This Thanksgiving my husband and I decided to take a road
trip to visit his relatives that are scattered around Washington. His father is
now 82, and lives in Wenatchee at a quiet residence called Columbia Heights,
his brother and sister live several blocks away, and he has another brother who
has settled in Seattle. This trip began a couple of days before the holiday,
and we returned about a week and a half later. We both love to take this road
trip. It is a long way from home, but we enjoy long conversations in the car
and we love to take the puppy dogs. We’ve done it so many times now, I’ve lost
count… but we’ve never done a road trip to visit his family for the holidays.
The drive through California was really nice because we didn’t hit a lot of rain until Portland. We also had a lovely visit with my nephew, who is currently a resident of Eugene, and our Ducks are an enduring topic of conversation, so it was fun catching up with him. But before we left, we hadn’t taken into account how the rain would affect us. The drive went uphill, so to speak, after Eugene.
I learned quickly that stopping at rest stops in Oregon was NOT as fun as it was during the summer months. The dampness made the bathrooms smell rank, and it seemed to carry into our car the farther we traveled. It seemed like we drove non-stop from Eugene to Multnomah Falls, which was more spectacular from the road this time, but not as fun to visit. There were more waterfalls than I can ever recall, but by this time it was so rainy that we couldn’t stay long, and they had the same moisture problem in their bathrooms, so we pushed on.
The drive through California was really nice because we didn’t hit a lot of rain until Portland. We also had a lovely visit with my nephew, who is currently a resident of Eugene, and our Ducks are an enduring topic of conversation, so it was fun catching up with him. But before we left, we hadn’t taken into account how the rain would affect us. The drive went uphill, so to speak, after Eugene.
I learned quickly that stopping at rest stops in Oregon was NOT as fun as it was during the summer months. The dampness made the bathrooms smell rank, and it seemed to carry into our car the farther we traveled. It seemed like we drove non-stop from Eugene to Multnomah Falls, which was more spectacular from the road this time, but not as fun to visit. There were more waterfalls than I can ever recall, but by this time it was so rainy that we couldn’t stay long, and they had the same moisture problem in their bathrooms, so we pushed on.
Another thing we didn’t account for was light. I
instinctively knew to give my hens more light over the Winter months, not just
so they can see for long enough to get adequate nutrition throughout the day,
but also because it supposedly helps them to continue with their egg laying.
But it wasn’t exactly a surprise when we realized, at around 4:30 p.m.
traveling up Blewitt Pass on US 97 in the rain, that it would soon get cold and
dark and begin to snow. I am so glad that I did not have to drive over this
pass! Suffice it to shout that it was an awful day of driving in the rain and
snow, and I will not even go into the frustration we felt when we had to wait
over 30 minutes at a complete stop for some sort of infrastructure repairs.
When we finally arrived in Wenatchee, Washington, exactly
two days after we left California, much later than we had projected, damp,
stiff, and grumpy, it felt appropriate to receive an overwhelming welcome by
about fifteen or so seniors with smiles, hugs, and laughter. Our dogs were a
HUGE draw from the start, and dad had arranged for us to stay in our own,
private, “model” at the residence. It was impossible not to let go of the blues
and gain some new perspective on this day before Thanksgiving. In fact, I think
we both felt a little like celebrities.
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