On the 6th day before Christmas....

On this the 6th day before Christmas, I am pleased to remember a little trip that Scott and I took to La Posada in Winslow, AZ.  We used to take a lot more little trips but since he was on dialysis that really changed things.  It was hard to travel being on dialysis and we could only go places within driving distance on a Saturday and Sunday.  We had wanted to plan a little trip for a long time  and had put if off several times for varying reasons.  I remember Scott saying that we should drop everything else and just go before it was too late.  I thought that was a bit final of him to say but in hind sight he was right.

We were going to plan a trip the Labor Day weekend because we both had a holiday that Monday but because I had to teach at church we did not go.  As it turned out that was a good decision because that is when Scott and HeartLee had their chance to bond which I wrote about yesterday.  We choose the next weekend to go.  I had never been to this place and was a bit leery of going to Winslow and finding anything interesting or beautiful.  I was wrong and happy to be so.

It was a beautiful drive up there through Payson and Strawberry on Highway 87. On the way up there we stopped at a honey store and bought some Arizona honey and took in the local flavor.  I think Scott stopped at this really sweet store for me so I would be more inclined to stop for his kind of a store next.  Little did I know that he had it already picked out and knew exactly what he wanted to get there. So a ways down the road he had me pull into a country general store that sold anything you could want. It looked so quaint and innocent as I browsed around and left Scott to do the same.  At the check out, I met Scott and saw in his hands a Daisy BB gun rifle and ammo!  What in the world is he thinking I wondered.  Scott proceeded to sell me on the idea of how important it is for him to get this gun.  He tried the , "Get rid of the pesky pigeons" route then the unfulfilled childhood dreams tactic and then pleaded that this BB gun would be our mutual hobby for which we had been searching.  All I could think of was trouble with the Home Owner's Association, broken treasures (because Scott  really had limited feeling in his hands and limited eyesight) and that he would shot his eye out like in the Christmas Story.

Although, I did not think it was the wisest  of purchases, I am relieved to say that we paid the cashier and Scott walked out of that country store like a little kid who had just got the toy he had dreamed about.  I think Scott got to load (which was hard for him to do) and fire that gun once or twice. We never went out shooting at tin cans but I am so glad that I went against reason that day and let him get something that made no sense.  So with a BB gun and honey in the back we arrived at La Posada in Winslow.

I must put an unpaid endorsement here.  If you want unusual, historical and eccentric then you need to make a trip to Winslow and stay at La Posada.    It is a renovated train station that still has trains passing by and has become an artistic haven.  The grounds are attractive, the history fascinating and the food at the Turquoise room make it all worth the trip. I also got the chance to visit the sight of Brigham City just outside Winslow were my great grandparents lived and met.  My father was really hoping to get Brigham city restored to its former glory and be preserved as a historical place of interest.  It is not quite there yet but it was neat to walk around a place where you knew that your ancestors had walked around also.

Winslow has taken on new meaning for me now.  It is not the sad, run down city of its former Route 66 days but is the destination of a sweet memory with Scott.  I am grateful to have taken the time and resources to make that little trip before it was too late, as Scott prophesied it would be if we did not just seize the day.