Day Fourteen (Second Try)

For the first time on this vacation, I was a bad girl and didn’t get up to exercise. The alarm went off and I was just so comfortable that I said “screw it,” and turned off the alarm. I slept until a little after 8:00, and then got up and had a nice breakfast of coffee, banana and oatmeal while Dan indulged with waffles and sausage patties from the hotel’s breakfast buffet.

Then we were off to Yorktown.

















I liked Dan’s great-aunt Elena very much—she’s 75, active, energetic and sharp as a tack. We talked in her living room for awhile, then went to see the church and school Dan’s mother attended as a child. . .






















and then went to the cemetery.
















I was amazed to see Elena walk the narrow concrete borders of the grave plots as if she were a thirteen year old gymnast! I hope I have her sense of balance at 75!

Then we went back to her house and hung around in the garden, playing with the dog for awhile.

















































And then we left for Goliad, where we toured the presidio. Odd that I had never been here before.








































And then we headed home. In the rain.
































































When we got home, we found the power out, due to a big storm that had come through and a lightening strike that blew the transformer. It was cool in the apartment, though, so we figured the power would be back on in a few hours, and started unpacking. Then I took a nap and Dan went to see some friends, and when I woke up later, the power was still out! I called to get a status update and was told that the transformer had been repaired and that any further problems were on site here at the complex. So I left a message for maintenance and puttered around a little, until I heard some stuff going on downstairs and went to check.

It was the electrician! Yay! I went to bed feeling sure that we’d have power by morning.

No such luck. I went for a run and ran into two electricians on my way out and they said they had worked all night but still not found the source of the problem. Upon my return from my run, the problem had been found, but they weren’t sure if their fix would work. But I tried to make my morning as normal as possible, and since there was power in the gym, I went there to dry and style my hair after my shower. Then Dan and I went to pick up my bike from the bike shop, had lunch, and when we returned, the power was back on.

Tonight I finished my unpacking, put together gift bags for my co-workers, and basically tried to put things back to normal around here. I have tomorrow off, so I’m looking forward to a nice rest day before I have to return to the rat race. It’s good to be home and have everything where I expect it to be. But when I took a nap this afternoon, I dreamed I was still on vacation—one of those intensely vivid dreams where you can actually smell the earth and trees, and feel the touch of the wind on your skin. It’s good to be home, but I sure wouldn’t mind home being west of here.