Summer Vacation Frustrations

This is my destination for my summer vacation. Well...not exactly right here at the Roosevelt Arch located at the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park, but about 2 blocks north. I'm yearning to get to a cozy little house on Stone St. in Gardiner, MT--home of Travis, Becky, Parker and Chase. My work schedule and and kids' summer schedule dictates this trip must take place sometime between Aug. 3rd and Aug. 13th. Yesterday I spent hours on my computer pulling up every travel search engine I know trying to make this work without spending a fortune, arriving at midnight or having to get up in the middle of the night to catch a plane. I even thought about driving. Yikes! At $4+ for a gallon of gas, this 1200 mile trip could get really pricey. And then there's the worry that my 1999 vintage, high mileage RAV 4 might poop out along the way. I tried flying out of Des Moines, Omaha, and Kansas City. I tried flying into Bozeman and Billings. I tried flights that get me into Montana at midnight and then getting a motel and rental car and driving down to Gardiner the next day. Or leaving on a 5:20am flight out of Des Moines...painful, but do-able. I even pulled up Amtrak to see if I could get anywhere close (that's a 'no'). I almost pushed the 'book it' button on a flight out of Kansas City. It left at a reasonable time for me to make the 3-hour drive to the airport. I hesitated and hesitated. Then I saw why I couldn't make myself complete the booking. There was only 30 minutes between connecting flights in Denver! That's cutting it 'way too short for me. Even a 10 minute delay could make me miss the connection; it just isn't reasonable to take that chance. Sigh....back to the drawing board. I finally decided to bite the bullet and book something outrageously expensive and inconvenient. Twice I selected those flights only to get the pop-up message that 'unfortunately all those seats are sold out' and please make another (more expensive, more inconvenient) selection. In frustration, and almost in tears, I logged out.

You know...maybe I'm simply not supposed to make this trip!