To Tampa

Much to Dave's dismay, we switched seats and I got the window seat at Denver. We had very good pilots and was very smooth take offs and landings.

I am always amazed by the crop circles or whatever you call them. Some of them are just like taking a piece of pie out of a section of it, and the lines are so perfect.

I have to say though that I was a little concerned about the crack and grease on the outer casing for the engine.

This is just the east side of the sunset. We were unfortunately on the wrong side of the plane to get the real effect of a very stunning sunset. The majority of the trip was perfect for taking pictures, no clouds at all and then only whispy ones, but then they gradually moved in and we were not able to see much at all excep the tops of the clouds.

We made it to the hotel and Dave found a remote, every man's dream of the perfect hotel.

Good Bye Rainer

It was an uneventful (yet very expensive) trip to the airport. Check in went quite smooth. We had a little wait for our flight, but I'd rather have it that way than to be rushed and worried that you miss your flight.

The Cascades were unbelievably breath taking as usual. I don't think I will ever get used to seeing them.

Dave did all the photography from home to Denver. I will post more of the trip from Denver to Tampa in the morning. There was lots of room on that leg of the trip and it was just Dave and I in the three seats, so we could spread out and relax. I thought it was going to be a non stop flight, but didn't know that they were stopping in Denver. At least we didn't have to change planes anyway.

After some agitation from a nasty flight attendant that said she had been doing this since 1962, we safely landed in Tampa. Had a terrible time getting a shuttle to the hotel and by the time they finally got there Dave made me promise to keep my mouth shut. I was so mad I could have spit nails! The guy at the hotel told us to go to the wrong place and when they didn't show up I tried calling the hotel again and they wouldn't answer the stinkin phone! Well, so much for that, it's history now. Transportation seems to be my undoing today, but at last not the flight part of it.

Tomorrow Christy and Al will pick us up and we will be going to the gulf to play in the white sands. They've had a heat wave here for several days, being in the upper 80's, but we brought the cooler weather with us. But don't worry, it's still 76!

6 hours

Walter is settled at Skip's house. Of course he had to initiate the carpet right off! The bags are packed except the hair brushes and tooth brushes for the morning. The taxi is coming at 7:30... if we're lucky. I got a snotty woman on the other end tonight and almost told her what she could do with her taxi. Got some problems wrapped up today and got a new one as I was working outside and someone tried to run me down. It's so much fun to be a manager! Haha... comes with the territory. This time tomorrow night we will be resting from the 6.5 hour trip in our room at LaQuinta.

Next post will have some pictures. Was going to do one of the packed bags, but the camera is packed and don't want to mess things up.

Countdown

The countdown has begun! 6 Days until we leave for Florida. I'm SOOOOO ready for a vacation!

A Tribute

This picture was taken 5 years ago at my in-laws 50th Wedding anniversary party. My second Mom and Dad (the only ones I have now) have been the most incredible in-laws anyone could ever ask for. They accepted me from the very beginning as an equal part of the family, just like I had been born in to that family. It is no different today.

I was privledged to spend Mom's last three days with her and the rest of the family; Dave, Dad, Christi and Ron. It was such an incredibly time as we held her hands and talked to her. Ron and Dad sang to her at different times and we prayed. She passed away at 8:12 am Thursday morning, October 30th. It was truly a "death with dignity" as it was in God's perfect timing with her family by her side. I love you Mom.

Christmas Cards

The santa and the snowman are flocked, and these are all CTMH stamps except the last one which is from Flourishes (online store). I'm sure that I have bought one of every Christmas paper that is available this year. Just found out though that the Mighty Mouse Brigade, Relay for Life is doing a sale December 12th, so I need to get lots of cards ready for them.

Did I say that I am anxious for Christmas this year? I am! I have room for a tree now, and plan on doing it up good. Dave bought another inflatable for the yard, a polar bear. Don't know for sure where we are going to put them all, but it will be fun trying. I'm going to use the occasion to start moving our stuff out of the Snohomish storage and get something closer. Hopefully in doing so I can sort out some stuff that I've been hanging on to, so that we can get a smaller storage unit.

Looking for Leaves

We decided to go for a drive to Enumclaw today to see the fall leaves. I've never been to Enumclaw that I can remember, and it is so close to us now. So we headed out.

We came to a fork in the road and it said Mt. Rainer one way and something the other, so we said sure, let's go to Mt. Rainer. It's been a long time since we've been there. It's definately a different route than I've ever taken, and Dave too.

When you see it from a distance you don't even see this little peak on the side.

Not too many fall leaves up here. We came to another fork and it said to Portland one way and another something else the other. Thinking we would miss Rainer if we went the Portland way, we went the other. Oops... wrong way. Oh well, we'll enjoy it anyway.

So we get up to the summit of Chinook Pass and got out to take some pictures. Oh yes, most of these pictures were taken through a dirty windshield. I asked one guy if he knew how far it was to Yakima and he said he thought it was about 45 minutes away. So we thought, hey, that's not so bad, let's do it.

These pictures got a little mixed up as I posted them, sorry. Most of the ones with the fall leaves are from the west side and then it began to get more barren as we got closer to Yakima. Oh yeah, it wasn't 45 minutes, more like double that. But that's okay, we needed an escape today.

This one made me very sad. This was just coming in to the eastern side of Washington. We could see the hillside behind a ways back and I thought that there were deciduous trees interspersed with the fir trees. But as we got closer I saw that they were dead fir trees. Years ago when we returned from taking Carla to Prairie Bible School in Canada we came back through Montana, Idaho and in to Washington. There was a progression of dying trees and it was a beetle that was destroying all the pine trees. As you got closer to Eastern Washington it diminished some until you got to the west side and we had our nice green fir trees again. I am wondering if this is from the same beetle that is destroying the pine trees of the east side.

Out of place picture. The next two are from Chinook pass looking onto the William O Douglas and Norse Peak Wilderness. We do still have some wilderness left, thank God.

As we got closer to Yakima, we saw less and less trees until there was nothing but rock. Homes sit where they literally cut them out of rock and built there homes. No yards, nothing but rock on every side.

But we did get to see some pretty trees before crossing over. Not as many as I would have thought. I was so afraid of missing them as I do every year and guess I was a little early.

When we got to Yakima and filled up the tank I washed the windows so we could get better pictures, but there just wasn't anything worth photographing there. I am so glad that I live on the west side of the Cascades.

There was one thing that we were not early with. We were sitting eating dinner in Ellensburg in a nice little family restaurant and I had this thought.... I asked Dave what day it was... and he looked at his watch and said "the day after our anniversary." It hit us both at the same time. Oh my gosh, 34 years and we both forget?! I'm sure he felt better that I forgot too, because last year I remembered and he forgot. So I told him that for our 35th we are going to have to plan something really BIG! Maybe a trip to Hawaii? I'll make him pay for forgetting two years in a row..... hehe.