goodbye to the northwest

It is sad to leave...for many reasons:

To say goodbye to dearly loved family who I don't get to see very often; to walk away from the northwest once again after a short lived visit; to leave a relaxing Thanksgiving break and head back to work; and to bid farewell the wonderful food which I have been feasting on the last four days (which included rib-eye steak, razor clams, Steelhead fish, fresh corn, baked potatoes, pineapple upside-down cake, Grandpa's hotcakes to name a few...oh and let's not forget the Thanksgiving meal and leftovers!)

However, my time was good and I can leave with a smile on my face for the good quality time I was able to have with my grandparents and aunt. And I hope to return soon; I feel as if the Northwest is always calling me back and I can never get enough.

Right now I'm in the Salt Lake City airport waiting for my delayed flight...only delayed one hour, not too bad. Hard to believe that after this entire year my 25th flight is the first to be delayed. I have certainly been blessed in my travelling. The airport in Salt Lake is really pretty to fly into and even to sit in. Right now I'm just sitting next to a big window where a long mountain range is my background. And it's covered in snow which makes it all the more magical as the sun sets its glow upon it.It's 27 degrees here in Utah and 32 degrees when I left Kennewick, so...still cold, just not as cold. And after having single digits for a couple of days this really isn't bad at all.

It appears that Chattanooga is finally getting cold as it might get below freezing overnight tonight. We've had such a warm autumn.

Well, I just overheard that they are beginning to board my flight so I gotta get going.

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A couple of hours later now and guess what...I'm finishing this blog from the air! Over the holidays, Google Chrome is giving free internet on Delta flights, pretty sweet, eh? And as a user and avid supporter of Google Chrome (or just Google in general) I want to throw out a plug for Google Chrome, what I believe to be the best web browser out there. There it is.

So this portion of the blog is coming to you from somewhere over Utah or Colorado perhaps. Not really sure, plus it's dark outside so I cannot really tell. Just had a pretty long conversation with the woman sitting next to me about a lot of different things. I honestly felt like she just needed someone to talk to and share things with, and I really appreciated listening.

Yesterday my Aunt Karen and I went around Kennewick a bit to take some pictures in the snow. We drove up to Jump Off Joe, the hill in the background of the city, and took pictures of the huge windmills and snowy fields. It was pretty, but cold and overcast. We then drove down by the Columbia River for a bit. The next batch of pictures are from those places.

We got continual snow through out the week, including quite a bit on Thanksgiving. We got some little "iceballs", as my grandpa called them, yesterday...a mix between snow and sleet. I guess in the south we'd call that a wintry mix. One thing for sure...all the snow has certainly put me in the mood for Christmas! And I cannot wait to get back because the last few weeks of December are completely packed with Christmas festivities.

Well, that's about all I got for now. I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving where ever you are and that you gave thanks to the Lord for His many blessings to us.


Cheers.

-b garrison