Home again

Well, I just realized I took no pictures while in Florida. Silly, but honestly the training really could have been anywhere and it would not have made a difference. I flew in late Sunday night, and took a shuttle to the hotel that took over 2 hours. Checked in at 0230 and was up for class at 0730. That set the scene for the week. Up, classes till noon, grab some lunch, back in class, back to the room, get some reading done, sleep, repeat. I had some time free Friday afternoon, but really it was just enough to get things packed and take a nap. Had to leave for the airport at o330 Saturday (0130 MT time ugh). Flights into and out of Atlanta were delayed by weather so didn't end up getting to Bozeman until 1500. Grabbed a few groceries and drove home at 1730. A long day by any standards.
On the up side, S-341 GIS for Incident Management was an excellent course. It brought a lot of things into focus for me that had previously been ambiguous. If we are mapping fire at YELL, we should be using the same tools and SOP's as the rest of the world. I'm not sure it's any easier than the way we are doing things now, but at least it's a national standard that other people are maintaining. It will certainly reduce the amount of time needed to maintain our ad hoc mapping efforts, file structure, training, and naming conventions. But I digress.
It's good to be home. Emily took excellent care of Hunter Eddie and the apartment for me. He seemed excited to have me back, but I'm sure he had a blast being spoiled while I was gone. I took a few minutes to put away the perishables, then fell exhausted onto my lovely couch. I'd been dreaming of it for days - sitting uncomfortably in a vinyl chair in my hotel room! The snow was a welcome relief. Although the southern warmth was a welcome diversion, I am happy to be home to winter. Still many trails to ski before spring!
It is a little quiet after spending a week in Louisiana with the craziness of my boys' lives, but things will soon be back to normal here in Gardiner, with friends coming over to watch TV and knit. I do miss them horribly. The daily happenings of the house on Holiday Place are always entertaining! I ponied up for a voice over IP channel that the boys and I share - it's great to be able to talk to them almost every day and stay involved with their lives.
The river is running pretty freely, so spring feels imminent but there are a few more months of weather before summer backpacking season.
Well, it's about 0230 now and I need to get some sleep. For details of my time in LA, see my sister's blog (photos posted). It's great to be home!