Day 1 update (Atlanta-Park City, UT)

It was a stressful day already and it's not over yet. This morning I woke up, finished laundry, packed and emailed with my boss. Then the expert who is being deposed called me to determine where we'd be meeting, and when I looked at my travel reservations I thankfully noticed that my secretary had not ensured that I was booked at the same hotel where the deposition is taking place. Instead she had me at a hotel in Salt Lake City, for 3 times the price! I was pretty pissed to discover this just as I was supposed to be leaving for the airport. 20 minutes later I'd cancelled the wrong reservation and booked the correct one, and was off to the airport.

Because of my delay, I got there about 2 minutes too late to check my bag. Thank god I packed the rolly bag instead of my hanging bag! Unfortunately I didn't think about the fact that I had full bottles of shampoo, conditioner and face wash in this bag, which I was forced to throw out. Thankfully they did not closely examine my makeup kit to find liquid foundation or moisturizer, which I would have fought much harder about throwing away.

After making it through the interminable security line and rushing to the gate, I got to my seat only to find my bag did not fit. I had to gate check it, which was fine since all I really cared about was being on the flight. I watched Notes on a Scandal on the way out, which is really good. The performances are spectacular, and both actresses clearly deserved their Oscar nominations. I slept a little bit, but not as much as I should have.

In Salt Lake it took forever to get my bag and get a car. While I waited for both of those things to happen, I observed my surroundings carefully. This may be the whitest city I have ever been to. Actually, I should say it's actually the "least black" city I have ever been to, since there are plenty of asians and either hispanics or native americans. But I swear it was 20 minutes before I saw a single african american, and I think I only saw 3 in the whole airport. It was a bit surreal.

On the drive to Park City, I saw a few fat wet snowflakes but that was it. I was a bit disappointed that there isn't snow on the ground, since I am missing it bigtime. I can see some up there on the mountain but that does me no good. I need the frozen white flakes!

After settling in I went to get dinner at the hotel restaurant/bar, which was an adventure. I swear this bar had only 4 people in it and the other 2 patrons were either insanely drunk or crazy. Or maybe both. There was this guy who walked around talking to himself with headphones on drinking a coke, and I am pretty sure he had issues. And then there was another guy in a wheelchair who was just hammered and loudly cussing out everyone and announcing how "fucking drunk" he was. Now, I'm pretty used to this sort of thing (on account of certain company I keep) but I presumed people here in Mormon country would have a problem with that language. If they did, nobody said a word.

Tonight I have a meeting with my expert and then I need to sleep. The 2 hour jet lag is starting to hurt. Tomorrow I will try to upload some photos to Cellblock, but because of the rain and clouds today they weren't showing up. You have to see this beautiful countryside, though, because it is just unbelievable. The drive to Park City was breathtaking and made me want to do a roadtrip through Utah, Wyoming, and Montana at some point. It's strange, harsh landscape but I've never seen anything like it before. It is almost like being on a foreign planet. One with, apparently, no black people.