Sunday Salon -- Ready, Set, Go. Time for an adventure.

Don and friend after the football game Saturday.

Weather: It is raining tonight (Saturday). The weatherperson used the words "atmospheric river" but this is not that. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Earlier in the day it was overcast and muggy which made it seem warmer than the predicted 68 degrees.

And we're off: Monday we are heading out on a big adventure. In 1923, 100 years ago, my father's father (my grandfather) left his job on the Panama Canal and went to Ecuador as an outfitter for a missionary who was planning a trip down the Amazon. Granddad kept a journal so we know approximately where he went and what he did. We never knew this grandfather as he died during the construction of the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River dividing Oregon and Washington State when my father was six-years-old. But his journal and those stories have become part of our family lore. My brother dreamt up a trip to cover some of the territory that Granddad covered and Monday the adventure begins. Five of us (3 sibs and 2 spouses) will fly to Ecuador and spend a week exploring different locations from volcanoes in the high Andes down to a tributary river of the great Amazon and a lot of sight-seeing in between. Next we hop on a short plane ride to Panama where we will get to see the canal that our granddad helped build. We fly home thru Miami, another city we've never visited, and hope to visit two more National Parks, The Everglades and Biscayne Bay, before flying home in mid-October.

Will I be taking a blogging hiatus? I am not sure but I am not traveling with my computer. If I do post something it will have to be from my phone and I've never done that before. So it is unlikely you will hear from me but don't panic if I seem to disappear for a while. I'll be back, hopefully with lots of stories to tell.

What books am I taking on the trip? 

• The Aleph and Other Stories by Jorges Luis Borges -- This book was on some list of books to read before you die. Since Borges is a Latin American author I thought it would be a good time to read it. (Short Stories. Print copy.)
• Maame by Jessica George. I hoped I could finish this book which is set in London with a Nigerian-Brit main character but I had to return it to the library before I was done. Now I have the audiobook version and I may use some of my time on the plane listening to it. (44% complete, print and now audiobook.)
• Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. A mother tells her three daughters a story from her past which involves a famous actor. (20%, audiobook.)
• A book about a person's experience in Ecuador. (Not sure of it's title at this moment. Print.)

New phone: I finally got a new smart phone. My last one was so old it wasn't so smart anymore. Just in time for our trip, too! The photo below of our dog was one of the first photos I took on the new device.

Bingley is looking quite apprehensive, isn't he?

See ya in October!

-Anne