Thanksgiving

This year, we headed to Puyallup to spend Thanksgiving with Marcel's family.  I wish I could say it was an uneventful trip, but that isn't the case.

Our 8 hour drive took us 12 hours because Snoqualmie Pass was closed for avalanche prevention work.  We didn't know that is why it was closed until we were stopped on the freeway amidst a million other cars trying to get somewhere for Thanksgiving.  It is absolutely miserable to be on the freeway with your car in the parked position (yet still running just to stay warm) for 2 hours, only to get to go a few miles, before being stopped for another hour, while having to go to the bathroom more than you have ever needed to go.  Of course, pretty much the only bathroom where we were knew they were the only gas station and thus limited their bathroom to paying customers only.  You better believe those were the best Hot Tamales I've ever had :)

Luckily for us, we had a camera with fully charged batteries, so Marcel took lots of pictures trying out different features on our new camera.

 I like this picture because it actually looks like the snow is falling.  I didn't think there was that much snow, but I guess I'm not in charge of avalanche prevention, so maybe it really was a lot of snow

 Thank goodness our car has a power outlet, because I nearly drained Marcel's computer battery while playing solitaire.  We tried using the time for talking, but really ran out of things to talk about ;)

The very next day I went to Old Navy for their save additional 50% off clearance prices and when I got home we had a flat tire.  In the rain (because don't forget we were in Washington!), Marcel changed our tire.  I'd never learned how to change a tire, but I honestly think I could do it now just from watching him.  We drove with our spare tire to Sears, where we bought the tires, only to find out they had a 5 hour wait.  It was the day before Thanksgiving and they had 1 guy working, at least that is what Marcel reported to me.  We drove sort of aimlessly (well with okay directions from the Sears guy) through Puyallup until we landed upon Les Schwab.  Our tire was fixed for a fee all while we enjoyed lunch at McDonald's.

After that, our trip went well.  We enjoyed delicious food, even though I don't care much for Thanksgiving or its food, besides my chocolate pudding pie, played plenty of games with Snoh and even more solitaire.  Something we didn't do was take a single picture!

I was bound and determined not to go home via that evil pass again even if the weather report was good, because we didn't think we'd run into weather on the way there.  That means going through Portland and once I checked with Amy & Kelly about having Saturday morning free to meet up, there was no way my mind was being changed; we were going through Portland.

We had a delicious breakfast with Amy & Kelly and even got to see where Amy lives.  It was so nice to be able to spend just an hour or so together and catch up.  It is wonderful to remember that even though we may not talk to each other often enough, when we do it is like no time has passed and we're just as close as we ever were.  That is something I am thankful for :)