The girls and I made a little road trip last weekend. By little I mean 7.5 hours. I was a bit nervous at first. That's a long drive for this mama and her girls without the dad. But what was on the other end of that long trip was definitely worth the drive.
Our good friends moved away five years ago. I can't believe it's been five years. And in those five years, our friends have been busy settling in, making their way, navigating new waters, and establishing a new home base for their family. After their countless trips to come back to see us it was finally time that I acknowledged that the highway goes both ways.
I like to visit people in their towns and be a part of their day to day life even if it's only for a weekend. I like that when I get home I can picture where they sit at their computer, where they stop to get slushies and fresh baking, and which beach they like to go to on hot summer days. And yes I've seen pictures of all of this on Facebook and yes it looks the same in person but no Facebook photo could show the girls how snuggly their 6 week old kitty is. And no liking of the local bakery's Facebook page can come close to explaining how fresh and delicious the cinnamon twists are. And no picture of a newly renovated kitchen can even compete with the experience of sitting in it and having coffee and muffins and sharing stories with great friends. Technology is good. But it has its limits.
Kitty cats, coffee and muffins, sprinkler jumping, bubble blowing...all these ordinary things become extraordinary when in the company of good friends. And since I'm talking about extraordinary things I will mention that we also saw thousands of snakes!
We have a reptile loving girl in our family so this place could not have been more perfect. We were extremely fortunate that Mother Nature decided to dump a load of snow the weekend before we came causing thousands of snakes at the Narcisse Snake Dens to stick around for another week just for our visit.
My girls had so many stories to tell when they got home. And if I hadn't posted some pictures to Facebook there was no way their teachers could have believed that their snake stories had any credibility. And yes, a photo is worth a thousand words, but the pheromone scent, the sound of thousands of slithering snakes, and the feel of a snake in your hand...those things must be experienced. And as you may have guessed by this next picture...the feel of the snakes was only experienced by those under 12.
To make our little road trip weekend even more perfect, the sun was hot, we ate ice cream cones, and we had our first beach day. We are beach people. Our kids are beach kids. If the sun hadn't set, we may have stayed all night.
It was a beautiful weekend shared with beautiful friends. Our next visit is planned and booked. Until then, Facebook photos will have to do. Technology does have its limitations but it's still better than nothing:)
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