Home Again, Home Again. Jiggity Jig.

Back in Atlanta and back in This New Condo.

It was quite the trip I tell ya!

When we arrived at my Mom's there was no water in her house, it was out due to some construction nearby. Kind of a bummer because after hours in a plane all I want to do is shit and shower... both of which (unless you are camping) require running water. A cause of concern as well because she was throwing a dinner party for us that night. The water did finally come on about 45 mins before her guests arrived. In the meantime we did without the shower, but ultimately made a trip to the local Albertson's to do some "business." We did some grocery shopping too.

The party was wonderful. Mom has some very interesting and funny friends and the wine and conversation flowed freely. It may have been the vino or maybe it was the company but "P," who tends to be rather quiet at functions like those, was gregarious and funny. I think he genuinely enjoyed himself.

The next day we had a very fancy dinner at a bed and breakfast owned by one of my Mom's many gay "man friends." The building was going to be burned down by the local fire dept. as a training exercise until my mom's friend found it. Now it's just beautiful:


We were joined by his son and his partner for part of the meal and had just a great time.

Wednesday we took our passports and headed out on our day trip to have lunch in Canada, just to say we did. We were joined by the aforementioned partner of the B&B owner and he was a riot. Great road trip companion. On the way we stopped at a casino and "partner" won $100! "P" and I left in the red however.

Now, I don't know if this is a new thing, but our Canadian border guard was NOT screwing around. She asked all kinds of weird and personal questions that caught me totally off guard. Here we were just out for a drive and she scared the crap out of me.

Lunch in Creston, B.C. was very nice... a place called Granny's:



We learned while dining at Granny's that gravy is often served with fries in Canada, at least it is at Granny's. At first that seemed weird but if you think about it, you DO make a little mashed potato volcano and pour gravy in the cauldera right? When in Creston, do as the Crestonians do, and I did. Gravy with fries is not bad!

I'm not sure what the deal is with Creston. It IS home to Canada's smallest park:




...but there's no other obvious tourism or anything and yet the main street was lined with t-shirt and nick-nack and touristy shops. Here's the shirt I bought:


We got home from the great white north safely and took Mom to dinner in town. On the way, my Mom took a detour past one of the apartment buildings she owns. As we passed she spotted a tenant grilling out behind his unit. A tenant who is two months late on his rent and not answering her phone calls. With "P" and I as backup (not that she needed it) she confronted the guy and he was pretty quick to pay her one month's worth in cash, but didn't have the rest. I think his eviction notice is in the mail today.

After dinner, back at Mom's, we all drank too much and around 1:30 in the morning, while discussing all the hot topics that usually come up while sloshed, she made the drunken revelation that eons ago she had two abortions and only ONE was while she was with my father. We also learned that her neighborhood association is out to get her and that she hates Paris Hilton. So that was fun.

The next day "P" and I drove down to Moscow, Idaho and then over to Pullman, Washington where I went to university. Had lunch at my former favorite watering hole and then headed back. It's a beautiful drive through miles and miles and miles of rolling hills covered in young wheat stalks. The crop is still a while out from harvest and so it's still green. The view through the car window looks like the set from the Teletubbies:



On Friday we said our goodbyes and flew home in a very warm aircraft. We were very lucky in that none of the passengers seated in front of us reclined their seats. I made sure to loudly thank them. I know it's just a couple inches but man, those inches make all the difference in the world (too many jokes there... leave me yours in the comments).

Oh, because each of the shots of our journey to Idaho were texted in as individual posts (wondering what that is going to do to my bill), and I have a 5 post per page limit on my blog, they don't all show up on a single page... but if you click the "Idaho" label you'll be able to see them all in one nice package. Remember to read from the bottom up though.

It was a great trip and everyone was impressed with "P" is which is always good to hear. Mom looked great and her new kitchen and floors looked fantastic.

Now I have to get ready to start in my new position at work on Monday. In the meantime though I have to catch up on all y'all's blogs! Can't wait to see what everyone has been up to!