Bittersweet Vacations.......

I'm home!  Needless to say the past 3 weeks have been anything but dull!  To start off I arrived in Seattle with a storm closely on my heels and also no heat or hot water at the home of my friend Rennie's.....so we took advantage of this and headed west to the Washington Coastline to the Quinault Resort and Casino.  Hey far be it from me NOT to take advantage of a bad situation and make it an adventure.  Besides I hadn't seen the Pacific ocean in many years so it was about time.  We had a great room with a view of the ocean and we even saw an orca (killer whale) being playful!  Too COOL!  We left the resort early hearing of the "MEGA" storm hitting the area....we actually were just in front of it as we drove inland to Duvall, Washington.

Eventually we made it down to Oregon to see my mom.  My mom lives with my younger brother and his wife.  Haven't seen my mom for a few years but talk to her often on the phone.  Needless to say I was shocked at how tiny she had become, but then again she had gone through a pretty horrible health crisis.  My mother's situation was not good and I wish I could elaborate but at this time it would do no good to point fingers or do any mud slinging,  only positive action needs to be taken to secure that my mother will have some more happy memories to take with her in the remainder of her life.  We did have one glorious day together!  The three of us, my mom, my friend Rennie and I took mom to lunch where she proceeded to hit on the waiter....some things NEVER change no matter how old one gets, we did some shopping and mom got her ears pierced.  She wanted a tattoo but for some reason the car kept diverting itself from any ink parlors!  It was such a fun day and I seriously hope I will have more before she leaves us!  Of course she had to try on my "Harry Potter" glasses while we were at lunch.  They took up her whole face!  I hope that when I'm 85 I still have that spark for life that my mom has....Hang in there mom....it will get better!
All in all the 3 weeks in the Pacific Northwest were bittersweet.  It is always tough to leave a place that was home for so many years and also to leave someone you love in a bad situation BUT I had many good and wonderful experiences to come home with!  Planning for next years trip has already commenced!