February Travels and Trials

 Oh boy, it's been an interesting month already! No disasters, just challenges. The day before I was to drive to ABQ and then fly to Seattle turned out to be one of the worst weather days we've had. The roads were awful and I really didn't know if I'd get out of here. But I got Reily and her stuff ready and packed my car with blankets and a sleeping bag, etc and headed out. No sane person should have been on the roads but hey, I learned to drive in northern Minnesota and it hasn't been that many years since I lived there !!!  But I figured if the roads were really that bad, I could turn around and come home. Approx 120 miles to ABQ - 55 to Santa Fe - the 55 were the worst. Thankfully not many cars, although every once in awhile there would be some jerk in a 4-wheel drive pick-up truck that figured he was safe driving 75 mph! Almost wish I had seen those guys in the ditch ahead of me (not hurt, just in the ditch). Reily slept all the way to Bernalillo which was good....my biggest concern was her safety... once we got thru Glorieta Pass and into Santa Fe, the roads were clear. It was Dang cold however and windy. Dropped her off and headed into ABQ...managed to get some dinner at my favorite Flying Star and then to the hotel. It felt so good to be there. Left my car there while I was gone. So much easier to get into the nice warm hotel van the next morning and get dropped off at the airport. It was 1 above (F) in ABQ that morning. The skies were as clear as could be and the flight was on time (even a little early) leaving and not full so I had a whole exit row to myself. First time I've flown Frontier and they were great...they serve fresh baked chocolate chip cookies during the flight - yum. Had an hour layover in Denver and then "home" to Seattle. Flight was great...I think I slept most of the way.

Had a great week in Seattle. Got to see lots of friends and drive in the traffic again (Arghh) listen to the waves crashing on the beach right below my bedroom window, go to some quilt shops, etc etc. And even was able to sing with my former choir on Saturday during their Winter Workshop. What a treat. I did get tired of the gray, cloudy weather...some drizzle but no real rain. Of course the sun was out the mroning I left to come back to NM. Typical. Got back on Wednesday afternoon around 4 and had decided that since another snow storm had hit, I would stay overnight at the hotel and drive home Thursday morning. proved to be a good idea since I think I fell asleep around 7:30 that night and slept until 6:30 a.m. Great beds at the Comfort Inn Sunport. Had to pick up Reily before 9 and then head home. She was glad to see me but it was sad when we drove away from her "vacation home" and she was in the back seat with her head turned looking backwards...it was one of those strange moments when I realized that one day, we're going to have to give her up. But once we were on the freeway, she fell asleep and never woke up till we turned into our driveway. We were both exhausted but of course she got to stay home and sleep all afternoon while I went to work.

So that's the saga of my return to/from Seattle.  Glad to go and acutally glad to come home. First time I've been back since we moved and I wasn't sure if I would be able to leave there again without some tears, but I did. It's good to be back in the land of sunshine and wide open spaces...even though there it lots of snow...but it's melting quickly and soon we can plant seeds.

Pictures are of a small quilt/wall hanging called "Mesa Life" that I made for Jackie. Unfortunately, I don't think I took any pictures of it after it was quilted. Oh well.