Monday 12/21/09 - Happy Winter Solstice
6am - Ned slept in, and G wanted to get up early, so we were awake at the same time, and had a nice morning conversation. It's so nice to start off each day with G like that. I enjoy her down to earth approach to spirituality very much. Somehow, she can make even the most esoteric concepts seem so plain, simple, and obvious. It's quiet a talent she has, and I’m very lucky to have her as my lover, my confidant, my friend, and my teacher.
7:30am - Off to Starbucks for foo-foo coffee and an internet connection. G had seen a sign for one the day before as we were looking for a motel, so we went in the 'superstore/ mini mall', and looked around. We couldn’t see the Starbucks sign anywhere from the entrance, so I asked one of the checkers.
She was on the phone to her boyfriend (is what it sounded like to me), and was too busy to turn to look at me. She simply pointed her finger over her shoulder behind her. I shrugged at her disconcern, and headed off with G, across the vast acreage of the mega-complex.
After traversing thru the isles for what seemed like a few city blocks, we ran into another employee and asked him if he knew where Starbucks was. He said, "Yeah… go back to the entrance and go up the escalators to the second floor."
When we got to the escalator, we noticed the girl at the check out line was still talking on the phone. I was surprised she didn't turn around as I burned a hole in her back with my disgust for her lack of interest in anything other than her obviously personal phone conversation.
When we got to the coffee counter, we were pleased to be greeted by not one, but two, happy and sincere employees. Maybe the checker just hadn't had her morning coffee yet. These two young things certainly made up for it though. Not only pleasant personalities… they also had bodies on them that warmed me up, even before I had a chance to have any of their coffee.
The place didn't have an internet connection, so I bought myself a cup to go, and we headed back to the truck. Not far down the road we found a little mom & pop restaurant that had a "free wi-fi" sign, so we went in, and found another smiling face.
I didn't get her name, but she was a very friendly waitress with bright eyes and a happy voice. She brought us our food and kept our coffee and water glasses full, for the 45 minutes or so that we were there, and didn't mind at all that I had brought my own coffee in with me.
I felt like Goldie-locks… the checker was too-oo cold… the gals at Starbucks were too-oo hot… and the one at the restaurant was ju-ust right.
As we were packing up our laptops and folding up the roadmap, a gentleman in the booth next to us turned around and asked me if I wanted him to tell me an easy way to get to where I was going. In my typical 'smart aleck' voice, I said, "Sure, you can tell me, but I'm gonna go the way I want to anyway."
Fortunately, he could see the smirk on my face, and the mischievous twinkle in my eye. When he finished giving me his directions I asked him if the road we were on connected to the freeway, and he said it didn't. Good thing he offered his assistance, he saved us who knows how much time we would have spent wandering around the side streets. I love (Portland) Oregon.
As we were heading for the door, the waitress wished us a safe journey, and I told her that we really appreciated her attitude, and commented on her glowing personality. She looked sincerely at us and said that she was glad that her effort was appreciated, and then explained that she was feeling down because her father had died several days ago.
Funny isn't it, how different people are. The memory of the sourness of the check out clerk at the mega store was gone… sweetened by the friendly and caring people we found shortly thereafter.
We went out to the truck and just as I was ready to pull out of the parking lot, I stopped… jumped out… and grabbed a twig of the mistletoe I harvested the other day. My intention was to share it with friends and family along our journey, and this gal was a perfect recipient of my holiday offering.
Neither Gaeir nor myself wanted to visit the arboretum as we had talked about, and since we weren't meeting my oldest daughter Kellie, in Seattle until around 5pm anyway, we decided to head for the coast, and take the scenic route to the next destination of our adventure.
About an hour out of Portland, I pulled over and had G take a picture of me, in front of my 'dream house', a log cabin with a large covered wrap around front porch. The home was situated on what looked like it could easily have been turned into a little 'pitch and putt' golf course. I spent a few minutes standing there on the side of the road, pretending I was the owner of this beautiful property.
The small highway thru the heavily forested mountains to the coast was very beautiful. At two of the passes, the light rain turned to a gentle snow, and Gaeir and I were as happy as we had hoped we would be when we headed out from Santa Cruz. It was only three days ago, but it already seemed like another lifetime. We were both accomplishing what we wanted. "Brain off", was the mantra I had been saying, and continued to repeat, as a reminder to her to relax and enjoy this time away from her responsibilities, schedules, and commitments.
When we got to the coast, we detoured about 12 miles, to visit "Haystack Rock" in the tourist town of Cannon Beach. It was a little town with a big rock.
From there we headed north and crossed the Columbia River at Astoria. We were now in the State of Washington, and G and I both mentioned almost exactly at the same time, how we felt the 'mood change'. Something about this State has always made me feel different, and apparently it has that effect on other people as well.
Another minor detour just down the road had us going in circles in another vortex near Long Beach. We were following the clearly marked signs on the road, but for the life of me it felt like we were going 180 degrees in the wrong direction. My inner gyroscope is usually very dependable, so this was a very disconcerting feeling for me… the feeling of confusion and apprehension continued to grow for several miles, until at last I felt the effects of the vortex weakening, and that we were going north again.
At our next stop to empty our bladders I made G shake her head at me again. It had been a while since I'd done or said anything goofy, so I was happy to get a little reaction out of her when I went out of my way to park in a spot that was clearly marked as a place not to. Have I mentioned yet in this story how 'easily amused' I am?
4pm - We got to Seattle about an hour early, so I took G on a loop across the two floating bridges on Lake Washington. First, we went east across the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, then west across the I-90 bridge which passes thru Mercer Island, one of the highest high rent districts in the Seattle area.
We pulled up to Kellie's house about 15 minutes early and gave her a call to check on her schedule. Luckily my oldest daughter has a better sense of time and responsibility than Ashley. Sometimes.
She told us she had been tied up at work, and that we could either wait there for 30 minutes for her to get home, or that we could drive about 10 minutes and pick her up. It was an easy choice.
My feelings as I saw her come out of the building where she works, and walk across the sidewalk to the truck, are hard to convey. Kellie has a very strong and distinct air about her. Without anything close to cockiness, she is able to portray her confidence as an easy and comfortable self-assuredness. I am proud of all my daughters, but there has always been something about Kellie that makes me feel that the world is a better place because of her. Who am I trying to fool? I feel that way about all my daughters.
When we got back to her apartment, we opened each other's presents and shared some laughs. She had previously told me she wanted to wait until I was published, and then autograph her copies of my short stories before she read them, but when she gave me two HUGE books, and specifically told me she expected me to read them, I went out to the truck and grabbed my stories that I had originally planned to give her. Both of us were polite in our excitement about the gifts we received.
We met Kellie's mom at the Old Spaghetti Factory, and had a pleasant meal. I've talked quite a bit about Mimi in several of my other stories, so this time I'll say something nice… Gaeir LIKED her! I cannot remember anyone's first reaction to Mimi as being anything but almost fearful of her (besides me). G said she was able to see thru her loud, obnoxious exterior, and see the 'hurt child' behind all her manic distractions. I was touched… both by G's assessment, and… of Mimi's attitude towards Gaeir.
After she realized that she was 'being heard'… she calmed down enough to allow some of the other people at the table to be able get a word in edgewise. I wish I would've been able to get pictures of the looks Kellie and I traded during the conversation… priceless. The best way to describe them is for you to imagine what it would look like if someone was rolling their eyes, without rolling their eyes.
We got home to find that Toren, Kellie's roommate, had made our bed for us on the living room floor, and we all quickly settled down for the night at around 9pm.
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