You Know You're In the City When...

I know I have much catching up to do with our blog, but I just have to jump to an experience yesterday. So, Mark and I were off for our normal Saturday errands which included Lowe's, Home Depot, and Target. As we are still new in our city, we punch in Target in to the Tom Tom and off we go to the nearest Target to our home - 3 miles away, not too bad. In Tulsa, and every other Target I've been to, when you go to park, you find an expansive parking lot with big SUV's all waiting 5 minutes to get a closer spot. Not so at our new Target. The first indication of our new experience was the parking garage. Yes folks, you heard me correctly, you park in a parking garage for the Target. Actually there are several stores sharing the ramp including a Best Buy and some sporting goods store. Any way, we enter the garage and up we go. Instead of SUV's (as we are in our huge Z71 truck) we see Priuses, Civics, and the occasional Smart Car. We fail to read the signs correctly and park 1 floor below the Target - up we go some stairs to the entrance. A bit confused by the new layout we start walking around and we find a small grocery section - not a Super Target, which would be a big hit out here - we find the pet section, but could not find the pharmacy section. We start walking in a loop and I'm cursing the new Target for not having a good selection when the heavens open up. We see the sign - this is a 2 story Target and most of what you need is up top. So, we see the escalator and look down at our already full cart - cat litter and cat food (the big bags) and we think to ourselves "how is this going to work". This is when the most exciting experience came to a climax. They have an escalator for our cart. Mark didn't hesitate while I just stood in amazement at this new discovery. I'm sure I was showing myself as a true rookie and I rode the human escalator up watching our cart continue the climb on its own escalator. I wanted to take a picture, but neither of us had our camera. So instead, I googled the cart escalator and found others just as amazed and I that had taken pictures. The picture here is one from the internet, but it does show just how cool this little thing is.

After an hour of shopping we checked out and headed down to our car. The lady at the checkout knew I was a newcomer when I asked if there were elevators for our cart. We headed down, loaded up, and left our new Target behind. While pulling out of the parking garage we did happen to see the Express ramp straight to the Target level - we'll take that next time.

Who knows what other adventures we will come to, but we're excited to find out.

We Made It

Sorry, it's been a week since the last post because we don't have internet at home yet. I'm getting acquainted with the Seattle Public Library so I can type this quick post. We made it on Saturday and while I was hesitant at first, I now love the house. It's slow but sure with the unpacking but we will get it done eventually. Some have said they still have things in boxes from their last move - 9 years ago was it Missy?

I promise to write about all our trials and tribulations next week once our internet gets hooked up. Until then, keep us in your thoughts as we start our adventure.

On the Road Again

We pulled out of Denver this morning around 9:00 AM - yes a little late, but we've decided to take our time. Again, it started with drugging the cats, but this time we adjusted the doses. The vet originally prescribed a 1/2 pill for each cat. Crumb still got his 1/2 pill, but Target got a whole pill this time. As it did yesterday, worked like a charm.

Mark has been coming down with something during this process - I was convinced it was allergies, but now it actually might be a cold. A few hours in to our trip and he needed medicine - thanks to TomTom (GPS) we typed in pharmacies and found the Eagle Pharmacy in Eagle, CO. I must say it was a very cute town and as we pulled in to the pharmacy there was a FUN craft store next door. I couldn't believe it when I spotted Garden Deva statues sitting on the front porch. Quite the markup so I'm glad I know where to get pieces from the artist directly. Who knew a little piece of Tulsa was being sold in Eagle, CO. Visit the website http://www.gardendeva.com

More time on the road - a quick lunch in Grand Junction, CO and then we hit Utah. Tonight we're bunking in Layton, UT just outside of Salt Lake City. I must say the Salt Lake area is beautiful although Eastern Utah was a bit blah.

Mountain in CO

Can you spot the Garden Deva

CO road

Western Colorado

Eastern Utah

Seattle Here We Come

Mark and I pulled out of Tulsa on Tuesday and while it was much later than we planned we made it to Wichita, KS. I had planned to take a picture of the "Welcome to Kansas" sign, I just plain missed it. The cats handled the 3 hour trip like champs although there was a bit of meowing involved.


Wednesday continued with the drive to Denver. We drugged the cats before heading out, and let me tell you those worked like a charm. Actually I got a bit nervous because of how hard it hit Crumb. Within 15 minutes his eyes were glazed over and I thought he was having a bad side effect. After a quick call to the vet, we discovered it was normal and that it hit every cat differently (Target was still meowing loudly at this point). Another 15 minutes and Target also began to act drunk. The picture of Crumb shows his eyes but it was when he was sobering up. We stopped twice to eat, etc. and let the cats out. I think Mark was extremely annoyed with Target who really wanted to stand on the steering wheel (where Mark was sitting).




We arrived in Denver, CO just in time for 5:00 traffic - blah! Finally we arrived in Golden, CO. Yes, that is the home of Coors Brewing Company. We missed the tour, but we did drive by the plant.

Thank You Tulsa

After 2 days of packing and loading, Mark and I said goodbye to Tulsa. While we are both excited for our new adventure, it was extremely hard for both of us to close this chapter in our lives. Tulsa is not only my hometown but also where we met, fell in love, and married. So many memories in such a wonderful town. As the car pulled away at 8:30 PM Tuesday night, the Honda Accord was full of 2 crying cats and 2 crying people. We know we will be back for visits and that helps us cope, but it will never be the same. After one last QT stop, we said goodbye. Thank you Tulsa for all the memories!

Seriously

Does anyone else see an issue with this? Look closely at the box label. Seriously!!!!

Loading Up

The truck is here and sometime today our entire possessions will be loaded and take off for Seattle. Here is Mark posing with the truck.

Packing

Craziness has started at our house and I'm just having to let go. There are boxes everywhere! Luckily Mark and I do not actually have to pack the house, but we do have to sit here bored all day because we can't leave. We tried to drug the cats - our bright idea was to put the medicine ground up in a can of tuna. Both cats sniffed the delicious food and turned their noses up. I guess we'll actually have to give them the pills next time. Right now they are scared to death and restricted to the guest bathroom. The poor things!

It's Ours

We closed on our home in Seattle, which officially means there is no turning back! Mark arrives home in about 30 minutes and the crazy weekend begins. The movers arrive on Monday, June 9 and we plan to be on the road for our cross country drive on Wednesday. The cats have sedatives, and I think I might need some too!

Cat Travel

The practicing has begun - for what, you ask. Travelling 2,000+ miles in a car with Mark, Angela, and 2 cats (Target & Crumb). Target and Crumb hate travelling mainly because any trip they have ever taken ends at the vet and usually a thermometer up one of the cats rear end. I would hate the car too if that was the result of every trip. So, after doing some Google research on travelling with cats, we have come up with our progressive system to get them acclimated to the car. It started with each cat individually sitting in the car with me while it was parked in the garage. Second, we started the car and pulled in to the driveway. Last weekend I took both cats for a ride around the neighborhood. Unfortunately we aren't making much progress. Thank goodness for science and an understanding veterinarian. Sedatives have been prescribed and we will do a trial run to check the dosage.

Another reason the cats may hate travel - the harness. For safety reasons I read that the cats should have a harness that is hooked to a leash. This way we can insure they stay in the car at all times. I would post a picture of Target in his harness with leash attached, but Mark has the camera in Seattle. Target is thankful that currently there is no evidence of his humiliation.