20K and a Year Away

We have returned to Washington. Our trip from Panama was pretty uneventful, but long. We left the beach at noon on March 1. It was actually a holiday that day. I did not know this when I booked a shuttle to drive us to our hotel. We heard horror stories about how backed-up traffic was going to be and how we would be lucky to make it to the hotel in 4 hours – a trip that should take two hours, max.

Luckily, the traffic was nothing at all. It took a little less time, actually. Our driver was great. He even pointed out the lab where we could get our Covid test the next day. We were the only passengers in the van – which was the whole point of getting the shuttle – so we didn’t have to worry about getting anything on the ride right before we were going home.

We stayed at the Crowne Plaza right across the street from the airport. It was a comfortable room, came with breakfast, and had a shuttle to the airport every thirty minutes. The lab right next door was an added bonus. We planned to stay two nights, Tuesday and Wednesday, so we could get our test done on Wednesday and then catch the shuttle at 7am Thursday to catch our 9:35am flight. It all worked out fine. We did do the breakfast buffet, since it came with the room, but we ate once at the restaurant and then chose to not do that anymore. It was not good. We ended up getting delivery – yes we did get Dominos our last night there.

We had three flights Thursday. We were only going to have two, but I got that great deal out of Seattle, so we had one extra leg from Seattle to Portland. We spent some serious time in airports. It was a long day, but none of it was stressful because we had built-in time cushions on every connection. We cruised through customs, but it still took almost an hour to get through the line, so having that cushion meant we were not running to catch our flight and could actually stop and have lunch. We ate in the exact same spot we ate on our way down. I guess that makes it full-circle. By the time our Portland flight rolled around, we were exhausted. We both got into our seats and passed out. The plane started to move and the next thing we knew, we were in Portland. Didn’t even know we left the ground. So tired.

We were picked up at the airport. Axel went to his dad’s and I went to my hotel. It was so late and we were freezing. I got into my hotel room and promptly turned the heater up to 80. I took a hot shower and crawled into bed completely done-in. (Axel and I were chatting about the cold and he told me he turned his heater up to 80, too, just trying to get warm! It might take us a few days to warm up.) I wanted to sleep until 10, but that didn’t work out. I am still feeling the three-hour time difference and could only stay asleep until 6:30. I got up, got dressed, and headed to breakfast. Dwight picked me up at 10am, I got some stuff from storage to take to storage at Meaghan’s, said my goodbyes to Axel, and headed out on the next leg of my journey – the 7-hour drive to Omak.

I got to Omak and will be here until Saturday. It is nice to see everyone, but a little weird that Axel isn’t with me. So strange not to have him right there. He is having a good time hanging out with his dad, though, so it will be good. I will be heading to Texas to see Lawrence Sunday then back to Bellingham to spend Spring Break with Lydia. Can’t wait!

I am still deciding what comes next – a job or a trip. I will be able to make some decisions at the end of the month. Axel thinks I should open a bakery in Greece and pay him to work for me… I am thinking he might be on to something.