This westward journey ends up at my mom's house. Two of my sisters have--amazingly--turned the daylight basement into a suite for this Fam of 3. We'll stay there for six weeks, enjoying the Pacific Northwest summer, family---oh and working from a different home.

As I wrote last summer, we are weather wimps. We may be a bit less wimpy than last year--may be, maybe. But still, our plan to escape some of the Austin summer heat suits us. We hope to do the same each year. As much as we are growing to love Austin, those weeks of above 100 degree temperatures wear on us. (X's school start of Aug 22 interferes with our plan, of course. Darn school!)

X gets more enthused the closer we get to Washington. In western Nebraska, she got out of the car (in a Target parking lot, on a hunt for Starbucks) and said, "The sun is the only thing heating us up." I hadn't thought about it that way, but it's true that in those last few 104 degree days in Austin, the air and pavement were heating us up, plenty. In that parking lot, the pavement and air were cool enough that we could perceive a real warm/cool difference between sun and air, rather than simply an additive (hot plus hot) effect.

When I got out of the car at the first rest stop in Wyoming, I caught the scent of pine. Then I knew I was in the West. My West, though I had never been to Wyoming before. I am enjoying the comfort of those familiar sights and smells. On our way through the Blue Mountains, I watched out the side window as we glided downhill past pine, spruce and fir trees standing straight. At least, I think that is what they were, using my best memory of my (own) lessons from my father. Potential timber, in his eyes. In Austin, the "good" trees spread out, casting shade, as I have learned from Texas Sue. In my West, the "good" trees grow tall, impressing us with their height and, if fallen, their age counted by rings in the diameter. Crowded together, they form a protective forest. More sparsely arranged, they frame a bay view.

A bay view. We are on our way there. We'll see how this plan works out. (We have already pledged to be on our best un-messy behavior so that we don't disturb at least that aspect of my Mom's life.)