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 beautiful desert crossing

We drove from Denver, Colorado to Phoenix, Arizona in 14 hours or so. At first we seemed to be stopping every two hours for certain small individuals with small bladders, but as we got into the driving cycle, everyone found a way to schedule their relief along with filling up the tank of the SUV.

The desert was incredible... lush, for this time of year, and the colors were so bright it almost hurt my eyes. I tried to capture some of it as we raced across it... Utah and Arizona... I finished up my documentation of the trip with a sunset shot that was inadequate as we did not stop.

I think the "Hole" shot is in Utah, but the last shot is in Arizona, near (relatively speaking) Monument Valley.

But the last shot of the "Ragged Rocks" was taken by my daughter as I was driving... there is a hint of the pink that heralded the end of the day, but not the end of the drive as we still pushed on for several hours afterward.

Getting ready to roll again

   After a lovely week in Park City, Utah, Jey-hu and I are packing up the car for an early start on Saturday morning to go off to Boise, Idaho, my former stomping grounds. Then on Sunday we will be in Washington State and attending his family's "Mother's Day" dinner gathering for his mother. 

   Yesterday we took a drive up Lamb's Canyon and then across the Interstate into Little Dell's Canyon which led us to Emigrant's Pass, where the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) made their journey into what is now Salt Lake City. It was a bright and sunny day, with a few puffy clouds and a very cool northerly breeze.

 While in Lamb's Canyon we had a picnic lunch and Jey-hu tried to capture a few butterflies on film - well, not film anymore since we both use digital cameras. 

We also had a squirrel stop by to see what we were doing.

   The day before we did a short trip to Antelope Island, a three-mile wide, almost seven-mile long island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake, which has become a nature preserve. As we passed over the causeway, the smell was pretty intense. And the bugs were even more invasive on the northern end of the island. At first we wondered why no one seemed to be getting out of their cars. We are quick learners! The founders named the island after antelope found there, but there were none to be seen on this trip, although we learned there are supposed to be some still in residence. Instead we found ourselves in the middle of the Bison herd with lots of very cute calves bounding around.

 A couple of women were standing outside their car taking pictures, completely unaware of the potential danger if the herd spooked. 

Fortunately the bison were intent only on crossing to get to the greener grass and followed the leader. 

We could truthfully say we shot a lot of bison and left them on the road.

Chlorophyll helps with altitude effects

   Our digs in Park City overlook the base chairlift for this mountain resort. We have also learned that the lobby is at 6,800 feet of elevation. As we are at the next-to-top floor of the hotel, we estimate we are closing in on 7,000 feet and it's taken Jey-hu a little longer to adapt to the lower oxygen levels. We went to the local health food store on Day Two and found some liquid chlorophyll combo which, when added to water, helps to increase red blood cells and the effects of drinking more water are also helpful at this height. The consultant warned me not to be alarmed if the solid output developed a green color. I think it's now green enough it could be used for fertilizer... I feel like I've been chewing cud in an alfalfa field.

   We decided to take some time to explore the area and chose to drive up past the 'old' town of Park City up into the mountains surrounding it. Where there once was a mine, a new hotel or village is under construction with what appears to be a cable car track up the mountainside. 

   There is still snow at the higher elevations, and we made our way up into some pretty posh neighborhoods. Some have ski runs that go right past the house so that the residents can slap on the boards, slide to the next lift, ski all day and glide home again. Southeby's, a high end reseller of resort property, has a number of signs up, but not as many as might be expected. Perhaps the owners have a little more resiliency in the leaner air... 

   Before sunset we headed back down into 'old town' to see what our dinner options might be. Although the feel of an old western mining town has been preserved, seeing retail outlets for Rolex, Chanel and other shops for the rich and shameless took away some of the illusory charm.    Without too much discussion, we ended up eating at some place with 'bistro' as part of its name. The only conclusion we could make is that restaurants with fewer than 10 letters in the name are quite inclined to have menu items with foreign names at higher prices. The food was not as remarkable as hoped. Still it was fun to be out and about and watching the locals, although fewer in number due to this in-between period of winter and summer for commerce.

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.