Celebration of Life: Remembering Joe Molenda

I was absolutely heartbroken when I read the news on Nick's Facebook feed.  I knew Joe struggled with diabetes most of this life, but I never thought it would take him away from us this soon.  He passed away just after Christmas in his chair while his wife was by his side.

I waited to see when his family would have a celebration for him and chatted with Debbie often to find out when it was going to happen.  I even let her now that L&I had a special announcement about him on the L&I intranet page.  I made sure she got a copy of it.  She and her family were forever thankful. 

She messaged me a few weeks later letting me know that they were going to have a celebration for Joe at the end of April and to check the mail in the next few days for an invitation.  I passed on this information to Melanie, Linda and Laura if they were able to come.  

The end of April arrived faster than I thought it would.  Ben and I got some nice clothes on and headed up to the Jacob Smith House, which was right down the road from where we lived.  We parked, walked in, saw some people we knew, chatted, grabbed a drink and found a place to sit down.  I sat down next to Melanie my first boss I had when I started at L&I.  We chatted with her for a few minutes until it was time for the celebration to begin.

I was able to connect with Nick, Debbie, Chris and Anne before we left for the rest of our day.  We thanked them for inviting us and were sorry they had to go through something this life changing too soon.

Later on, that day I felt it was necessary to let everyone know about Joe.  This is what I wrote about him:

"This afternoon, we celebrated the life of Joe Molenda at the historical Jacob Smith House in Lacey.  It was a nice service full of family, friends, co-workers and love.  His family put together a nice representation of all the things Joe loved to do and a plethora of lifetime memories through photos, notes, drawings and music.  It was overwhelming looking at it all.  I had no idea Joe was that busy!

I was saddened to hear of his passing from his son, Nick, who shared the news on Facebook this past winter.  I was happy to hear that he was at home with his beloved wife Debbie, who was there by his side, when it was time for him to move on.

It opened up with some kind words from a family friend and then the reins were given to his kids, Chris, Nick and Deanna.  I knew it was going to be hard for them to talk about their dad in front of people without breaking down, but it was great to hear their different perspectives on how they viewed their dad.

Chris opened up with a prepared tribute and spoke about the great memories and advice that his dad gave him while growing up.  He has used those words given to him over the years to make him the best dad he can be to his children. 

Nick was next, and he brought some notes up with him to keep him on track of what he wanted to share with us about his dad. He shared some stories with us but framed it in such a way that his dad was a huge role model in his life.  His two passions, baseball and the drums, were because of Joe.  He saw his dad enjoy doing them and he wanted to do them as well.  He will also pass on his dad's wisdom to his children. 

Deanna, his youngest, decided to wing it.  It was very emotional, but she got through it in one piece.  She spoke about the deep conversations she and her dad shared and that she appreciated that she could talk to him about anything without any judgement. 

There was a video montage put together by his children and it was fun to see Joe living his life.

We took an "intermission" to get snacks, drinks and mingle with the crowd.  When we returned to our seats the floor was opened to whomever wanted to share their stories, thoughts or memories about Joe.  His wife, Debbie, thanked us all for coming out and was blessed to have someone like Joe to spend the rest of their lives together, even if it was cut short.  She takes it day by day with the support of family, friends and remembering the good times.  She wrote a beautiful poem that was read aloud to everyone. 

I am not known to volunteer to stand up in front of everyone and talk.  I had to muster up everything I could to stand up and talk to everyone about my experience/memories with Joe.

I told everyone who I was and how I knew Joe.  I grew up with Chris and Nick in Rainier and knew of him from afar.  He was the quite man who showed up to his kid's baseball games and school concerts in his trench coat and hat.  He had just gotten off work to make it there in time.  The next time I remember being around Joe was when Nick played in a band called HARPS in Seattle.  I was finally able to make it to one of his concerts.  His family came to support him as well.  I didn't speak to Joe that much, but he knew we were there to watch Nick rock out on the drums. 

Then I got a job at L&I back in 2015.  My boss, Melanie, told me that I would be working with a guy named Joe.  That could have been anyone, to be honest.  He walked into the office, and I was like," I get to work with Nick's dad!?"  Such a small world but I believe there was a reason why I was paired up with him.

I learned A LOT from Joe while we worked together on a records retention project.  The first half hour of each day, when I reported to his desk, was a random story, advice or the latest current world problem.  Joe was very thorough and tedious when he gave directions on how to do something.  I would ask questions and he would give me very thoughtful answers.  By the time it was my turn to work on the project I knew exactly what I was doing.  He made boring work fun and I always looked forwards to what kind of advice he was going to give me each day. 

Even when he retired from the state in 2018, I couldn't leave his party without him giving me some sort of advice.  I did not surprise me at all, and it still makes me smile to this day. 

It was wrapped up with more kind words and a haiku before everyone got up for more hugs and fellowship.  I made my rounds to people I knew and had some great chats with them before Ben and I went home.

There are no words to fully describe Joe, his life and all of the good he did in this world, but we can still try every day by sharing it with those who will listen. 

Debbie, thank you for sharing Joe with us, he was one of a kind!"

I will always remember the days I spent with Joe in OHR and the records department.  I will take all that advice he gave me and share it with those who will accept it.  I will miss talking to him.

Next Adventure:  Blue Switch Day at Priest Point Park

Easter

Easter this year seemed like it came up really fast.  I felt like I wasn't really ready for it.  I was on vacation a week before, had to do a lot of inventory at Grammie and Grandpa's house that took up a lot of time and going to the Friend's Experience the day before made for a definite time crunch.  Luckily, I was able to gather some Easter stuff for baskets and assemble them before vacation started along with filling some of the eggs with chocolate candy.  This is where I thank past Val for getting stuff done.  I wasn't able to get the grass cut, and the spring flowers planted because the weather has been too rainy and cold. 

I sent out an email to everyone on the Wednesday before to let them know the who, what, when, where, why and how.  I am not sure if it is helpful or not.  I guess if they forgot or needed to know something, they could refer back to it if needed. 

Sadly, this was my first Easter without Grammie and Grandpa in my life. It's been really surreal without them at family functions but mostly in everyday life.  I miss them so much and wished they were here with us experiencing milestones and memorable moments.  There are many days I wish I could go back in time and relive those moments that we shared with them.

Due to being so busy during the Easter holiday, I decided to make it easy on myself and make spaghetti, garlic break and salad for Easter dinner.  I knew a full meal would have made me all stressed out and worried about getting it done on time.  I asked everyone if they were okay with it, and no one seemed to care all that much...as long as they all got fed.  I also wanted clean-up to be fairly easy as well.  

While we were at Bonney Lake the previous day, Trish offered to donate some change to go into the plastic Easter eggs.  I told her she didn't have to but insisted.  Dad came over in the morning while we were cleaning to bring more change for Easter eggs.  We spent some time sorting out all the nickels, dimes and quarters and counting Easter eggs.  We made sure there were an equal amount in each of the eggs, closed them up and stuck them into a plastic bag to keep them separate from the candy filled eggs.  I thanked Dad for coming over to help and he went home until it was time to come back for food.

Meanwhile, I finished cleaning up the house, put stuff away, got everything organized, I was glad I got all the food purchased the other day, Doug and Ben brought in tables and chairs, we got the tables decorated and the plates, napkins and silverware out on the tables and all I had left to do was to make the food.  I had to call Erika to have her bring a last-minute salad because I thought I had enough lettuce, but I didn't.  I thanked her when she brought it through the door when she and Zac arrived.

I started the spaghetti just after one.  Mom, Dad and Grandma came a bit early as did Trish, Amy and Ed.  Erika and Zach came shortly after.  I and Trish make a trifold like angel food cake with whipped cream and a custard mixed together with some cut up strawberries for dessert.  Once the spaghetti and bread were done, I left it on the table and people dished up and took their food back to the table.  I wished I had a better set up for when people came over, but it did for now.  We ate and talked about random things.  It felt way different than past Easters and it made me sad.

After food and clearing up some of the plates and silverware, I had Ben and Trish help me hide the Easter eggs and the baskets.  It was raining a little bit, so I had everyone bring a rain jacket and some umbrellas.  I only had two to use.  Because it was raining, I had everyone's Easter basket goodies put into Ziplock bags to keep the contents dry.  It has been quite a few years since it rained on Easter Sunday.

We went back in and told everyone the boundaries.  We had a hard time hiding the baskets because we didn't want them to get soaked.  We released everyone and told them how many eggs they could find.  They had a great time finding them, don't let them lie to you.  Once all the eggs and baskets were found, we went inside, went through the stuff, traded some items, we counted the empty eggs and took the stuff out of the baskets.  I made sure all the eggs and the baskets were put away in their plastic bags.

I got everyone corralled up for a family picture, got a few okay ones and everyone gathered their stuff and headed home since it was a work night and just about everyone had some stuff to do before starting their work week.  

I put the house back together and vacuumed while Ben took care of the dishes.  Trish let us know when they got home and for the rest of the night we watched some TV, did a couple loads of laundry and relaxed a bit before the weekend ended.

Happy Easter!

Next Adventure:  Celebration of Life:  Remembering Joe Molenda

The Friends Experience: The One in Seattle

Amy is really hard to get gifts for and rings true for her birthday in June and Christmas in December.  I saw that the Friends Experience was finally coming to Seattle on Facebook and Amy had dropped some serious hints, so I thought, why not give Amy an experience as a gift?  Amy has been a huge fan of Friends before I even knew who she was.  She can recite word for word every single episode of the 10 seasons it aired. Ben thought that was a great idea, so I put my name on the waiting list for when tickets were released, and I would be notified that they were on sale and could nab four of them.

When I finally got a notification telling me that tickets were on sale, and I asked Trish when the best time over the spring would be.  Failing to realize Easter was the next day, she chose April 8th at 1:30.  Mostly because we can't do the middle of the month or at the end of the month, it doesn't leave us with much.  I hate Trish's job so much.  It takes a lot of her weekends away from her.  Plus, Ben has some shifts at the fire station during the weekend which makes it also tough to schedule fun weekend plans. Ben purchased them and we just waited until it was time to go.  Ben made sure to schedule his shifts on other weekends during April and I made sure I got ready for Easter during the week and chose an easy meal to feed everyone.  

We wrapped up the conversation with keeping this special event under our hats because I thought it would be pretty cool for it to be a surprise.  We even came up with a story on why we were going up to Seattle so we wouldn't run the surprise.  Plus, we needed to see Jean anyway, it's been too long since we visited with her.

Throughout the months prior to going, Trish talked to Jean to make sure it was okay to drive up to Seattle afterwards to go visit and eat lunch/dinner and we kept it a secret from Amy.  Trish basically told Amy that, Ben and I were coming over and we were going to spend time with Jean in Seattle because she couldn't come down for Easter the next day.  It wasn't the total truth, but we didn't lie to her either.

Disclaimer:  I pictured this going differently in my head than what had actually happened.

On Friday, we both got off work, packed up our stuff for a night, checked on my friend Alicia's dogs (since she was out of town for the weekend) and then headed up to Bonney Lake for some family time.  We played a couple games, ate pulled pork, potato salad and chips.  I finally drank of on my Prickly Pear beers I brought home from Arizona the previous week and we knew we should have brought dessert with us but for some reason didn't.  We knew we needed to get up in the morning and get ready, so I got in a quick shower, and we all went to bed.  We had to be up by 9 a.m.

The next day, the alarm went off and I got up and got ready to go.  I had to throw stuff at Ben so he would get up and get ready for the day.  Out of both of us, he is the worst one to get motivated in the mornings to get ready to go somewhere.  I went upstairs and Trish was already making French toast.  I poured myself some orange juice while everyone else had yucky coffee.  I was a little bummed out it was rainy outside but that's the spring for ya.  

We all wanted her to bring her Friends shirt without her knowing where we were going (we probably should have left it alone, but it sounded like a good idea at the time), however, Trish found a way to get her to bring it with her, kinda.  Amy was super suspicious of us.  We told her Jean wanted to see it.  She thought that was weird but went and got it and stuffed it into her bag.  Amy also has a knack for not wearing a lot of her new shirts for some reason.  I think this was going to be the first time she wore this shirt, and we gave it to her for Christmas. 

We left a little earlier than we should have but had kind of last minute back up plan while we drove.  We got into downtown Seattle and drove around trying to find a parking garage to park in.  We finally found one with a semi decent rate, made sure we had everything and made our way down to Pike's Place Market.  We had to waste about an hour or so.  We walked down to the gum wall first because I don't think Amy has been down to see it.  I looked at the geocaching app to see if there were any Adventure Labs or new caches in the area.  There was an Adventure Lab, but I was only going to be able to do one of the waypoints due to time constraints.  I saw there was a new gum wall cache too.  I wondered when Double Bubble Toil & Trouble (GC24H25) was archived?  I checked really quick and saw that it was archived back in March 2018.  Well, let's go find the new one, Chews Wisley (GC9WCY1).  

You couldn't really use your phone or GPS in the area because the spotty service, so I tried to get as close to it as possible looking on the map feature.  I knew it was going to be a plastic chewed gum container, so I told everyone to be on the lookout for something that looked like gum but fake and it was going to possibly be attached to a pipe because of the magnet attached to the back.  We all took a couple minutes to look around the pipe area of the gum wall.  Then I heard Ben say he found it.  No one wanted to touch it, so I took it off the pipe and held it in my hand for everyone to see it.  There were a lot of people in Post Alley looking and taking pictures at the gum wall, so we had to be somewhat stealthy.  We got it opened and wrote our names on it, got a picture and I snuck it back in its hiding spot.

We walked up Post Alley and back up to the front of the market.  I asked Ben if he found the virtual, Pike Place Market (GC7B9XN) yet and he said no.  He worked on that one while we walked around.  I saw that the requirements had changed since I did it back in 2017 with Mom.  We went into the market and noticed the fish market was finally open while I was here, and they threw fish!!  I have never seen them throw fish before, so this was quite an amazing experience!!

We walked through the end of the top level, looking at all the produce, flowers and art, showed Amy where the original Starbucks was and then went down into the lower level where we went into a couple of shops to look around. She seemed to be enjoying herself, but we will never really know.  As it approached our scheduled time, we walked back up to the main street level and started making our way east towards Pine Street.  We tried keeping try as we passed each block.

We turned around the corner and I saw the front of the store and turned back to see Amy's face.  She really didn't look that excited, but she made it a point to tell us that she is a detective and that she knew what we were doing.  It was like she was more excited and put more energy into to telling us she knew what we were doing (even though she didn't) than the actual surprise.  It bothered me and it bothered Ben. 

We went inside, checked in with the hosts and he told us where to go once it got closer to our set time.  We browsed the gift shop and took some pictures.  We walked downstairs and I got our tickets pulled up so the lady could scan them.  We stood at the entrance for a few minutes while watching clips of Friends episodes while we waited for our time slot and group to begin. 

Were told about the rules, picture taking etc., went through the exhibit. 

Amy seemed like she was having a good time but wasn't sure.  It was like she wanted to have fun but every ounce of her being just went through the motions but when we did catch her smile, she fought it.  She was fighting with an inner demon telling her she can't have fun...not sure why.  It was strange to watch someone sabotage a good time that was created and catered for them to enjoy.

Trish, Ben and I enjoyed the exhibits.  I am not sure what level of Friends fans they are, but I would consider myself an avid watcher of Friends.  I have seen all 10 seasons several times but in no means am I a superfan.  It was fun to see props, descriptions of episodes, pictures, history, actual scrips from the table reads, the white dog, the Barcalounger's, the cheesecake on the floor, the pivot couch to each set that was created gave you the experience that you were actually on the show.  I thought it was a well worthwhile visit to Seattle.  I thought Amy would be excited to wear her Friends shirt during the exhibit.  Halfway through Trish had to tell her to put it on.  I really don't understand.  How can you act like you're super stoked to see one of your favorite shows' exhibits, have shirts and other things but not wear them or show them off or be outwardly excited about the whole experience when you're actually doing it?

While in the last room, a replica of Central Perk, a guy proposed to his girlfriend, and we got to watch her say yes...and then we clapped for them. How adorable!

When we were done, we were given the opportunity to purchase photos that the staff took of you and your group.  You didn't have to, but most people do.   Since this was Amy's experience, we asked if she wanted to get any pictures and she said yes.  She chose the two she liked, and Ben got them for her.  We used the restroom before we headed up the stairs. 

We stopped by the gift store, and I ended up purchasing a magnet, Amy bought a barista Central Perk apron and Trish got her a Hugsy plush for her birthday.  I figured I needed to get at least something to show that we were there besides pictures and plus, I like collecting magnets for the fridge.  We walked back to the parking garage, and we asked Amy if she had a good time.  She said she did, but it really wasn't that enthusiastic like I thought it would be.  I thought she was going to be stoked and all excited.  It was like we were strong arming her into a positive response.  

We got back into Ben's Edge and meandered our way back to I-5, instead we headed north to Jean's house, up by Northgate-ish.  Traffic wasn't that bad, which was surprising because it's always bad by the bridge near UDumb.  It didn't take us long to get to Jean's house but there weren't any parking spots near her house on the street because there was a truck in the way, and we had no idea when he was going to leave.  So, we decided to park inside of the Safeway parking garage across the street from her house.  I've been here several times and it's still weird that she literally has a Safeway in front of her house. 

We knocked on the door and Jean let us in.  A round of hugs were given out and we visited for a few minutes until we piled back into Ben's Edge to head up to Shoreline to Leena's Cafe.  Trish and Jean insisted we eat there because the food was pretty good, and the service was spot on.  We put the address into Ben's car GPS and headed north towards Shoreline.  I haven't been up to Shoreline since Doug lived there.  I never thought I'd ever have to go back up there.  I was just happy I wasn't driving.

We get to the restaurant and quickly found a place to park.  We went inside and was seated right away in a corner booth.  The place wasn't that busy, but we were also there between lunch and dinner.  Our waitress comes by and asks what we all would like to drink, and I debated whether or not I wanted just water or a strawberry milkshake.  I went for it and ordered a strawberry milkshake.  Would I regret it later?  Probably.

When she came back and asked for our food order, I got a French dip with fries, Trish got a salad, Amy got a chicken burger, Jean ordered the French dip as well and Ben got a club with a vanilla shake.  Trish was right, the food was really good, but we all didn't realize how much food we were going to get.  I hate bringing leftover food home with me so I ate as much of it as I could.  The milkshake didn't help the fullness either.  Once we were done, we all paid and hopped back into Ben's Edge to drive back to Jean's house.  

We were able to park in front of her house on the street, grabbed our stuff and went inside for about a half hour to visit with Jean.  It was getting late, and we needed to get back to Bonney Lake.  We thanked Jean for having us over even though it was a short visit, we still got to visit with her.  We needed to come up there more often to visit her. 

We got back to the house, packed up our stuff, tried to have a talk with Amy about being grateful and thanking people for doing something nice for you and then we left.  It was the first time we left the house and Ben was pretty angry.  He said to me on the way home that his parents did not raise them to be ungrateful and he had no idea why Amy acted like that. 

Trish had some conversations with Amy about her behavior that night and into the next week.  I had some conversations with Trish about the incident, and we came to a conclusion that we just can't take Amy anywhere anymore because she doesn't appreciate them.  It's like she's trying to punish herself for having fun by living through family members who aren't here anymore.  We want Amy to be Amy and not someone else.  We want Amy to think for herself and not what someone else thinks or believes in. It's so frustrating!

It's too bad we can't take Amy on experiences anymore because I think they are more memorable than a gift card or an item of clothing.  Ben and I got home around 9:00, unpacked the Edge and got ready for Easter the next day.  I had some stuff I still had to prepare for the next day.  We got in some showers and went to bed just before midnight. 

Next Adventure:  Easter

Nevada/Arizona Vacation: Traveling Home from Sunny Arizona to Rainy Seattle

We set our alarm for 6:30, so we had enough time to get ready, take the rental car back and be shuttled to the airport.  I didn't actually get out of bed until 7:00.  I got ready, put clothes on and we started putting the stuff we didn't need into our suitcases.  I wasn't ready for our vacation to end.

We left the stuff in our hotel room and went out to the lobby to see what kind of a free continental breakfast they had available for their guests. I was not really impressed on what they had but at least it was something to eat so we didn't have to go spend more money on something else.  Mom had biscuits and gravy and I had a plain biscuit, eggs with cheese and some apple juice. We threw our stuff away when we were done and headed back to our room to finish up before it was time to head back to the rental car return and then the airport.

We made a couple sweeps of the hotel room and then took the luggage and bags out to the rental car. My suitcase was dangerously heavy.  I was really worried about it. Mom went to go check us out and return our room keys.  I picked her up in front of the lobby when I was done and then decided to fill up the rental car at the QT gas station just down the street about a block. It was Mom's turn to purchase gas.  I was happy that with all the driving we did, we only had to get gas four times.

We set the GPS to the Sky Harbor Airport and followed the signs to the rental car return.  It didn't take us very long and there was minimal traffic to fight with.  We followed those signs for the Thrifty car rental, and it just kept going and going and going.  I didn't think we were actually going to get there.  We did after a million signs.  We parked where we were supposed to, grabbed all of our belongings, unplugged the GPS, made sure we didn't drop anything under the seats or on the floor and set our stuff aside. The attendant told me to leave the keys in the rental car, I handed him my slip and he handed me a new slip to take with me as my receipt.

I asked Mom how many miles she think we drove on this trip.  She guessed like 1100 and I guessed 1350.  I looked at the slip and we drove that poor white VW Jetta 1500 miles!  That is our record so far.  We grabbed our stuff and walked to the Sky Train, to take us to Terminal 4.  It was a fun "train" ride to the airport.

We got off the train and took the elevator to the ticketing area, checked in, printed off boarding passes and luggage tags (I always have to put Mom's on for her because she can't read the directions on how to do it) and got in line to weigh our luggage. Haha, mine was 7lbs overweight which was going to be a $75 fee.  We had to add some of mine to Mom's luggage to even them out.  Once they were under 50 lbs. each, she took them, checked our passports and boarding passes and off to security we went!

I didn't realize I hadn't dumped out my water in my ThermoFlask and I missed the place where you dump out your water, so I tried chugging it and almost choked.  The lady asked if I was okay and pointed to the place where you would dump out water.  They are usually before you get into the security line and not after, so that is why I didn't see it before we got in line.  Oh well.  They had you take off your shoes, sweatshirt and I took my laptop out of my bag and put them in the bins.  I stepped into the x-ray machine, and I was good to go.  I grabbed my stuff, put everything back on and waited for Mom.  Her bag was searched further because of her candy stash, lol.  It looked weird on the bag scanner.  She eventually got her stuff gathered and we headed to our gate, D8 and sat for a little bit.

We were there super early so Mom watched some of her shows on her phone and I worked on the dreaded inventory that was due in about a week.  We had to document everything worth money in Grammie and Grandpa's house for the lawyer. It was going to be very tedious because Grammie and Grandpa had a lot of stuff and barely got rid of anything.  Our flight didn't leave until 12:15 p.m.

I got up to use the restroom and to get a couple of drinks and a crunchy snack to pass the time.  I did the five waypoint Adventure Lab, Welcome to Arizona, when I came back to the gate with drinks and my BBQ chips.  Mom had checked us in too late the day before, so we were in group C.  I worried that we wouldn't have seats together and no storage in the overhead compartments.  We sat and people watched before it was almost time for us to board.  

They called group C, we got in line and made sure we had our boarding passes visible.  We scanned our boarding passes and made our way down the bridge and into the plane.  We looked to see if there were two seats together and we were lucky.  There were still quite a few of them available.  I found one with a window and a middle seat and popped down next to a guy wearing a Boston Red Sox hat...he stayed to himself most of the trip home watching movies.  Mom threw her extra bag in the overhead compartment, sat down, buckled up and made ourselves comfortable.  We were hoping we didn't have a smelly person or a baby near us.

Most of the flight Mom rested her eyes and I wrote in my journal and watched live TV on my phone when the Wi-Fi connection didn't suck.  I watched the Penguins play the Bruins but didn't get to finish it because we got to Seattle before it was over.  We are not used to these really short flights since the last four or five have been over 6 hours or in other countries. 

I could see familiar landmarks as we approached SeaTac, on time.  It was raining and I was bummed out after being somewhere sunny and sunny for the past week, however, I was glad to be home so I could sleep in my own bed and bother Ben, hahaha!

We landed, our plane found its appropriate bridge and we had to sit for a bit since we were close to the back and had to wait for everyone to get off in front of us. I let Ben know we were almost off the plane but had to go get our luggage and use the restroom.  He told us to let him know when we were done.  Our luggage was readily accessible when we got off the plane and used the restroom.  I was glad we didn't have to wait a long time for it or to find out they lost it like what happened to Doug last year.

We stood outside the arrivals and waited for Ben and my Escape to find us.  He pulled up, parked and helped us throw our luggage into the back.  We got in the car, and he made fun of my sun burn as we made our way towards I-5 south.  The rain was so depressing!  We told Ben some of our stories as we drove home.  I was getting hungry and asked if we could get some food before we went home, and Ben said sure since there weren't any dinner plans. 

We drove to Jersey Mike's near our house, and picked up some subs.  We went to Walmart to get a few things as well.  Mom brought home a sub for Dad and a couple other things she knew wouldn't be at home.  She didn't want to go anywhere the next day and I didn't blame her!  We went back to the house, helped Mom get her luggage (grabbed my stuff out of it) and bags into her Expedition and off towards home she went.  I told her to text me when she got home.

Ben helped me bring in my luggage and I started unpacking everything and separating everything.  I told Ben I brought him back beer to try.  I had a giant laundry pile to do.  I got in a shower, did a couple loads of laundry, petted the cats and I took down the St. Patrick's Day decorations since wasn't March any longer.  The next couple weeks were going to be busy, and I was not ready for them at all. It was so nice to be on vacation and not have to do daily home or work things.  I am not sure where we are going next, but I hope we have this continuous nice weather streak we have going while we are on vacation.

Some notes on the day:

We walked 5,000 steps and flew almost 2,000 miles.

We drove the rental car 1500 miles which beats all of our previous rental car totals.

I found five Adventure Lab waypoints, which translates to five geocaches. 

I grabbed six new counties and one more Jasmer cache.  I have three more to finish my Jasmer grid.

I found 67 caches and of those 67, 24 were Adventure Labs.

Next Adventure:  The Friends Experience:  The One in Seattle