Home, Horses and the Heard

DICKS Restaurant in downtown Spokane seemed like a great place to end the official aspect of our "Sisters" weekend in Arizona.

After all, the trip marked several firsts and sampling a Whammy, those fresh cut fries and a shake would add one more box for my sister Laurie to check off on her list.

I don't know that DICKS was on her bucket list, but she'd never experienced the DICKS ambiance, so I suggested stopping there and both sisters said "yes." 

Laurie liked her Whammy and I'm pretty sure my sisters loved their first trip to Arizona. For me the delight of this past weekend's experience ranks right up there with a Whammy, maybe even a little better.

We had a wonderful time from start to finish, with the exception of one little but stressful glitch at Sky Harbor Airport yesterday.  Throughout the weekend, we sisters kept track of each other, helping each other remember where we put things---important things like boarding passes, car  and hotel keys and cell phones.

But wait!  

We experienced one breakdown in communications when the instant Barbara reminded me to grab my phone charger cable from the rental car, a rental car official appeared at my door with his hand-held tabulator-computer.  

"Just leave the motor running," he said as we prepared to get out of the car and retrieve all our bags.  So, I did. 

Then, he needed the rental car agreement.  I found it on the second try.  After all the hotel receipt and the boarding pass were in the same area of my wallet. 

Then, he said we were done, handing me back my agreement and noting the final pricetag. 

We walked off with bags in tow and in hand. 

I made a decision on this weekend's trip.  Don't ever go the duffle bag route again, especially yesterday after Laurie asked if she could put a bag inside my bag because her bag had gained weight and lost room for things over the weekend. 

Even a walk to the rental car shuttle bus seemed a bit much as I clutched the big red bag with two hands and remarked that I felt like a weight lifter.

We made our way on to the bus. I sat down first and decided to check on new notifications in my cell phone bookmarks. 

No cell phone.  

Barbara and Laurie immediately started remembering what I did when I pulled that cord from the car.  While they were remembering, I was announcing to everyone on the bus, "I don't have my cell phone." 

Then, Laurie tried calling my cell phone number. 

"It's not here,"  I was still announcing, "I don't have my cell phone." 

Leaving my seat, I headed for the door to the bus, which had just closed.  Other people chimed in as I tried to get out the door.  

"She's missing her cell phone," one lady hollered to the driver.

I'm sure by that moment Barbara and Laurie were convinced that their older sister had gone nuts, totally nuts.

Well, it was close, but even through the stress of losing my whole window to the world for at least the next four hours and probably several days, I kept a relative cool and eventually found the desk where we had been given the keys to the rental car.

A very nice young lady from Payless Rentals jumped in a car, holding my rental agreement and drove to another lot.  The most beautiful sight came five minutes later:  the young lady held something in her hand besides the rental agreement:  my phone!

She got a great big bear hug, and I was off.  The minute I boarded the shuttle bus to the terminal, a man suddenly jumped up from his seat, initiating a self-patdown. 

"I don't have my cell phone!" he hollered. "It's not here.  I don't have it."  Luckily for him, his family members started reminding him what he'd done with the phone and in this case, he found it deep within his pants pocket. 

I felt better, knowing is wasn't the only idiot who goes ballistic upon discovering a cell phone loss. 

Barbara and Laurie were waiting for me near the Southwest check-in, and all went well from that point on.  

Our morning had been spent taking pictures of the magnificent bronze sculpture in front of our hotel and then moving on to the magnificent Heard Native American Museum.  

We had a rather hurried tour, but still managed to enjoy the exhibits, which included a new display focusing on Native American sports and those who distinguished themselves in mainstream sports.

The gold medal above belongs to Billy Mills aka Makata Taka Hela of the Oglala Lakota Souix Tribe who won the 10,000 meter race in Tokyo in 1964.  

The museum offers exquisite displays and wonderful education into the history and culture of Native American tribes in the Southwest. 

Later, while waiting for our flight, Barbara downloaded her photos from the museum to her laptop, Laurie momentarily lost track of her cell phone but kept comparatively calm about the matter, and I visited with familiar faces.

In one case, a voice yelled out from the food court, "Marianne!"  I looked over and there was Brian Luce, one of Willie's classmates and one of my favorite students from the Class of 1995. Brian played basketball with Willie  at Sandpoint High School and often stayed at our house after school for practice or games. 

Brian went on to become a veterinarian.  He owns his own hospital just off I-90 near Post Falls.  He was in Phoenix to cheer on his wife who ran a half marathon at Apache Junction. 

Later, I saw a lady with a baby.  Her face looked familiar, so I asked, "Are you Kendra?" Sure enough, she was Jack and Robin Dyck's daughter-in-law who graduated from Sandpoint High. Kendra spent some time visiting with Barbara who had been her English teacher. 

Always fun seeing people we know in a faraway place.  And, it's always fun coming back home, especially when beautiful February weather welcomes us. 

I hope my sisters and I can plan some more trips and some more "firsts' in the future, and, of course, if we do, when we return to Spokane, we'll have to keep the DICKS tradition of Whammy's, fries and shakes alive.  

Happy Tuesday.