All the Way to the Other Coast

We left at our customary time of a little after 8:00, which is getting easier and easier as we continue to cross time zones. But it was not the gorgeous day it was yesterday -- it snowed for the first few hours. This is not my favorite, driving on snow or in snow.  Jon thinks I worry too much (because I generally accuse him of worrying too much).  We agree now that we just worry about different things.  We had no trouble at all today as we cruised through Montana, Idaho and then into Washington.  We have now checked off all the states in the Lower 48 plus Hawaii. The scenery was stunning, even in the fog and snow.

Of course we have started to make new lists, including Jon's recent idea of going to all the state capitals.  Then we counted how many states we have actually slept overnight in, how many of those states we were together, separate, etc.  I was surprised at how many states we have slept in.  Between us, we are only missing North Dakota, Idaho, Mississippi (maybe, I can't remember if our parents might have parked overnight in a church parking lot on one of our many cross country trips). That's a lot different than just breezing through a state, or only stopping to pee.

And, thanks to Benjamin's concern about defending our marriage, we actually downloaded something that both Benj and Alissa recommended:  Serial, which grew out of a This American Life program.  We listened to about 8 out of 12 of the segments because we had to stop the show to discuss it so often. We can polish that off when we head down the coast. It is a long and complicated real life mystery.

We decided it was time for a hot lunch so we stopped in lovely downtown Coeur d'Alene, Idaho to look for soup.  After an unsuccessful search at a big natural foods supermarket, we settled for Safeway.  It was much cheaper than Wegman's and the soup was just fine.  

Before we knew it (ten hours just flew by), we were in the traffic of Seattle and we got to Laura and Stuart's house just as it got dark.  I texted Alissa immediately and she wrote back that we are road trip rock stars.  Yeah, that's us. I have been noticing that our car is smelling of garlic more and more -- Jon thought it was the food we are carrying, but it turns out that the half bushel of garlic we are bringing as house gifts is waking up as the weather gets warmer.  It is about 50 degrees here, which feels like the tropics.

Coincidentally, my brother Charles is in Seattle this weekend so we arranged to have dinner with him at Laura's.  It was a jolly dinner, graciously cooked, beautifully presented.  Laura's brother Mark and daughter Isabel came over to say hello -- the last time Mark saw Charles was at his Oberlin graduation in 1988.