Thin filmy clouds with sun peeking through. Green foliage and mountain peaks. Blue water and familiar sights. Mount Rainier and the Space Needle. And, what beautiful sights they are. We must be home.

My own keyboard at my own desk. My own washing machine and my own bed. Soup made in our new kitchen and a DVD on our own big screen. We must be home.

What a fabulous trip we had! It was three full weeks of adventures, exploring and tasting the tastes of different regions. We felt the heat of the desert and the the cool thin air of the canyon’s rim.  We found distant cousins and enjoyed sharing stories. We relished the cuisine of good restaurants and equally enjoyed the impromptu picnic on the road. We literally walked “on the edge” at Bryce Canyon and stood on the canyon floor and marveled at the heights of Zion’s cliffs. We traveled to the edges of Navajo lands and learned about ancient peoples who had a sophisticated culture complete with community dwellings and art objects as early as 1100 A.D. All of this and more.

The last stop of the trip was in Wapato, WA this afternoon when we took a side trip off the freeway to buy some tree ripened Washington peaches right from the orchard.

Now we are home with time to savor the experiences and remember the feelings and sights. Now we can take the time to assimilate what we have learned. Now we can pause and sort out the thousands of pictures I took, each one a different facet of the grace we encountered. Now we can eat fresh peaches and maybe even make a peach pie!

It’s really Fall. And it’s good to be home. We enjoyed every minute of it and hope you did, too.