A Four State Day!

This is a Wichita airport scene at 4:45am waiting for a 6:20am flight to board at 5:45am.

Talk about an ungodly hour!

It was even more ungodly when a rapping at my door at 4:05am signaled the arrival of my cab driver ---about 30 minutes earlier than I had expected!  My alarm had only gone off 5 minutes previously and I was in the throws of getting dressed, brushing my teeth, packing the rest of my stuff.

The fruit and yogurt that I had gathered the morning before and squirreled away in the fridge in my room ((intending THAT to be my morning breakfast before my cab ride to the airport)) was left sitting there on the table….

I stuffed a few grapes and a couple of pieces of pineapple into my mouth as I grabbed my bag and headed out the door and down the steps to the awaiting cab.

4:05am??  No one should have to be awake at this hour!

But it’s a good thing I didn’t fall asleep as soon as I was boarded.  I would have missed this:

Oh, the colors of a Kansas morning sunrise!

The flight was uneventful, but I have to tell you how weird it was to land in Minneapolis, the land of my birth, the birthplace of also my parents, and their parents ---knowing that only extended family live somewhat near now ---I thought of all of the summers that I would fly out to Minneapolis as a teenager to spend a month between two sets of grandparents.  Oh how I miss them!  They were so much on my mind today.

Cousins, aunts and uncles live about 45 minutes away, but my layover wasn’t that long and it just wasn’t worth going out of security at 8am to try to squeeze in a visit, only to have to go back through security to catch my flight from Minneapolis to Spokane.

Bye, Bye Minneapolis!

I held on to my memories, remembering the young girl I was,  stuffing those same memories back into my heart and waved goodbye.

Besides, it was only 32 degrees in Minneapolis today!  Brrrr!

I slept a bit on the way to Spokane.  I also managed to play with some batiks:

Ooh! This is going to be fun -- -stay tuned!

Before I knew it we were descending…my Spokane adventure was about to begin!

Hello mountains!  Hello rivers!  Hello Spokane!

I was met at the airport by Program Chair Lexi – who has treated my like a princess and even better –a friend!  We gathered up my luggage and went right off to check out the location for my two lectures tomorrow, and also the room where our workshops, filled to capacity with 50 students each, will be held on Friday and Saturday.

All systems are go!

And then she suggested we take a little drive across the border into Idaho..and do a little stroll along Lake Coeur d’Alene!

Can you feel the stress melting away?

The Centennial Trail!

This is just what I needed!

No matter how tired I am, I am trying to get myself into THIS time zone – Pacific time.  It’s a 3 hour difference from home in North Carolina, and a 2 hour difference from where I woke this morning in Wichita, Kansas.  ((At this time I’m trying not to remind myself that I have been up since 2am Spokane time this morning!))

Nature.  Scenery.  Wind in the tall pines, the lapping sounds of lake water slapping against the shore….beautiful!

Heaven!

Heaven blooming with spring blossoms!

More about the trail…..what a cool place!

Our walking path stretching into the distance.

This is peace.

Lexi’s hubby Gary had been busy with dinner and there were yummy smells wafting from the kitchen when we arrived at her house.  I couldn’t check into the hotel until 4pm, and it made no sense to go to the hotel only to have to go back out for dinner a couple of hours later, so I got to enjoy a home cooked meal at her house, visit, relax, play in her sewing room and finally here I am --- it’s still light outside. I can’t go to bed yet!

So here I am typing even though my time zone at home is past 11pm already.

I’ll be to bed soon.  And my pick up isn’t until 10:30am tomorrow morning so that means --- NO EARLY ALARM!  Sleep until I wake up….

And should I be time zone confused in the wee small hours – I’ve got Lexi’s featherweight and a project to keep me busy.

From Kansas to Minnesota, to Washington to Idaho and back to Washington – it’s been quite a day.

Night, everyone!

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