Friday, July 20, 2018

First and Foremost

Do you know the slogan "Safety First"?  That's my mantra this week.  Safety.  Five days.  More than 1,900 miles.  Three states.  And back again.  My Five Faves for Friday are basic and the same.  I haven't even had time to deal with photos yet.  Tomorrow?

1.  We were safe.  Day One of our trip we drove from home near the Pacific Ocean to eastern Arizona.  Temperatures ranged from 61F to 105F.  Altitude changed from 200 feet to 6,910 feet.

2.  We were safe.  Day Two we met Dr. Mike in north western New Mexico to convoy in to Chaco Culture National Park and promptly missed our UNMARKED turn and got lost.  After hours and hours of traveling on washboard ridden dirt roads we arrived at our camp.  Before we were finished setting up our tents, it started to rain.  And it rained for six hours.  But.  We were safe.

3.  We were safe.  Day Three.  Trip out of the park and back in.  This is not an easy drive.  Chaco Canyon is truly in the middle of NOWHERE.  But we also had time to visit the important sites of ancient Chaco culture--the great houses and kivas.  It rained again, but that thunderstorm was fortunately of short duration.  But we had food and water and shelter.  We were safe.

4.  We were safe.  Day Four.  We said a sad goodbye to Dr. Mike as he headed back to Santa Fe and we turned our car toward the west.  Washboard roads.  Vast lonely landscapes.  Actually, rural New Mexico is beautiful.  Finally, we arrived safely at Chaplain Dan's house in Arizona and were greeted with glee and hugs and kisses by our PAL!

5.  We were safe.  Day Five.  Believe it or not, our PAL is now old enough to begin preschool.  We were offered a tour of the place where she will be attending beginning next month, and then we shared an early lunch.  About noon, we bade her and her parents farewell.  Another day of altitude changes, extreme weather and heat and LA traffic, and we arrived Home.  We were safe.  We are always thankful for safety on our trips.

And it was worth every minute, every mile, every adventure.

5 comments:

aspiritofsimplicity said...

Safety first...:) It sounds like a quick and eventful trip.

Barbara H. said...

Wow - sounds like a strenuous trip in many ways, but with many bright spots. Glad you were safe all the way!

Susanne said...

Wow, sounds adventurous. But what a wonderful greeting from your beloved PAL!

Faith said...

Oh my!!!! You tented in a desert???! So thankful for SAFE trips filled wth adventures.

How fun to see where your little PAL will attend preschool. They start in August??

Oh...i saw your comment about lead teacher. Yes it was a smooth transition and brought me right back to 1987-1995 when i was a master teacher of similar children. So fun!! But I'm thankful our head will be back the end of July because i am TIRED!! hahaha I'm at the point in life where being the Assistant is preferable.

Happy weekend!!

Deb J. in Utah said...

Sounds like an interesting trip. Being form Arizona, I know of those long, lonely spaces in the desert Southwest. So glad you are safe. Fun to read about your adventures. :-)