Sunday 30 September 2012

First things, first.....Tonight’s the Night.....Gonna be alright!”  Came home today to find this little guy sitting on my phone desk.  Not totally sure where he came from but suspect my daughter sending me my White Rabbit Reminder for tomorrow morning!  I photographed him appropriately perched, in my Lucky Bamboo Plant!

Just got home tonight so regrettably did not make it back for my school’s Terry Fox Run.  I did do my pathetic little shog around the campground though and thought about my kids running.  Dusty sent me this picture on Facebook.  I’m not certain but I think it is a picture of her daughter, Hanna.  Thanks Hannah if you are reading this!!!
You know it’s time to head home when your driver starts conversing with his GPS.  The GPS was a God send.  It got us to where we needed to go and found us gas stations, restaurants and coffee shops.  It wasn’t perfect though.  On more than one occasions she (it has a female voice) would direct us “To turn left and continue on for 25 miles to go to such and such.....”  Well, if we had followed her instructions we would be bumping through some farmers field towards a towering mountain range.  On these occasions Bill would look at the GPS and say.....”I don’t think so.....have you been drinking?”  Then today as we were travelling through Lethbridge looking for a gas station she directed us to “Turn left on Senic Drive.”  She said this at least three times.  Bill finally looked at the GPS and said...”You can’t even say it right.....It’s SCENIC DRIVE!”......Almost immediately the GPS repeated the instruction correctly....”Turn left on Scenic Drive!”  I just about fell over!

We have enjoyed an amazing holiday.  The last few days we have been “squatting”......camping for free in various places.  It really helps the travel budget when you can do this over several days.  Of course on the downside there is no internet (hence no blog) and no showers but on the positive side the places we stayed these past couple of nights have been beautiful.....secluded and best of all sans train tracks!

Yesterday was a long driving day.  We drove through much of Wyoming.  If you ever decide to do this trip my advice to you would be to avoid central Wyoming.  Sooooo boring!  Miles and miles of semi arid land covered in sagebrush. It was the one time on the trip I resorted to reading my magazine to entertain myself.  Northern Wyoming on the other hand is quite lovely.  We hadn’t planned to go to Jackson’s Hole as we had been there four years ago on our way back from Yellowstone.  As we were driving along, I said to Bill that it was a good thing we weren’t going to Jackson’s Hole because if we were I would go to the photographers shop and buy one of his pictures.  When we were last there we wandered into this guy’s shop and were treated to some of the most amazing scenery photographs I have ever seen.  The Grand Tetons are magnificent and in the summer the mountain meadows are teaming with the most amazing flowers.  I took many pictures of them myself on our last trip but nothing I took could even begin to compare with this man’s work!  He shoots his pictures using film, not digital but he can no longer find any place that can develop them to the standard he wants so he has hung up his camera and will be closing down shop once his pictures have been sold.  We always regretted not buying one of his photographs so when I made this comment Bill said “Why don’t we go.....it’s not that far out of our way.”  So......off we went.  Now the trouble with going to Jackson’s Hole is you have to go up, up, up a long, steep hill with 10% grades to get to the pass, then down, down, down, the other side (also 10% grade) to get into the town.  Stupidly, we didn’t think to unhook the fifth wheel and leave it, but rather towed it up and over the pass.  We could almost hear the truck guzzling back the diesel!  We both said how pissed off we’d be if we got to Jackson’s Hole and found the guy was no longer in business....
this, however, was not the case and we were not disappointed and came away with a beautiful picture which is now hanging in my living room.  A great souvenir and reminder of this beautiful place.

We continued on out of Jackson’s Hole and witnessed an amazing sunset.  There is a huge forest fire happening in Idaho at the moment and the air is heavy with smoke.  This smoky sky just enhanced the fabulous sunset!


Continued on to our campsite for the night, right on the Missourir River.  We shared our spot with many fishermen who reported the fishing to be absolutely fantastic!  Bill talked to a couple of guys who had sent home 26 lbs. of cleaned rainbow trout last weekend!  Needless to say, Bill has been lamenting the fact that he did not bring his fishing gear.  I’m guessing it will be the last time we go on a trip that he doesn’t throw it in....just in case!

Up and at it this boring.  Did my weights outside this morning looking at this view!
So that brings us to the end of this adventure!  Now back to the realities of home.  It was so nice to be away. There were no constant reminders about my cancer and treatment!  Of course there were my daily meds and my need to drink water constantly to compensate for the lack of hydration but there were no visits to the Tom Baker, no needles, no blood tests, no hydrations.........It was WONDERFUL!  Now I’m home.....picked up my mail with reminders of my upcoming appointments and scan.  Already I am stressing because although they agreed I could wait and have the PET scan when I got back from Hawaii it has been booked for next week on the same day that I am getting my chemo!  No way in hell I’m doing both of those activities in the same day!  Actually, I am going to stick to my guns about having the PET when I get back in November.  There is no way I want to be sequestered in an American airport because I set off the radioactivity sensors.  Our friend’s brother had this happen in the Seattle airport when he went down there a couple of years ago after having a PET scan so I know it’s not just at the border crossings they pick you up.........I can’t imagine anything worse than having the plane surrounded on the tarmac and being escorted off so they can “check me out.”  Anyways....time for bed!  It’s been a long day!  Time for some shut eye!  

1 comment:

  1. Mom!
    That lovely rabbit is from Jeff White!!! I told you that....in an email.... chemo brain??? ;) It's the upcoming mascot for the next olympics - I'm pretty sure he wrote you a little message on the cardboard the rabbit was attached to!
    Beautiful pictures...can't wait to see you!

    LOVE YOU!

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