a.dor.a.ble.

I returned today from my whirlwind 30 hour trip to Salem, VA to pick up the pupster for the family. I woke up yesterday morning to shower and pack, and made the five hour trek in five and a half due to traffic in Harper's Ferry, WV. And while it happened in the most scenic part of my journey, it was still traffic, and my poor Gerty (fabulous station wagon that she is) does not handle stop and go very well.

I arrived in Salem at my friend KAM's house where I was staying for the night, and we walked over to Mac & Bob's restaurant for dinner. This is always fun for me, because as a former server there, I get to see people that I spent 20 hours or more a week with. One of my favorite summer servers was our server, and while he forgot to put in KAM's order, I still enjoyed the time spent catching up on Salem and Roanoke gossip.

After dinner KAM and I wandered around campus then met up with some college friends that still live in town/still go to Roanoke and ended up hanging out until the wee hours of the morning. While not going into details, I will say that though I enjoyed the evening, it made me realize that I do not miss some of the drama that comes with college and drinking.

The next morning, ARD called and told me that I could come pick up the pupster, so I made my way over to his house where he made me coffee and we went to his neighbors house. Both puppies were adorable, but ours was a little more sociable and less rowdy, which is good for our family and our other two dogs, who are 12 and 11. ARD's neighbor's husband was doing work, and could only come up for a minute to say hello and say goodbye to the puppies, but I felt so bad separating the sisters and taking this link to their son. Afterwards, I waited for ARD's parents to come home so they could say goodbye to the puppy as well. I saw his mom again and met his father, and then rolled out to KAM's house to pack and head out.

The return trip only took four and a half hours, which was wonderful. Time felt like it flew, and Kerny spent the majority of the trip with half of her body under the passenger's seat sleeping. When we returned home, there was some animosity between our other female dog and Kerny, but it seems to be settled now, and everyone is accepting her quite well. Dad and I spent a half hour or so outside with Kerny and Camper throwing apples for them to chase. ARD is going to give me his neighbor's address so that I can send them a thank you letter. Overall it was a nice trip with a great opportunity to see some people I miss and love.