The Rest of the Story

I know that we have been home for almost a week, but there really was more to our fabulous trip. We went to the local aquarium--kind of fun, but also dark, dank, and disappointing. I guess I thought it would be more like what you see on TV (because I've never been to a real one) when people are underground with lots of space, in front of huge tanks filled with amazing things like sharks, and dolphins, giant rays, and even whales. No such luck, although they did have some interesting things like Giant Pacific Octopus (not as giant as I could imagine) and a dead giant squid (ew!!) and anemone's, starfish, ugly eels, etc. They also had a seal there who was blind in one eye and had been there for over 60 years, or something. That's just tragic. They also had the skeleton of a whale--it was cool.

We started home on Friday and took Amelia's advice and caught the "Old Highway" outside of Portland. It was so beautiful, breathtaking and awe-inspiring. Really. And then we hit the waterfalls--we stopped for 4 of them. Two were just off the road and two required a little hiking--heaven for me. Multnomah Falls were the highest, but also the last one the direction we were going--it was already after 3:00 pm and we'd spent all day at it, so we didn't do any of that hike. Got out, got close enough for pictures, and got the heck out of there. We were a lot later getting to Boise, but it was definitely worth it. We had such a good time. It filled my heart and my soul to spend time with nature like that. And because that's how I feel about spending time with your Dad too, I was tremendously blessed. Too mushy?? Too bad!

We got up Saturday and headed the rest of the way home, but stopped in the Burley/Rupert area to look around. We moved there right after Kelsey was born--your Dad worked at the Youth Ranch for Corey Jones--that's also where we met Mark and Cil Hodges--and Amelia was born there. We took pictures of the hospital of that happy event; the meetinghouse where they were both blessed; and a few of the Youth Ranch itself. We looked for the first place we lived--the double-wide trailer house on the edge of the corn field--but it was gone. The trailer at the Youth Ranch was still there--we think--but who knows? That was a long time ago.

We had some really good food on our trip. One day we were starving because we walked and walked and walked for days and we went to Dooger's for lunch/early dinner. We decided we were low-energy and needed protein so we ordered burgers. Your dad had the Dooger burger and I had the Cajun Swiss burger. They were s-o-o-o good. Seriously. Burgers aren't always at the top of my list of things to eat when I have a choice, but they were really, really good. We ate at a breakfast place called the Pig-N-Pancake--local fare but they have expanded to four restaurants along the coast. We stopped in Pocatello to eat dinner at the Red Lobster on our way home--your Dad actually had seafood there and not so much on the coast. Crazy, huh?

Anyway, we had a fabulous time. A great big THANK YOU to all for the monetary anniversary gift--it was lovely and we actually used it for the burger meal and Red Lobster.

It was great to get home--the cats were actually excited to see us--wouldn't leave us alone, at all, for days. And they were also able to go outside--they rolled around on the cement and perched and sprawled on the picnic table. We had great weather here for about three days, before the wind picked up and its cold again. You should see the river and falls--full to almost overflowing. Some possible flooding in the future.

We both went back to work--drats! But it does allow us to do all the things we need to like have a house, and eat, and have something to wear, so...it's a good thing. Oh, by the way, I have been fired from my nursery job--yes, already. I thought when they hired me it was M-F, but then I found out they needed me every Sat. for the whole summer--What? So I put in a request for a bunch of weekends off--like Austin's baptism, My Mom, the new grandbaby, etc. and they decided it wasn't going to work out. No kidding--I had already decided that too. I am alittle disappointed, because I knew I would enjoy the garden/outdoor atmosphere and also when I did some training I really liked the people, so I thought it could be fun. Oh well--guess I'll spend the summer watering my own flowers and garden.