Tag Archives: Travel

Daily Prompt; Think Back On Your Most Memorable Road Trip

Posted on by Gertie
Bloganuary writing prompt
Think back on your most memorable road trip.
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I think the most memorable road trip I had was the summer between seventh and eighth grades with my grandparent. To give you some back story the last week of school during seventh grade Betty White was on my junior high for two days to interact with students and I met her. The road trip from Southern California to Northern California with my grandparents happened the week after school got out.

On the way to the final destination my grandparents and I saw many celebrities which isn’t unusual nor was it the first time seeing celebrities due to the fact I have seen many at school assemblies or the many times I went to Disneyland. Some celebrities just wanted to be left alone while others appeared to enjoy interacting with fans.

I share this because once my grandparents and I got to our final destination we checked into our not all that fancy hotel when low and behold Betty White was checking in front of us. It turns out that we had the room right next to Betty White. Anyway, the third night we were at this particular hotel we heard a knock at the door. I answered and it was Betty White who asked to speak to my grandparents. Betty White informed my grandparents how “polite” I was to her when she was at my school for a couple of days as well as “polite” I was to her with the couple of interactions at the hotel pool. Betty White took my grandparents out for dinner and then took me to a movie so my grandparents could “have a few hours without a teenager.” I had a blast and have been so impressed with Betty White as she is the most down to earth celebrity that I ever met and I am sad that she is no longer on this earth.

Daily Prompt; What Would You Do if You Won the Lottery?

Posted on by Gertie
Bloganuary writing prompt
What would you do if you won the lottery?
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The first thing I would do if I won the lottery is pay off my debts as being in debt sucks sh!t. I have both medical and credit card debt and it would be nice to not to worry about owing money.

After paying off debt I would love to buy me a new home. I would love to own a house however I would be happy owning a condo. Owning my own home would be amazing for me as I don’t ever see myself owning my own home unless a miracle like winning the lottery.

Another thing I would like to do is get a college education. I would love to get my four year degree in Applied Behavioral Science at Seattle Central College which is a two year college. Ultimately this would be a cheaper route and the route I would love to do. I would also like to get my Master’s of Social Work (MSW) if that is in the budget to do after winning the lottery. If I have the chance to ever get my MSW I would love to get it from the University of Washington.

One of the other things I would love to do if I ever won the lottery is get my passport to travel. I would love to travel to Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Germany. I would also like to travel within the United States via train to various cities and towns.

The other thing I would really love to do is increase the amount of money I donate to a local animal shelter that adopts out dogs and cats as well as some rehabilitation for wildlife. Any organization that does rehabilitation for wild animals as well as adopts out cats and dogs is an organization worth giving money to.

Weekly Plans

Posted on by Gertie

Sunday

  • Enjoy vacation
  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Walk around Capital Lake (in Olympia, Washington) while listening to music
  • Do art work while listening to a philosophy podcast
  • Read a book I got for Christmas

Monday

  • Enjoy vacation
  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Walk around Capital Lake (in Olympia, Washington) while listening to music
  • Do art work while listening to a philosophy podcast
  • Read a book I got for Christmas
  • Pack to go back home to Seattle on Tuesday

Tuesday

  • Enjoy vacation
  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Travel by train back home to Seattle, Washington while listening to music
  • Arrive home and unpack
  • Get meds from pharmacy
  • Watch a movie

Wednesday

  • Enjoy vacation
  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Get Covid-19 vaccine booster
  • Billie, my cat arrives home from my grandpa’s as grandpa watched him when I was in Olympia
  • Cuddle with my cat Billie while watching a movie

Thursday

  • Enjoy vacation
  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Do art work while listening to philosophy podcast
  • Read a book I got for Christmas

Friday

  • Enjoy vacation
  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Go for a walk around Greenlake (in Seattle, Washington) while listening to music
  • Read book I got for Christmas
  • Do art work while listening to a philosophy podcast
  • Bring in the New Year cuddling with my cat Billie while watching a movie

Saturday

  • Happy New Year’s (2022)
  • Enjoy vacation
  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Walk around Greenlake (in Seattle, Washington) while listening to music
  • Watch movies all day while cuddling with my cat, Billie

Disappointment of the Christmas Holiday

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! I am greatly disappointed right now. My greatest wish that I have had since I was three was that both sides of my family would celebrate together with me. Sadly, this has never happened. My paternal grandfather over to drive me and my dad’s side to my moms side of the family to give me the one wish I have wanted since I was three, to have my family spend time with me so I wouldn’t have to do all the traveling. Sadly, my mom, brother and two uncles on my moms side refuse to get vaccinated while my dad, grandpa and two uncles on my dads side our vaccinated. Hell, I am vaccinated. My mom’s side doesn’t want to get vaccinated for personal reasons and I respect that. My grandpa isn’t willing to put his health or the health of my dad as risk. So I am very disappointed that other peoples choices are effecting the one Christmas wish I have wanted since I was three. I respect both sides of my families decision with their health choices. I just wish they would realize my Christmas wish is for both sides of my family to get together. Something that hasn’t happened since I was two years old. I am now 42. It’s be 40 years since both sides of my family were together for Christmas.

It’s very disappointing the my family has continued to not make my life long wish not come true and I am “the selfish one” for wanting this since I was three years old when my parents divorced the summer I was three years old. It should wasn’t my choice my parents divorced. I am lucky that my parents have remained friends.

I guess for me this pandemic know as Covid-19 has put my greatest Christmas wish to a halt. I respect everyone’s choices regarding their health I am disappointed my greatest Christmas hope isn’t going happened once again.

I do not have much more to say in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you for reading blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you the reader read my blog. If it wasn’t for you the reader, I would not be writing my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. I hope you all have a great evening. Peace Out, World!!!

There’s No Place Like Home

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! I had an awesome four day birthday weekend. I spent time with both sides of my family and am beyond grateful for my decision. As much as I am glad I went to Olympia to visit my mom and uncle my birthday, I am happy to be home.

Last Friday, I celebrated my birthday with my dad, grandpa and two uncles as well as my cat, Billie Dean. I took Billie to my grandpa’s house as I went out of town for a few days. I am beyond grateful that my grandpa took care of my cat, Billie. Anyway, I had a great time with my dad’s side of the family and had some awesome barbeque ribs.

After an awesome dinner I came home and packed to go to Olympia via train while my cat Billie stayed with my grandpa. I went to Olympia on Saturday via train. I love taking the train and enjoy myself every time I take a train.

When I arrived in Olympia a friend of mine picked me up and we went out for dinner after I checked into my hotel room. We went to Carl’s Jr. for dinner as we don’t have one here in Seattle. I love Carl’s Jr. as I went there all the time when I grew up in California. After eating Carl’s Jr. with my friend we went to Priest Point Park and hike around the park. I love that park. After hiking around the park for a while my friend dropped me off at the hotel.

On Sunday which was my birthday I took a walk with a friend around Capital Lake. It was great to walk around the lake with a friend. After the walk my mom and uncle to me out to dinner at Red Robin’s I love Robin’s. I had my normal meal of a Whisky River Barbeque Burger with extra cheese and onion straws.

On Monday, I took time to myself and just hung out around Downtown Olympia as well as in my hotel room. I just needed a day to myself and am beyond grateful that I took a me day for my birthday weekend.

I came back home to Seattle, yesterday via train. I am so happy to be home. My grandpa dropped off my cat, Billie Dean once I got home. Billie is just as happy to be home as I am. There is no place like home. I love my cat Billie and love being home with him around. I think Billie is grateful to both being home and to be around me. We are both happy to be home with each other.

I do not have much more to say in the particular blog post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you read my blog. Again, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Weekly Plans

Posted on by Gertie

Sunday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Continuing education class on stress management
  • Celebrate my birthday with my mom and uncle

Monday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Continuing education class on stress management
  • Spend time with friends and celebrate my birthday with them
  • Attend a twelve step meeting

Tuesday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Last assignment for continuing education class on stress management
  • Travel back home to Seattle via train
  • My grandpa brings my cat, Billie Dean home after taking care of him for me while being out of town

Wednesday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Work
  • Attend a twelve step meeting

Thursday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Work
  • Attend a twelve step meeting

Friday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Work
  • Attend a twelve step meeting

Saturday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Clean apartment
  • Attend twelve step meeting
  • Do art work

Weekly Plans

Posted on by Gertie

Sunday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Volunteer at PAWS Cat City
  • Clean apartment
  • Mindfulness workbook
  • Continuing education class on Stress Management

 Monday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Continuing education class on Stress Management
  • Mindfulness workbook
  • Work

Tuesday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Continuing education class on Stress Management
  • Mindfulness workbook
  • Work

Wednesday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Work
  • Continuing Education on Stress Management
  • Mindfulness workbook

Thursday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Work
  • Continuing education on Stress Management
  • Mindfulness workbook

Friday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Work
  • Celebrate my birthday two days early with dad’s side of family

Saturday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Travel to Olympia via train
  • Celebrate my birthday a day early with mom and uncle

Writing: Intro to Poetry; Day Four: Journey

Posted on by Gertie

Untitled Poem

by Gertie

As with any fork in the road you have a choice;

A choice on what path you want to take.

You can take the path less traveled or choose the path that appears to be more worn down which may appear to be the safer of the two paths.

The more traveled path may not always be the safest way to go on your journey.

A journey that you must walk and decide on your own.

A journey that won’t always be easy so make the decision that is best for you even if it is the path less traveled.

A Conference & An Emergency

Posted on by Gertie

Hello, World!!! This week has been quite a week. Parts of it emotional as an unexpected family emergency happened which I will tell you about later in the post. I started this week traveling from Seattle to Tacoma for a peer conference. Tacoma is about thirty miles south of Seattle. I took the Amtrak train as I love taking the train because it is really relaxing for me. It beats taking public transportation. One of my favorite parts of traveling by train happens to be the views I am able to see. I did take a picture of something that I normally don’t have time to take due to the speed of the trains but I was able to take a picture of another train. The train is pictured below:

20190826_135959

A picture of a BNSF train. Thankfully, both the train I was on and the BNSF train were going slow enough to capture the picture.

Anyway, when I arrived to the hotel for the peer conference I wasn’t expecting it to be as big as it was. It is a twenty six story hotel with a lot of amenities but sadly they did not have a swimming pool. As disappointed as I was that there was not a swimming pool, the view from my room on the twentieth floor was awesome. I had a view of Mount Rainier. Below is a picture of the view I had of Mount Rainier as well as the Tacoma Dome:

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View from my hotel room. Mount Rainier as the Tacoma Dome.

The peer conference was great and loved the fact the I was with about five hundred other people in recovery with a mental health challenge and/or a Substance Use Disorder (SUD). The workshops I attended were awesome and the best part about being at the conference was being able to volunteer and be of service to fellow peer counselors.

Sadly, during the morning keynote speaker on the second and final day, I received a call from my grandpa telling me that my dad was going to have emergency surgery later that day. My grandpa and I discussed that staying at the conference was the best thing for me to do since the surgery wasn’t going to be till four in the afternoon and that I would have plenty of support from my friends at the conference as sitting around the hospital wouldn’t be helpful for me. I went to a couple of friends to let them know what was going on and they agreed with my decision with staying at the conference for a few more hours because even though my dad was having emergency surgery it was scheduled for later in the day which was a good sign. My friends and I discussed that staying at the conference was a good idea but we all agreed that leaving at an earlier time would also be a good idea. So, I was able to arrange for someone to take over my volunteer duties and leave to take the three in the afternoon train instead of a train after the conference was over. I am grateful that I took the three o’clock train as my uncle picked me up and I dropped off my luggage at home and then went to the hospital.

As I waited at the hospital while my dad was getting surgery a lot of my fellow peer who are friends checked in with me via text or phone call. Having the support of friends and my family as my dad was getting surgery made me feel blessed. I am grateful for friends who have been checking up on me during my dads surgery as well as after his surgery. My dad did well during the surgery and is now in the ICU. He is doing well even though he is in the ICU. He has his sense of humor which is a great thing. I am glad my dad is doing better. I am beyond grateful to have friends in recovery checking in on me to see how I am doing and I am doing pretty good considering my dad had surgery.

I don’t have much more to say except thank you to my fellow peers for being there. I also want to thank you my reader for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. I hope to tell you more about the conference and my dad in a later post. Again, thank you for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Fighting Off Depression & PTSD

Posted on by Gertie

Hello, World!!! At this moment in time I am struggling with the symptoms of both my Depression and PTSD. I am not sure why the symptoms of my PTSD and Depression are acting up but they are. I wish I was not struggling with Depression or PTSD at the moment or ever but sadly both are a part of my life.

Since I am dealing with Depression and PTSD symptoms I am doing a variety of things to help not make the symptoms get worse are at least that is my hope. Right now I have been focusing on getting things together for a peer conference I will be attending on August 27th and August 28th however I will be arriving August 26th as I will be volunteering once again at this particular conference. I have attended every except the first year. So that means, I have volunteered at the second and third year it occurred and now am volunteering at the fourth annual Peer Pathways Conference. I am preparing for the conference by making my travel plans and booking a spot on an Amtrak train. I love taking the train. Another thing I am taking care of is making sure my cat, Lil Gertie, will be taken care of. Thankfully, I have secured a reservation for an Amtrak train and have secured a cat sitter for my cat, Lil Gertie. So, I am looking forward to this conference as many of the seminars, happen to be training’s that will be helpful for my career as a Peer Counselor even though I am not currently employed as one at the moment. The best part of this conference is that it is totally free for me since I am volunteering. Well, the conference, food, and hotel stay are free but I have to pay for my own travel which is okay with me. I will be going to the Amtrak station tomorrow to purchase my train ticket for my travels to the conference in a week. When I am at the conference I will miss my cat, Lil Gertie a great deal but she will be in good hands.

Speaking of cats, Lil Gertie, has been a great help with dealing with the symptoms of both my PTSD and Depression. She has been extra snugly and cuddly today which is something I have been need all day. I love the way she just lays on my chest and purrs. Having, Lil Gertie pick up on the signs when I am struggling is great because she didn’t need any training to do so and I haven’t had her since a kitten which means when I adopted her last year, she was meant to be my emotional support cat.

Another thing I have been doing to help combat my PTSD and Depression is doing homework for the writing class I am taking. I am really enjoying the writing class as it is focusing on characters and later scenes and now it is not a play writing class. I am enjoying the fact that I am learning different types of characters and how they play a part in a story. Maybe I can share one of my homework assignments with you later on in the writing course I am taking.

Besides writing another creative way I have been trying to reduce my Depression and PTSD symptoms is art work. The genre of art I have been focusing on besides writing is coloring. Coloring has been quite helpful for me and plan on giving away the stuff I color away as gifts. I will be framing the finished coloring projects so people can put it on their walls. I love to color and have been coloring since I was a kid. I got made fun of as a teenager because I continued to color and now “adult coloring” is a thing and it is something I never stopped doing. Coloring relaxes me.

I don’t have much more to say because I would end up repeating myself and nobody wants that. I want to thank you so much for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you read my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. I hope everyone has a great week ahead. Peace Out, World!!!