The Long and Winding Road Home

We are back in Bellingham!  I am grateful to be at home despite the broken furnace, the broken washing machine and the funky power issues that happened while we were away.  Mike and I are both hoping that when you add the little repair we had to make to the car while we were in Tucson that we are done with repair and replacement for now.  The best news for me is the new washer and dryer that will arrive on Wednesday.    (The old washer died a noble death and the dryer was operating at half strength.)

We diligently kept track of the total miles we put on our car over the 41 days we were gone - 5210 miles.  Such a long way for us.  Mike is used to riding his bike as much as he can and I have been spoiled by living 2 miles from my office.  We are used to doing most things within about 5 miles of our home.  Even my little airport is 5 miles from my house.  One of the things I realized is that I really do not like road trips that much.  Maybe if the trip can be completed in one day and is no more than 5 hours.  Maybe if the stay on the other end is long and leisurely, like the snowbirds we saw and met all over California and Arizona, it makes sense.  By the end of the trip I would look longingly at airplanes and think about how quickly those people are going to get to where they are going.  I look forward to flying to and from Arizona next week for a short visit with the Arizona State University Latino Resilience Enterprise team.

I am sure that some of my bias against long road trips on fast moving interstate highways is that I walked away from a horrific high speed rollover accident almost 31 years ago.  I was 6 months pregnant.  Seat belts saved my life and that of my husband and now nearly 31 year old son Ben.  To this day large trucks cause me some anxiety.  We were hit by a semi-truck, thrown across all lanes of I-5 and then broadsided and flipped into a ditch.  We hung upside down while we waited for rescuers.
I had some amazing visits on this trip that made it worthwhile.   I am really grateful for all the people who agreed to give me their time and energy and I learned a great deal.  I was surprised by the generous hearts and the colorful art I saw all along the way.  I will write again in the next couple of days about the last couple of days of visiting in NorCal.  In the meantime I will post a couple of pictures I took on a brief visit we made to the state capital in Sacramento.

Cesar Chavez is honored in a variety of places in California and Arizona.  We spent some time in the Central Valley near where he lived and worked and met people who were connected to him through their relatives.  This plaza was in downtown Sacramento.  We were lucky to walk through it after we parked the car.

All capitol buildings are majestic.  This is no exception.  We found our way inside and enjoyed displays from each county lining the walls on the visitors' floor.

The floor on the outside of the capitol building.  The marble was beautiful and spoke to me esthetically.

The golden bear, state mascot.  This fellow is brass and is touched by many school children each day.  A nearby state trooper advised us to skip touching for the sake of our health.  He is impressive.

Thanks for reading my ramblings!