not along the Lewis & Clarke Trail

Note: I started writing this post a while back, first in my head while I worked my way through the photos; then here. I started, stopped, changed directions with it a few times; had two separate posts going, deleted one, and now here we are. Four months later...

I arrived back in Seattle a little less then 1000 days since I drove away in a U-Haul with the huz, our dog, and all our stuff. I wasn't sure what to expect, the irony of that being I prepared an agenda. I actually always prepare an agenda (with wiggle room) for any trip longer then a week. Plus the mister was also traveling for work, so the agenda also served as contact information for the person staying back here with out girls. An agenda also gave me an opportunity to really make the best use of my time, I had planned two social events (one family friendly, the other not) into the 11 days I was there and planned to stay in strategic locations so as to reach the people I wanted to see with some ease.

The first item on my agenda was a haircut, which oddly enough caused me to come back into the city on the inbound lanes of the route we drove out in the U-Haul. The only reason that is remotely interesting, to me anyways, is because there are a few ways to drive into the city from the airport. Having traveled in and out of Sea-tac a considerable amount over 18 years I have very vivid memories of seeing the city from all those particular routes, and day or night if the lighting is right Seattle is a beautiful city to see. So it's odd that I took a very round about way in that I never would have when I lived there, and to boot the light wasn't right; but as I said to my friend who was driving me, "I'm not here to see the city, I just want to see friends, people. There are just a few special places I want to see."
When visiting friends I try to be considerate of work schedules, small children, and other obligations; ie. planning the trip around a three day weekend. I even scheduled some lunches at work sites, just to cover all my bases.

So I arrived, got my haircut, filled up on coffee (it is Seattle, after all), watched a beautiful sunset, had dinner with several dear friends (whom accumulatively I have known for longer than my lifetime); and settled into a Rabbit Hole for the weekend.

The next thing I know it's snowing... and honestly it didn't stop snowing or precipitating in some unusual fashion (frozen rain) for the next 8 days. At which point I promptly tossed the agenda and wandered the frozen urban tundra known as Seattle . 73.5% of the time I felt like a foreigner, who had read ALL the Traveler's Guides to Seattle. Unfortunately having snow the last several winters has still not prepared the area for that kind of weather. The city shuts down, most offices close, there is minimal bus service, and even if there were the streets aren't plowed enough. Thankfully there were kind souls who took me in, and sheltered me from the storm(s); a few even provided me with carriage to other destinations; which given the conditions of the roads was beyond gracious of them. At one point I ended up riding a luggage/sled combination, it was the only way to transport it.

While the trip wasn't what I had initially planned it to be, it was what it needed to be. Although there are a few people I wish I had spent more time with while I was there, the families and friends who I ended up being housebound with were exactly the right people I needed to be connecting with.

Just as Michael and I have been through ups and downs since moving to Pittsburgh, folks back in Seattle have faced their own challenges and had their own successes. It was hard for me to hear about these challenges and feel so far away, unable to be closer to those I hold dear.

I hope to return again during warmer days, and see those I hadn't seen this last time or spend more time with those I only saw briefly. But I hope all of my dear ones in the Pacific NW know that no matter the distance or the years, I am always here for you. A phone call, Skype/G chat, text, email, letter I am easily reachable and if you find your self in the Iron City you are always welcome in my home.

not exactly "round trip"

926 days from the start date to the end date, end date included

Or 2 years, 6 months, 12 days including the end date

Alternative time units

926 days can be converted to one of these units:

• 80,006,400 seconds
• 1,333,440 minutes
• 22,224 hours
• 132 weeks (rounded down)

digging out...

After a few weeks of settling into a routine post-holiday chaos I started a new job. Two weeks later I started school and ummm... considering how much change we've adjusted to in the last six months... honestly I was exhausted.

I really love my new job, I can't say enough good things about it. I couldn't even compare it to my last job in any way, because in nearly every way the new job is fabulous and the previous one was not at all. But it is a new job and it has it's learning curve.

And school... although I am not exactly fond of the subject, Arithmetic Fundamentals; I am exceptionally fond of my teacher, Mr. O. Mr O has been teaching since before my mom was born. He doesn't have a gigundo wrinkle down the middle of his forehead, no he calls it "his dimple"... I am grateful for this opportunity and experience, and it is wearing me out.

So here I am adjusting to all of that, and still trying to do all the things I did before, being a mom and a wife, having a dog, grocery shopping, laundry, mail, sleeping... and out of nowhere (and I mean NO WHERE)... Western Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic is WALLOPED by the "4th largest snow storm on record in ALL the years that they have been keeping a record of snow storms. No freaking joke... I went to bed on Friday nite (Feb. 5th) with the little shiny flurries beginning to fall, and woke up the next morning with easily a foot of snow outside my front door, which was after the snow had started to stick. Within the next 48 hours Pittsburgh was under a 36" blanket of snow (in some parts). We lost power sometime late Friday nite, until the crazy eyes on our Wii remote controller charger woke me up around 5:30 Sunday morning. We cooked food on the camping stove, and listened to the Pen's game on the radio, then spent Saturday night downstairs so that we could be in front of the fireplace (always a fantastic feature in any home).

It was fun, sort of. Obviously we were overjoyed to have the electricity back on for at least one of the days we were home, there were chores that needing to be done after all. Unfortunately we were also unable to go anywhere, there would be no plowing our street for a few days. Thanks to the large evergreen tree attempting to mate with some wires and a telephone pole at the wrong end of our cul-de-sac.

HFG who had gone for a sleep-over down the street on Friday nite, finally made her way home on Sunday afternoon (that house had not lost power) to happily find no school on Monday. Ultimately I hadn't needed to contact my manger earlier on Sunday to notify her of my inability to leave my house on Monday, since in an unprecedented move work was closed for three days! The city was in total chaos, obviously we weren't the only ones with power out and snow filled streets in the area.

So although I didn't have school or work... I found it hard to resist the urge to hibernate, unless I was out shoveling out a path for the dog.

Several things I've said to describe the experience of being stranded in your own home during severe winter weather include:

• It's like having an avalanche envelop an entire metropolitan area.


• A few times I've experienced disorienting snow blindness.


• Didn't you just shovel five minutes ago?


• Didn't I just shovel five minutes ago?
  
• Oh, is it snowing? I hadn't noticed because it just blends with the rest of the mile high snow piles.

So here we are nearly two weeks into some sort of snow flurry activity (either because it was actually falling from the sky, or the high winds were just blowing it around); and they are predicting measurable snow precipitation for the next week at least.

me + shovel = constant companions.