The 4 p.m. Phone Call

We were just going in to hear Clayton play at the Winners’ Recital at 4 p.m. Saturday when Joan’s sister-in-law Linda called from Seattle.  Her mother had had quite a spell … and…?  We heard the concert and decided to leave immediately.  We told the hotel we were checking out a day early (and they gave us credit for the room back!) so we left Pullman about 6 p.m. and arrived at Joan’s mother’s at midnight. 

      We stayed the night in her room and called in Hospice Sunday and that nurse did not think she would survive the day... but then today, she was more stable....(but still off and on.)  Joan’s brother is coming in today (from MS).  Linda has been here each day too...we just don’t know, do we??

       Some of you will remember that we have curtained any long trips because we had four elderly parents left and we were “just waiting for The Phone Call,”  Joan’s mother, then, will be the third, leaving only Ron’s mother left.

Saturday 2 p.m. Driving Around Pullman, WA

We're driving around Pullman now, Ron taught here at WSU in 1975 for 2 years... Lots of changes, of course.

Old Post Office

     We’ve eaten at some great restaurants:  Thursday night, we wanted tempura so we called different Asian places and found Oasis Teriyaki and the tempura was delicious; dinner was pizza (Sella’s) with Andy and his students, and for noon today, we saw that the historic post office was a restaurant, so we stopped in for lunch (especially since the Post Office is always one of our favorite places to go -- to mail things!)
      Clayton played this morning at the competition and got first place!  We are sure extra glad we came.  He will play today at 4 p.m. at the Winners’ Recital.

Coming on stage to play

To Pullman To Hear Tubas

This weekend is the Tuba-Euphonium Conference in Pullman, WA which is south of Spokane, about a six-hour drive from Seattle.  Clayton is performing all weekend and we had left about mid-day yesterday.  We rented a car, a sedan, to get better mileage than our van.  Andy and Clayton drove over after school. 

What happened: 


This is what the pass looked like
mid-day when we went over it

    At 5 p.m., Andy asked (texted) how the weather was in the pass (that’s Snoqualmie Pass over the Cascades.)  The road was totally clear for our trip (although there was snow along the sides of the road) and the Washington State DOT forecast and cameras showed clear all the way.  He left about 6 p.m. and texted at 6:30:  the pass was closed ... and he was buying chains  (yes, even though he had some in the garage.)  Clayton was making snowmen. 

      The pass was supposed to open at 8:30 p.m. Andy said it was good to have a lot of waiting time, since it took 1 1/2 hours to put on the chains.  (Ron said, Yes, it used to take them that long, too, on the truck when he was an OTR truck driver, driving coast to coast.)  We looked on the Web at the Washington State DOT cameras and saw the snow and all the cars stopped … oh, can we see his car?

      The pass opened at 11:30 p.m. and so they arrived at 3:30 a.m. this morning.  Clayton had a rehearsal for the competition with the accompanist at 9:30 a.m. so they were up, ate a bite and then came back to the motel to have a second breakfast. This place is really nice (Quality Inn by the WSU campus), breakfast is 6-10 a.m. but they left all the breakfast stuff out so that was really convenient. 

     This is the Tuba-Euphonium Conference .. so very specialized!  And very interesting....who knew those instruments could sound so beautiful in solos – we first really heard that when we went to Tucson to hear him play some years ago.

The Condo Was So Dirty...and..

We arrived back in Seattle in the evening of March 9^th to stay until April 10th. 
       We are used to having unusual cleaning oddities in the condos, but this time, it was unbelievable what was left in the 2 Bd condo.  We are only happy that the renters (the brother of our long-term renter in the 3 Bd condo, so we thought they would be fine) did not break anything; some things were ruined, but not broken.
        Every time we looked about, there was something else so dirty that we could not believe it.  The final straw came two weeks later when we hired a professional carpet cleaner because of the many carpet stains left, and we moved all the furniture so as to get the best cleaning, and when we moved the dresser in the second bedroom, we found:  the butter dish, covered with foil and filled with cigarettes and ashes. We had found ashes in the bathroom, a cigarette in the dining room, neighbors reported they had seen smoking, we had smelled a strange smell upon entering and found they had left the bathroom fan on 24/7 – which we had to replace-  but the renter and the sister all DENIED that they had smoked.  But there it was: undeniable proof!       

     Joan had wondered where her butter dish was, but then, she thought, “Maybe I didn’t have one here, just in the van on the East Coast and in the 3 Bd condo.”  But there it was!

    We spent weeks cleaning the condo.

Ready to Go...But....

It's 8:30 a.m. and we’re almost packed!!!!

This is one time we don't want to be too early, check out is 10 am, but we don't have to leave for the airport until 1:30 so we’re walking over to the Marina area off-site for a nice (cheap too) breakfast where there is free WI FI.   This has become our favorite restaurant now at the Nuevo Marina.

The view from our table

 

 

 

              There is also an artist's shop -aren't these interesting and fun???

Last day for swimming laps for a month

Again, at the Grand Mayan, Joan got to swim in the almost empty pool as she has all week (as last year too, this gorgeous pool) and we leave tomorrow for Seattle.  Returning to Florida April 10^th is when she’ll get to swim again.  (Too many things to do in Seattle get in the “way” of organizing a swimming activity.)

Our First Day at Grand Mayan, Nuevo

The resaurant at Los Tules

We checked out of Los Tules at 10 a.m. and there is an empty unit used as a Hospitality Room to store baggage and to relax in.  We walked to Villa del Palmar to use the internet there and then returned to Los Tules to eat lunch at their restaurant. 


About 2 p.m. we took a taxi out to Nuevo Vallarta and began the checking-in process.  The taxis can no longer go to the front door of the Mayan resorts: there is a centralized baggage stop and then you take a shuttle to the resort’s lobby.  Then, of course, you wait in line to check in and then go to the concierge to get your wrist band (which now has the key codes embedded in them, so “keys” are not used) and to attempt to avoid the sales presentation. 

      Our room is not on the ocean side, but faces a pond and the new buildings, especially the new boardwalk and “Sanctuario” , a gorgeous new gathering area where there are shows each evening.  We took an hour and a half walk along the boardwalk, which is so new it still smells of the wood, reminiscent of the Northwoods, e.g. Cable, Wisconsin!  (How long will these wood walks last in this weather?)  So much new construction and very beautiful!  We returned along the beach at sunset time.