September

Joan, Grandma and Misty. This was Agnes' 98 birthday party. Have you ever seen a more beautiful woman than my second Mom?

This has been a month of ups and downs. On the 4th we got a call that they were taking Don's mom to the hospital. She was suffering from diarrhea and dehydration. Being 98, it is so much harder for her to bounce back and recover. On the 6th we were called in because things looked very grim. Don's nephew David, Don and I were in the room, and she actually still had a good sense of humor, and of course her mind was still clear as could be. We were told by the nurses that she might not make it through the night. She ordered us home and promised she would be there the next morning, which she was. Her kidneys were failing, her lungs were filling, and her heart was having to work way to hard. She held on until Thursday the 10th. She was at peace, and we all got to say our goodbyes. I miss her so much. The first 6 years I was married to her son, she didn't like me very well, but from then on, she was one of my very favorite people, and best friends. I love you Mom and miss you so much.

Don and I haven't been able to take a vacation for a couple of years. It is hard to do with daycare. Even tho I officially "retired", I still have Teddy and Grace, and another little girl that I watch after school. Joan called me in August, and said she had some vacation time she needed to take, so we decided it was time to do another trip. One of the things I/we have wanted to do is see all 50 states, and with only 14 left, decided to conquer a few on our list. We left on Sept. 11, and drove to Minneapolis, and spent the night with Katisha. She has such a beautiful apt. and appears to be very happy. After breakfast we took off on our adventure.



We headed northwest, towards N.D. (check off one more state). It is a very pretty state. We saw buffalo and antelope. We saw the Badlands of N.D. We spent the night in Dickinson. Got up the next morning and headed for a very long drive, to Whitefish, MT.








Glacier National Park is such a stunning place to visit. We only spent one day in the park, saw thousands of beautiful sites, but there are a million more to see. I actually stood bare footed in a glacier lake. It was so wonderful. I really would love to take Tyree here. He would just love it all.





We moved on to Washington State. WOW, we totally fell in love. The entire state smells like what Heaven must smell like. We stayed in the most fabulous hotel. No bells and whistles, but immaculately clean, and the most amazing woman working there. Susan is a true gem.

We also enjoyed Mt. Rainier so much. It totally took my breath away. The true highlight was the Grove of the Patriarchs. WOW, 900 year old trees. They were just amazing, and one of the most peaceful places I have every been. Would love to go back, anytime.

From Washington we went to CA. First we had a huge amount of traffic, from the morning left WA. Portland, OR. was a nightmare with traffic, and it didn't let up all the way to CA. We did spend the night in Medford, OR. When we left Medford, fog, and when that cleared, smog. Then it was hundreds of miles of mountain traffic to get to our hotel, which was very conveniently located, right outside Yosemite. Yosemite was gorgeous, especially the huge Sequoias. They were so amazing. Then there were all the gorgeous views we had to pull over and observe and take pictures.

We left CA. to head to Salt Lake City. Once we got out of the park, YIKES, those mountain roads, we were on our way. We stopped in Benton, CA to go to the bathroom and get gas. There were signs posted for 167 miles to next gas station. This sign didn't mention that it was that far to the next bathroom. Well, I would sure like to meet the person that can drive that far without stopping to ............... Longest drive of our lives, and no we didn't make it. I know TMI.

We arrived in Salt Lake City at nightfall, and had a little problem finding our hotel, but we did make it. We decided at that point that we were ready to head home, instead of taking in Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore. We were both feeling homesick.



I talked to my friend Janalee, that lives in the area, and we agreed to have breakfast. She came to our hotel at 9, we drove to Starbuck's and spent two very short hours with her. I really hated leaving her. I haven't shared with her, that I cried all the way to WY. Never get to spend enough time with this woman.



Got into WY, and drove through snow, yikes. 103* one day, and two days later snow. WY has the perfect name, Big Sky Country, you can see forever. Gorgeous country. We saw so many herds on pronghorn antelope. Just amazing. We spent the night in Laramie. We took off in the morning and headed home. We arrived at 8:30 p.m. It felt amazing.

Our trip was amazing, gorgeous, breathtaking. I truly believe that there is no way you can see this beautiful country, and not believe in God. Once I edited all the pictures Don and I both took, we ended up with 988, lol. Will have to take out a loan to get them all developed, and then there is the scrapbooking, lol. Only 9 more states to go.

Sept. was a month of many highs, and some very low, lows. Don and I traveled almost 5,000 miles. We listened to C.D.s for about 300 miles or so, the rest of the time we talked. Pretty amazing considering we spend about 24 hours a day with each other, and have been together for 42 years. Yup, we do still love each other, very much.