Saturday Departure

El Otro Lado officially started on Saturday at 1:00 pm.  We raced through check-in with no hitches, and then raced to gate 31...only to find our plane was delayed two hours in Salt Lake City.  Good thing.  Palladino had lots of time to get his passport.  


What should we do with a two hour delay? Maybe read a good book.  Mr. Thomas would be proud.

We finally boarded at 5:00 pm, with Luke and Ariadna running to the plane after visiting with the Montana group on the other side of the airport.  


This was Sam's first flight...ever!!!  And Asha couldn't help but crack how he was the first person she'd ever seen ACTUALLY pay attention to the attendant's flight instructions.

The flight was smooth, except when a Texas tie-wearin', smooth-talkin, wise-crackin, cowboy pilot decided to fall asleep on the landing.  It was a D+, according to Professor Palladino.  Lots of burned rubber.

After retrieving bags and chasing the bus, we lost Craig's wife Katie only to reunite minutes later followed by her wise words "Is this a race?" First lesson: Katie is always right. 

After finding the hotel, a quick unpacking job was followed by a delicious dinner of Thai food near the campus of Arizona State University. After Chad ate his and Lila's meal, a toast was made by Sutphin reminding us all to slow down, be present and experience this week, and to be flexible (especially with directions).