we'll make it. Lots of Ghost Towns on the agenda for Sunday in the Lander area, before we head up toward Cody. This is definitely going to be an adventure filled 10 days...but we have to get out of the Smoking Lounge first.

There's Treasure in Them There Hills

A good friend of mine pointed out this week that it's been a while since I posted a blog. It's not that I haven't had anything to say, but this summer is quickly sneaking by us at Legends of America, and I better catch up before it leaves me behind.

Readers of Legends of America are also busy dealing with the latest economics, politics and general mayhem 2008 is bringing, so the web site is starting to see a bit of a change in traffic. Primarily focused on travel to those out of the way places in the Old West and Route 66, the web site still draws thousands to read about places like Tombstone and Flagstaff, but readers are also starting to turn to treasure tales. Junes statistics saw just under 382,000 unique visitors, a 19% drop in traffic from May. Kathy tells me that's normal for summer months, but what caught my eye is the fact her treasure page has jumped into the top 10 most visited at number 8 in June (when excluding site search results and main page).

TOP 10 Pages in Legends of America - June 2008

/WE-JesseJames.html	23944
/66-Mainpage.html	15723
/LA-Ghosttowns.html	10706
/LA-OldWestLegends.html	10478
/GH-TwistedHistory3.html	10168
/NA-Totems.html	9167
/LA-VintagePhotos.html	8406
/LA-Treasures.html	8251
/postcards-descriptions/People-Postcards.html	8074
/LA-GhostlyLegends.html	8062

Search Terms also reflect the increasing interest in treasure, with the term treasure hunting making it in the top 10 as well.

Top 10 Search phrases on Legends of America - June 2008

76616 different keyphrases	Search
route 66	4554
jesse james	3537
la llorona	1773
robert ford	1487
dutch oven recipes	1199
geronimo	910
goldfield hotel	735
doc holiday	553
treasure hunting	519
old west	512

So maybe I should take a cue from the readers and consider doing some treasure hunting of my own. Could be a nice break from just taking pictures of Ghost Towns. Better check them rules though before I go, make sure I'm not upsetting any spirits or lawmen.

The rest of the summer is about to go at warp speed. Kathy and I spent most of June at Legends of America's future headquarters on the Lake of the Ozarks. Finally got a most of our landscaping done and now in the planning stages of building an additional office/garage for a shipping center. We have photo's of the latest work on our second home and I promise to post a link here as soon as they're up.

Tomorrow we fly out for a 10 day tour of Wyoming, Montana and all the incredible sites in-between. Definitely going to enjoy it as it promises to bring many new adventures. I'll be out of the loop most of August and September doing my corporate gig, but I'm sure Kathy will stay in the thick of things catching everyone up on our trip.

I'll try to post again within the next few days and let you know if I find any treasure in Yellowstone ;).