Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Road Trip as seen through eyes of a perpetual list maker

OK, so writing the trip in chapters is not going to work for me. Too many thoughts that don't matter run into each other and I simply cannot find joy in writing like that. Let's try something new. Something near and dear to my heart. Lists. Here are things we've done, seen, said and laughed at. I hoping that by expelling these bits, I may see the trip for what it surely must be... AMAZING.

1. Jasper (the park, not the city) is freaking huge... especially when it's pitch black out and you're tired and just want to get to Valemount and go to bed.

2. Following a truck through most of the windy turns in Jasper will do much to alleviate the feeling of impending doom that waits for you in the darkness.

3. Sometimes the Universe does all it can to correct the small mistakes that happen in life. When a travel booking site switched reservations for they wrong type of room, the wonderful woman at the hotel asked 20 or so rooms if they wanted to switch rooms and no one did. When we arrived, we let her know that the "mistake" was in fact what we wanted. We averted a small crisis and tension filled night. Yay Team Universe!



4. Driving along the highway... sorry, Freeway in American speak, in Washington, I noticed to the side of the road, in the distance, a NUCLEAR POWER PLANT. My mom and I spent a good half hour or so trekking back to find it so we could snap a picture of it... we even did a little off roading to find it.

5. I forgot to take out a toy out of the car I bought for my dog, Chyna (nicknamed Chin-nee) before we left. He is a stuffed guinea pig from Ikea and can now be found in random shots of the trip. He's been christened Guinea Chin-nee and has thus enjoyed the trip so far.

6. I had Guinea Chin-nee on my lap along the way, for no apparent reason other to keep it from falling out of the car while my mother was getting in and out. We had stopped for gas somewhere in Oregon and I was enjoy the Full Service station we had pulled in at. I gave the lad my credit card and was enjoying a moment of solitude. He came over to the window to check my ID (stupid boys name!) and walked away a moment later, with a look that was somewhere between fear and confusion. I didn't understand until I looked down. Not only was Guinea Chin-nee on my lap in plain sight, but I had be PETTING him! Rubbing his back and scratching behind his ears...

7. I spent the most delightful quarter of an hour on a deserted beach at 6 am in Lincoln City. Alone with nothing but my imagination and the ocean, looking through the haze at what was before and behind me, I caught the echo of something... the stirring of someone long passed. I saw this through the haze that had fallen and heard it through the pounding of the surf. A story lay within and I need only to coax it out.

It's late and after driving the insane I-80, I am off to bed... the list will continue a different day.

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