We’re shuttling across the country this week, on our way to Spokane, WA to visit my family. Siblings from L.A. and Salt Lake are also meeting up where my parents live to celebrate my grandma’s 90th birthday. (Go Florence! It’s your birthday!) My parents, grandma, and two younger brothers moved to Washington about a year ago and this will be my first time in Washington. I always enjoy the chance to go someplace new and I’ve heard great things about this part of the country. The monumental amount of planning involved in getting a family of four on the road is the price I have to pay, I guess—on top of the monumental price we have to pay for air, rental car, hotel, etc.
In the midst of arranging for a crib at the hotel, late check-in and discovering our rental car company doesn’t provide car seats, we found out we have a lame dog. That’s not an insult, but the vet’s diagnosis: Floyd has a partially torn ACL, which will require surgery. Poor puppy. And poor Pugh’s too, 'cause our insurance doesn’t cover canine causes. In the three days I’ll have between returning from Spokane and heading out again with the kids to visit my mom-in-law in NYC I have to take Floyd to the surgeon to find out the game plan. Until then he’ll be doped up. Any of you who know Floyd are probably wondering, “How exactly does one tell a doped up Floyd from the everyday Floyd?”
This is Floyd:
This is Floyd on drugs:
Any questions?
I’ll try and post from the road, but I can’t promise anything. Eight days seems like a long time in theory, but vacations have a way of warping time. One minute you seem to have the whole trip in front of you and the next it’s time to head home. In between you can count on at least one family drama, a kid melting down in public, forgetting one essential item, and enough photo opportunities to permanently damage your retinas.
