ON THE ROAD AGAIN...

Well, the moving day has arrived.  My few treasures are being loaded on a moving truck in about an hour, and I'm unplugging this computer for packing!  My how time flies.  MY how dreams do come true!

By tonight, I'll arrive in Kalispell and by tomorrow, I'll finally get to see Glacier National Park for the first time!  I hear that driving the "Going-To-The-Sun Road" is stunning.  Just the name has me excited!

Meanwhile, let me say that the Inside Passage Cruise through Alaska's Glacier Bay, Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan and even a stop in Victoria, BC.  My travel mates (Susan, Laurie, Lily, Sam and Celina) were the best in the world!  We ate luscious meals together aboard Ms Oosterdam and even won travel mugs and champagne because we knew all the fun trivia facts on the ship!  We rocked that ship!  Saleem, wherever you are with your 5 wives...you don't need another one so "no, I will not marry you at midnight"!  LOL!

Blessings on ALL of our journeys through this life, yours AND mine.

WWK

A True Journey, No Matter How Long It Takes, Has No End

Let the travels begin...again!  Magic has happened on my behalf...I call it My Bucket List.  I created my first Bucket List in 1980, which might explain my world travel and my 35 moves around this country. The latest bucket list was written down in May of 2006.  It is a simple yellow lined piece of paper, with about 69 items on it, many of which are now crossed off.  Number 6 was "Buy a Cabin on the Water for CASH".  May 23, 2011, I did exactly that!  It is located in Lakeview, MI on Townline Lake, right across the street from my sister, Julie's, cottage.  I've stared at this little cottage on the water for 12 years, wishing it was mine.  It comes to me completely furnished and even has a dock!  When my sister called to tell me that the owner had dropped the price by $35,000, I jumped on it and purchased it in a matter of days.  This has been a lifelong dream of mine since I was 16.  BOTH of my sisters attended the closing with me, and sister Mischelle even helped me begin gardening about an hour after my deal closed!  In my absence until I get there, I have tomatoes, peppers, roses, sweet alysum, and zinnias growing!  We had a slumber party for two days together, and planned our summer and all the things we will do!  I have the best family in the whole wide world, and I've missed them terribly during the 40 years that I've lived elsewhere.  This next chapter of my life will help me write the last chapters in my book, "My Life In Boxes", which spans my 35 moves since I turned 17.

I begin this next leg of my journey by heading out on an Alaskan Inside Passage Cruise, 1 day after my 58th birthday.  Seeing the Inside Passage has also been on my Bucket List as Number 53 since May of 2006.  I don't care which order things appear for me.  I'm just grateful that they appear!

Question:  Does the fact that I have a Bucket List bring my most treasured and hoped for events directly to me?

Due to the generous friendship I have with Susan Silver, she is treating me and a few others to this cruise from June 12-19, and I can hardly wait to experience it.  My life is truly blessed.  My Bucket List truly works.

After returning from this cruise, I will pack up the moving truck and head to my new little "Dragonfly Cottage" on Townline Lake to enjoy a long Summer and part of the Fall with my MI family!  My stops along the way will include exploring Glacier Park, Missoula, Montana; and I can't miss seeing The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar and drink an Indian Drink while sitting on a saddle at the bar there in Jackson Hole, WY.  I'll write more about my travels from the road.  When Fall hits, I'm off to Maine to eat lobster, working my way down the Eastern Seaboard to Naples, FL, where my dear friend, Roberta Baird, will house me and where I will enjoy the winter.  After this, my plan is to attend Mardi Gras with another friend, and be in New Orleans to celebrate Donna Swanson's 60th birthday there!  After that, its off to San Antonio and Austin, Texas, and a few other places I've always wanted to see.  Then on to CA, where I will visit friends and enjoy some time there.  Finally, I'll head back up to Seattle and then ask myself whether or not this Female Nomad will turn this 1 year sabbatical into a lifetime of years that resemble this one.

Let me just say "Happy Trails To You, Until We Meet Again"

Sunshine and Happiness

So, I've actually begun my one year sabbatical, having sold my Seattle house after 10 months of waiting... turns out I needed to stay put to welcome my first grandchild, Lisette, who arrived Feb. 4, 2011. What a beautiful, peaceful, wonderful addition to my life and to my daughter and son-in-law's life! I'm glad that Universal timing made sure to keep me in my place long enough to get to know this sweet angel and spend time smooching her up!

Now it is March, gray and rainy here in Seattle, and I'm free to go...so I'll begin with a trip to FL to help my friend, Roberta, say goodbye to her husband and my dear friend, Bob Cesped. We will treasure hunt for the important items that represent their life together, and create a memorial service to remember this dear funny wonderful man in Naples, FL. Then I'll go into a 2nd part of my sunny trip to spend time with my MI sisters, Mischelle and Julie, and have a fun and fabulous visit with my parents in Venice and visit other Sarasota area friends. I suspect that soaking up the sunshine that FL offers, walking the area beaches, eating great seafood and relaxing and laughing with those I love will be the great entrance into my one year sabbatical, and my attempt to live in 4 places that I love dearly: FL, MI, CA, and WA! Can it be done? Yes it can... and I'll be writing all about it!

Lavender Fields of Sequim

Blue skies, smiling at me.  Nothing but blue skies do I see!

So there IS a place in WA where the sun always shines (well almost always)!  And  its called Sequim.

This is the moment where I run  my fingers through fields of lavender and wonder why I don't spend every single day of my life in Heaven on Earth.

By the way, I haven't answered myself yet...

Eat, Pray, Love (My Version)

I'm preparing to close down life in Woodinville, WA and hit the road when my house sells.  I'm traveling HOPEFULLY... after reading William Least Heat Moon's book, "Blue Highways",  I am inspired to explore, be curious, see national parks and see where my year takes me. I'll be following clues, as I believe we are always led when we are open. In a way, I'm following the sun, too.