The Long and Winding Road...

The girls have been at Nana and Papa Horse, Kitten, and Four Wheeler Camp for the past week or so. They needed to be picked up eventually so I guess I was the woman for the job. I dreading the 12 hour drive by myself, but flying was too expensive and apparently people love the smell of bad morning breath because the train was surprisingly expensive too. I tried to wrangle some friends into going with me, but they have obligations like wifing and mothering. So as it turned out I would, in fact, be making the trip solo. I was not looking forward to it, but come Sunday morning I headed out. And then after 10 minutes headed back home because I had forgotten something. As I headed out the second time I did so with tears in my eyes because woe is me I had to drive by myself and Jason couldn't come and it was going to be boring and what if I got tired and I forgot my lunch box and had to go back home and wha wha wha! However, after about 45 minutes of a pity party I said to myself, Self...you better turn that frown upside down because you have 12 hours ahead of you and your skin isn't as young as it used to be and 12 hours of frowning might just give you some crazy wrinkles! And so I did turn that frown upside down and I learned a few things along the way. I learned:
*One might be tempted to pick up two lady hitchhikers that were heading EAST just to have someone to talk to.
*One might discover that she is a "sharer" and call her husband about 6 gajillion times just to tell him one little observation/thought.
*One might also discover that if you pull into Ellensburg, WA at 11:30am on a Sunday the Starbucks will have a line out the door and onto the sidewalk because apparently all the twenty-something Gorge concert goers really need their caffeine fix after a night of partying.
*One might find herself (for the first time since the college days of living with her roommate Jen) listening to more than one country song in a row because she didn't bring any cd's along. She might also suspect that the singer to the song "Rain is a Good Thing" did not grow up in the Pacific Northwest because after 5 months of winter rain PNW the ladies are anything but frisky.
*One might also find herself (for the first time in her life) listening to religious talk radio. She will be sucked into the topic "Keeping Your Kids Off Drugs and Alcohol in Their Teen Years". She will briefly listen until she realizes that the best way to keep your kids off the afore mentioned substances is to lead by example and quit drinking yourself. That prospect makes her want to have a cocktail and therefore she comes to the conclusion that maybe this isn't the station for her.
*One might find that while zipping down the freeway at 75 miles an hour is really quite hard to eat the burrito or Subway sandwhich they have purchased. Maybe, Oprah, you should amend your No Phone Zone campaign to read: no phones, texting, or eating of crappy road food.
*One might also find that after pushing two kids through her badoodle hoodle she has the bladder the size of a gophers and therefore her 12 hour trip turned into a 12.5 hour trip.

Hour 3...still smilin'...

Hour 7...there you are Montana...
Hour 11...Mama might be losing it...

Hour 11.25...I have to admit the scenery was beautiful...

Hour 12...oh I'm almost there...

Hour 12.5...totally worth it...

Hour 12.75...Oh Mr. Selleck you waited up for me. How sweet of you. What? You want me to cuddle with you? Well I don't mind if I do!

And now for the really fun part. We get to head back. We'll do it in two days and I challenge anyone who says that watching Barbie and the Nutcracker 5 times in a row is 4 times to many!!!

*side note* Lena and Annika had a blast at Nana and Papa's. They flourished as "country kids", but that is a post all on it's own and you can bet your bottom dollar I will be posting on it. I know it will be hard for you to wait, but you'll just have to try!