The Great Northwest

About 12 days ago I was rushing around to pack and take care of the house before we left for our crazy trip when I heard Frannie fall off the bed in my bedroom. My bed is about 4 feet off the ground. She managed to jam her lower teeth through her bottom lip and they darn near came out the front of her chin. She was a mess, but we left 4 hours later for Virginia.

Kevin got home from a work trip and quickly packed for our 8 days away. We jumped in the car and drove 6 hours to my sister's house in Virginia, where Frannie would be staying for the week while we flew out west. We stayed the night and got her acclimated to her surroundings. We nervously left on Tuesday morning and drove to Charlotte to catch our flight. We had a small bit of extra time so I called my buddy Lynne who had JUST moved to Charlotte that week to see if she and her new hubby wanted to meet for a beer before our flight. We got to spend about 1 and a half hours with Lynne and Chris at the airport, getting caught back up after seeing each other only one other time since our time in Spokane, 11 years ago.

We flew to Seattle, got a night's rest, rented a car and headed east. Although I lived in Washington, my goal was to see as much as we could, sights I had seen and some I had not. Our first real stop was Spokane which made me surprisingly emotional. Lots had changed, but most had not. We had some beers at Jack and Dan's, walked by our 2 old houses and met this year's JVs. The moment we walked into Jack and Dan's, the first guy I saw was a familiar face, if you can believe it. He was the former bartender at J&D's, but is now part owner. I should have asked to take his photo, but those JVs who are regulars will probably remember Kevin the dark-haired bartender with a goatee. Looks exactly the same. I also wanted so much to eat a Sonic Burrito, but yellowpages.com informed me they were no longer in existence. We walked down Hamilton and spotted a restaurant called "Ionic Burrito." Hmmmm. We went in to eat and when we asked the burrito guy told us that they had had a battle with the Sonic Burger people and Sonic Burrito lost their name.

We stayed in Couer de Alene for the night, right on the lake then drove up to Glacier the following day. The photo of the incredibly pregnant Amish lady was a few feet from the entrance. Poor lady. Here I am imposing on her privacy by taking pictures of her enormous belly. Ooops, sorry. We LOVED the scenery in Montana, the weather was fabulous and the B&B on Flathead was spectacular. Go out of your way one day and venture to Flathead, you will not regret it.

I have a small gambling compulsion so it's a good thing we do not live in a gambling state. I only lost about $50. Good thing Kevin is restrained. After leaving Flathead we drove through Missoula (oh, the memories, the beers we shared, the boys we kissed and the hangovers we nursed). We only stopped for red lights so I'm sorry to report (Angie, Lynne and Jennie), I didn't even have one beer at the Rhino or one boot at the _____ (what the heck was the name of THAT place? We drank beer out of a boot??? Sounds funny). Drive, drive, drive back east via scenic Idaho (where, by the way, I'm quite sure that 48 trillion trees could be logged and no one would notice the difference). I don't think I'm leaving anything out by saying bla bla bla, Idaho, Washington, Oregon then Washington again. The Columbia Gorge, Mount Hood, Mt. St. Helens and Ranier are all so incredibly spectacular that the photos and the words could never touch the beauty or the majesty.

Most importantly, we finally got to Shawn, Billy and Sadie's house (my niece and her family). We spent a few days with them, getting to know Sadie a bit better. She's 16 months and smart as a whip. We got to eat out a few times and see the sights near them in Olympia. Shawn kicked our butts in Scrabble, we took some nice walks, had some great meals and I got to see my new budding niece or nephew's ultrasound!).

On Sunday we drove up to Seattle to have lunch with another Spokane buddy, Alex and her family. Her Mom lives on Mercer Island (la dee da) and we ate and chatted on the deck overlooking the gorgeous scenery. Her little girl Ariya is so very cute and I regretably did not take one photo of Alex or her baby! We were about 2 miles away and I could have kicked myself for not thinking of it. Alex is the same as always, helping the world one needy person at a time. God love you Alex. She is a physician for the university in Seattle (Univ of Seattle?) serving refugees and the homeless. She deferred medical school a year to volunteer a year with me in Spokane (now that is charity), along with 4 other roommates, I mean as a Jesuit Volunteer working for the Spokane Food Bank. She's brilliant, fun, sweet and pretty as ever (darn you Alex Molnar!) with husband who is in medicine too.

My flight story is so complicated I will spare you the details, but Kevin and I got home, wanting to run to the hotel to find Frannie and kiss her all over. I will NEVER leave her again for so long. I missed her by the hour and felt horrible about the whole thing until Katie reassured me that she was fine from the start. We got to the hotel where Katie and Frannie were waiting for us and we got the nicest reception from her, I was so worried she would hate us for leaving her! She was so sweet. She kept smiling at us and saying Hi!! We got home this morning and we are not leaving until I have to go back to school in August!