Winding up the Washington Era

The last captured sunset over Puget Sound - see how
those high winter clouds stretch across the sky?

It was a time when things were incredibly uncertain, fluid and transitory as I tried to work out the details of getting my personal gear moved. One day I was going to ship it and the next I was ready to walk away from all of it In the end I decided it made sense to load it into the old Ford Explorer and drive it all the way back to Florida.

Jey-hu surprised me by offering to drive part of the way with me to make the trip more tolerable and to give us time to conclude the relationship amicably on this one last trip together.

It started out as a discussion about how I was going to make the trip and evolved into helping me pack the SUV as full as it ever has been. The original plan was to leave on Wednesday morning - very early. But the weather indicated that Snohomish Pass was going to be overwhelmed with 6-10 inches of snow that day, so we rushed our preparations and left on Tuesday night, about 8 p.m. We took turns driving over the pass in the very gusty winds and as the sun was coming up, we were well ahead of the coming storm and pretty darn tired.

Sunrise in Utah en route to Salt Lake City.

Somehow by taking turns driving and sleeping a couple of hours at a time we managed to get to Salt Lake City where an old and dear pair of friends now live.

My car at the Salt Lake City Information Center.

Grant and Ellie Mitchell, once from St. Augustine, FL,  have 'retired' and Grant was the one I wrote about having Frontal Lobe Dementia. Ellie cares for him with help from his children and local folks.

Once a successful real estate broker, Grant's focus now is on what is immediate. He likes to keep track of the time, remind Ellie to "hurry up" with dinner, and keep the leaves off the patio. Being with the two them is a reminder of the importance of the strength of a long and enduring love coupled with incredible patience on her part.

Grant enjoys his evening at the lake feeding the ducks.

Ellie drove us to share their regular evening journey of feeding the ducks and while there we saw the most glorious sunset.

It was as if God was pointing His finger to the skies and painting with it to remind of what is important.

So there I was, a car packed full of the few things I have left, on my way back to Florida with the man who lured me away helping me to leave. A most strange and wondrous place in time, with a magnificent and artful demonstration of Nature's creation. Wow.

Sunset on a small duck pond in Bountiful, Utah in November.

I am fortunate that I had the camera with me so that I can share this incredible beauty with my readers. Enjoy!

A Rainy Ride to Utah

   The drive from Colorado to Utah was cloudy to start and then the rain started coming down. All plans to divert from I-70 to see the Arches or Moab were discarded as being pointless since the rain was rather heavy with no likelihood of letting up.

   The last night in Colorado was not at all delightful as we were tired from driving and selected a no-star resting spot which was depressing, to say the least. But up and at 'em early on Saturday, we made good time and arrived unscathed in Park City, Utah before tea time. If you click on the link and look at the mountain webcam for the base, you can see our view from the room we had. If you don't look at it soon, the snow will be all gone. This mountain resort has very little snow left as of today and is getting ready for the summer season. 

   Many of the shops are closed and few restaurants are open for business. But looking up the slopes made me want to plan a winter journey back here, except that the elevation (almost 7,000 feet!) leaves me breathless (literally!).

   A trip to Salt Lake City and Bountiful after a couple of days brought us to my St. Augustine friends and we found a fairly new Mexican restaurant in a nearby town which had very fresh and tasty fare for our lunch. It was nice to get down off the mountain and into some sunshine, even if only for a little while. Those clouds you see off to the left in the picture on the right soon gave way to more with a light rain. We're here in Park City for a few more days and if the weather holds, we might try to see some of the tourist treats before we head off for Idaho and Washington.