A Real Roadie!

To say I'd ever been on a real road trip would likely be a stretch of the truth. Yes, we've gone back and forth to see family or I've attended various Close To My Heart functions that required extensive traveling, but those trips have a sameness in that they follow the same highways and biways in both directions. So I say they don't count! I'm happy to share that we just returned home from a real honest-to-goodness road trip where we didn't have a specific destination at a specific time. It was great. Not only did we survive but we didn't have any mishaps or get lost more than twice. Not bad for a real roadie!

My husband Joe, myself, and our unemployed, still-to-young-to-leave-behind daughter all took off from California to drive to Washington State to see our son. We made it up there in not 1 single day, like my son makes the trip home (crazy, I say!), but we took a little over a day and a half. It was well worth it because we took some routes that were off the beaten path and saw some beautiful country. The highlights for me had to do with photography...which will eventually make it centerstage in my scrapbooks! Or better yet, in a big print on my wall. Because I wasn't driving, I could be a lookey-lou and scout out barns, fences, fields of wildflowers, and the like then jot down the location so I could sweet-talk my husband/driver into stopping at those locales on the way home. I'd say I got about 50% of the bargain, probably less. That's better than being disappointed altogether! But guess what? I'm going again! BY MYSELF! (Someday:-)


I'd be remiss in not mentioning that the best part of the trip was spending time with our son and his girlfriend. His home sits in a clearing in the middle of a forest...I call it the Enchanted Forest...that way I don't get too spooked.

My daughter and I weren't too far away from his home and I was photographing wildflowers and tree stumps when my daughter yelled from the car, "Mom, a bear!" That was the last thing I expected to find but then again, I'm from California and well, a tanned bum toting a surfboard might have been a more familiar - and less threatening - image. The big guy stood about 100 feet in front of us just staring us down. I made sure I had time to finish making my photographs before jumping in the car for a feeling of safety. Does a heavy tripod make a good self-defense weapon?? Soon after, he wandered over to the side of the road before disappearing in the brush. I learned one good lesson on this roadie...when visiting the great Northwest, keep one eye out for BEARS!

Thinking what we had really seen was just an overgrown dog, when we returned to our son's home, he quickly requested the "evidence", doubting two girls could tell the difference between a bear and a dog. You just watch us!

Our roadie took us to my friend, Chris Green's house for a delicious pizza lunch with her family. The only other time I've been with Chris has been during Close To My Heart events (we're both consultants) so this was really special. We could have reminisced about the Mediterranean Cruise for hours but I'll bet that both our husbands would have fallen asleep. So, we made our visit short and sweet and we'll continue sharing the fun memories the next time we are together.

Lastly, I am so blessed that we were able to take the time to create warm, wonderful, and special memories with those we love and miss dearly. (Brandon, move back closer soon, eh? I'll even come and get you!)

To close, I'm including one more darling divider from my Recipe Book Album that I promised a while back. As you'll begin to see, they are all similar but each with their own character. Hope you enjoy!