2008 Summer Vacation Day 10 - Heading Home
Walking
Despite being the last day of my vacation I was up almost earlier than I had been the entire time. I was up at 7:30 and out walking by 8:30. It was a near perfect day for walking. The weather was cooler (if you can call 75 degrees cool) and semi cloudy so the sun wasn't always in my eyes. I learned from the last few walks to make sure I had put Off on before I left (just too many flies around the pastures of animals and it actually helps with those too).
Just past the canal bridge there is a pasture that has horses in it. I didn't realize until yesterday's walk that they had foals (baby horses for those who don't know) as well. There were three to be exact. Well today as I walked by the brown and white one was enamored with me. He watched as I walked by and never took his eyes off me as I went down the road. The other two were too playful to notice until I got close and then they stopped playing and watched me as well. Their attention waned as soon as I passed. :D
I managed my goal of getting all the way to Montezuma again today (I got that far yesterday too and am pleased that I got that far more than once during my stay.. It marks a 2 mile round trip to get to this road). I crossed the road at Montezuma and was greeted by 3 small dogs that had apparently gotten out and crossed the road. They were causing trouble with a neighbor's dogs and saw fit to try and chase me away. I am not, however, scared of tiny dogs and just walked on my way without really paying them much attention. They didn't follow me and I was fine with that because of their noise level. -_-
As I came back to the pasture with the baby horses I was on their side of the road this time. The brown and white one was busy with his mom as I walked up but as soon as he spotted me he came running up to the fence to see me. He stayed there until I had passed and gone over the bridge. I wanted to stop and pet him but I figured it was probably not a good idea for many reasons.
When I returned home Hugo met me at the crest of the driveway and walked me in. ^_^ He had followed me only to the end of the driveway today on my way out. Julius was outside this time too but didn't follow me at all. I love how Hugo gets so worked up about someone walking outside around him. ^_^
I changed into my swimming suit and headed outside to keep up the tradition of cooling off by swimming. I swam for about an hour before heading inside and getting ready for the day.
Drive
I had planned to make pancakes for breakfast but my dad was already up and had other plans. I had planned to go back to Desert Graphics today to pick up at least one of my two t-shirts and he wanted to go with me to pick up some t-shirts of his own.
He wanted to take the Mercedes again so we headed out in it. This time he didn't put the top down. We got to Desert Graphics and thankfully they were open. The lady said they had finished my gray shirt but were not done with the maroon one. She was in the middle of helping two other customers though so she had to finish their order before she could get mine.
One of the guys who was ordering other shirts noticed dad's car as he pulled up and commented on it being a really nice car. He then handed dad a business card with the same car on the card. Apparently the guy does auto detailing and the Mercedes SLK is his first choice. I thought that was pretty awesome. Hehe.
I got my shirt after they were done (had already paid for it so there was no problems there). I asked why they were closed early on Friday and she said her daughter was in the ER and needed her. I felt bad for being upset about the whole thing but understood. Dad ordered his blank white t-shirts and I looked through all the examples of things they could print while I was waiting. My favorite was the palm tree shaped crazy straw. ^_^
Batman
After Desert Graphics we headed to the bank so my dad could pick up some money. I had almost forgotten that it was Monday. The bank is never open while I am visiting. ^_^ It was hot out but I opted to stay in the car while he went inside. While in there I looked over the numerous buttons the vehicle has. The most interesting being a set of book light buttons by the rear view mirror. Without thinking I pushed one of the buttons. Even though the keys were in the car it didn't do anything. I was kind of disappointed.
When dad came back to the car I asked him what the button was for (just because there's a book on it doesn't mean it's a book light so I wanted to be sure). I pushed it again without thinking about it and he got upset (even though it still didn't do anything with the car on). The following conversation took place:
Dad "Don't push buttons, it makes me get up in the middle of the night."
Me (half laughing) "What are you, Batman?"
It totally popped into my head that pushing the button turned on the "Bat" signal and he had to go out and fight crime in his Mercedes when it came on. LOL Ok he didn't think it was so funny but I maintain that it was hilarious. ^_^
After that we headed home.
Lunch
Naturally there was no longer anyway to avoid it and today's lunch would be Arby's one way or the other. So we headed out. Dad took his Mercedes again but this time Bo got to ride in it.
For lunch I had the Grilled chicken sandwich and somehow STILL managed to get an onion in it. -_- Thankfully I found it before I actually bit down on it. O_o It was a nice change of pace but I still don't like anything I get there so it was only better than bad. :(
As I went to sit in my seat I walked past a guy who was wearing a Dharma Swan T-shirt. ^_^ I pointed it out to the kids and had my daughter go ask him where he got it. The response was E-bay so now I know where to look. ^_^
We watched outside their large windows as the wind began to pick up. We noticed a few Semi trucks who couldn't decide where to park and ended up kicking up more dust than necessary while driving around in the dirt parking lot across the street. -_-
Fire!
This is where it all got interesting. I was watching the wind and gusts of dust blowing in the field across from the Comfort Inn (which is across from Arby's so it was over a block away). The dust clouds got thick and you couldn't even see the freeway anymore. Then they turned black!
I knew something was up almost right away and turned completely around to see what it was. As expected a fire had broken out in the dry dusty field during a wind storm with high speed gusts and was moving rapidly… right for the Exxon gas station. O_O
It only took minutes for the fire to race across the field and seconds for the fire crew and volunteers to get there (the station is just down the road but damn they moved fast!). They were doing their best to contain it before it reached the hotel and gas station at the end of the field. Suddenly I felt like it was a GOOD time to leave. O_O
Dad and Bo headed out in the Mercedes fairly quickly. I had my camera and wanted to get some pictures, which I did. I couldn't understand though how the wind could be blowing towards the gas station but it was also blowing my hair into the camera (which was perpendicular to the way the fire was moving). -_-
Mom was patient enough with me to stay long enough for me to get some good pictures. We even went down Yonezawa Blvd and parked at a small offshoot of the street that was far enough away to be safe but still close enough to view the fire and the goings on. We weren't alone either. At least 4 other vehicles stopped there to see what was going on. Two others were taking pictures or videotaping like I was. :D
After getting quite a few pictures and some video we headed home. Since the gas station didn't go up I can only assume they got the fire out in time. :D
Packing Up
I wanted to get everything into the car as soon as possible so I had Bo back the car up to the walk way and open the trunk. We started hauling out everything to the car which turned out to be a chore. Trying to get Bo to understand what I wanted seemed to be impossible as he brought out things not even related to what I would ask for (if I asked for the toiletries suit case he would bring out the three boxes of shoes… I really don't know how those could be confused?!). It took some ingenuity but we got everything into the car. ^_^ Even though it's a chore I love that part of packing because it's like a puzzle to me.
Once the car was packed I decided to go for one last swim before we left. It was hot outside and running stuff back and forth had not helped. So we all went swimming. It felt really good to cool off one last time in the pool. I was really going to miss that. Unlike most times the pool was nice each time I got in. I never had to hesitate because it was too cold.
After swimming for about an hour I got out and got dressed again. As we were getting ready to head out my dad handed me some money telling me it was to help out. My mom asked how much he gave me thinking it might be more than she got. I told her "I don't know lets trade and see" (that way if she did get more I would win…hehe). I didn't want to tell her because I didn't want her to be upset if I got more. I highly doubt I did anyway.
Heading Home
Once we were all ready again we headed out. My parents followed me to the gas station to help me top off the gas tank before we headed out. It was only then that I realized that my car is now covered in hard water stains. -_- Those don't come out easy and are a result of parking too close to the automatic sprinklers in my parents yard. *sigh*
On our way out I could see the damage from the fire from the other side. It was apparent that the fire had started from a tossed cigarette and spread quickly across the field. -_-
Because I wanted to read Twilight I had my son drive. He was more than happy to anyway because he likes the long drives. So I settled in and told him that I would be reading so he needed to pay attention to the road. In return I let him listen to his music instead of bringing out my mp3. I read all the way to North Bend.
Dinner
For dinner we stopped at Taco Time in North Bend. Turns out they have the same kind of ice that the one in Moses Lake has. I was ecstatic. :D I really like this Taco Time too, the place is always clean and our orders are always right. However they don't have the soft corn shells that I like so much. I make due though because it's Taco Time. ^_^ We headed out around 9:30 with my son insisting that he still wanted to drive.
Stop in Tacoma
We made it to Erik's around 10:30 and stopped in for a visit. He was still up but Darren was sleeping. Erik gave me my birthday gifts (a special edition Def Leppard CD and a jug of Mirin). ^_^ The CD has all the b-side tracks for the single releases which are all songs I like. ^_^
We also tried the Jamaican soda he picked up at Cash and Carry. I tried the Jamaica (pronounced Ja Mai Ca) flavor which I didn't like much and the Watermelon which I loved. Naturally we talked way too long and didn't get to heading out until later.
Heading Home
My son still wanted to drive so I let him continue for as long as he wanted. I decided to continue reading Twilight for as long as I could stay awake. Naturally I was a little too distracted by this and accidentally told him to take the wrong exit. So we were suddenly headed back towards Seattle. I was half tempted to just let him go and not go back to work. Hehe. Instead though I got him turned around at the next exit and we were on our way in the right direction in no time.
Around midnight I forced myself to put the book down and sleep for what little time I had left. I slept until we got home. As we were driving the last stretches of road apparently my son thought it was ok to talk loudly and it woke me up. I was not very happy with him about it. -_-
As soon as we were home I gathered up the important stuff and then headed to bed. Bo and the kids brought all the stuff inside. I was the only one who had to work or get up in the morning so I just headed to bed. I was oddly tired but not exhausted like I usually am on these later trips.
Epilogue
This was definitely a different trip for me. It started out with me going to a friends house instead of heading straight to my parents. We drove through the Gorge, which I have only done twice before. I had no money for the first half of my time there and spent most of it at the house as a result. Because of that all of the more exciting things happened near the end of my trip after my check was deposited in the bank. My dad also wasn't there until the last few days so it was different being there without him around for the majority of the visit. I also wouldn't be coming back for Labor Day this year which disappointed them. I felt really bad but had already made plans and paid for Kumori Con. I will be back to visit for Thanksgiving though so it shouldn't be a problem. It was a good trip over all and definitely a needed break from work. ^_^