El Paso, finally, plus Wyler Aerial Tramway State Park

Friday morning at 610am we begun our second trip to the airport in our attempt to visit our friends the Blake's in El Paso. Continuing our adventures from Thursday night, we somehow made it to the ticket counter to check our bags a mere 30 minutes before take-off. Of course because of our belated appearance all three of our checked bags had to be screened by TSA. As if that wasn't enough, as we went through the security screening they decided that Bailey's milk and her diaper rash cream had to be individually tested. This wouldn't have been so bad if we hadn't gone through the entire rigamarole only 12 hours before. Thankfully we made it on our flight to Houston and arrived safely at IAH and made our way to the terminal listed on our boarding pass.

Just to be safe, when we arrived at our gate I went up to the counter and asked the information agent there to verify the gate and that the plane was on time. He quickly typed something in his computer and then said "Yes". Appeased, Tony, Bailey and I settled in to wait for boarding to begin even though the sign above our gate said "Omaha". Twenty minutes before our flight was supposed to leave we decided to ask another gate agent if we were in fact in the correct place, much to our dismay we were no where close. So Tony took off at jog from B63A with our bags in toe in hopes of making it to B73 before our seats were given away and I trailed behind with a very cranky and clingy Bailey. Thankfully we made it on our plane and to our seats with moments to spare (we weren't even the last ones to board). Once on the plane, we quickly pushed back from the gate only to find our that our plane wouldn't start... something wrong with the starter. All I can at this point is that, at least the delay gave Bailey a chance to catch some much needed shut eye.

Looking out the window as we approached El Paso.

After finally arriving in El Paso, we found our luggage & Bailey's carseat, met up with our friend Canaan, and then headed to his house to drop off our bags and make some plans for our day. We ultimately decided to check out the Wyler Aerial Tramway State Park in the Franklin Mountains, about a 20 minute drive from his house, then pick up his little one from daycare and head back home for some lunch and much deserved relaxation.

Bailey on our ride up the mountain in the gondola sporting her new vest & blue flame hat.

Uncle Canaan & Bailey enjoy the view on the ride up.

Our gondola carrying people back down the mountain.

The view from the top.

Tony & I at the top of the mountain, elevation 5,632 ft.

Canaan, Bailey, Tony & I in front of our gondola after reaching the bottom of the mountain.

The gondola ride was a great way to kick off our vacation in El Paso. After the ride we picked up McKenzie, Canaan's daughter, and headed back to the house for some grub and to catch up while we waited for Jocelin to come home from work. Although the road was a bit bumpy getting here, our visit is off to a great start with more adventures in store.