We stayed at a Days Inn hotel (motel?) last night and had a terrific nights sleep. I wasn’t sure how well I’d sleep because, first, it was a Days Inn facility (reasonably priced) and, second, because I didn’t attempt to sleep until about 2 am this morning. That’s really late for me but using West Coast time it was only 11, or so. I think I woke up once around 4 am to let the dogs out, from habit, then went back to sleep until 9 am. It was a good night. Diane slept well, too. And, the Days Inn was a very nice place with very nice employees.

The first thing I did was rush down to see what the breakfast was like because it was due to close at 10 am. Turned out to be typical choices for facilities that offer free breakfast. You know, the roll over waffle machine, toaster, yogurt, coffee, and fruit. I just got coffee and yogurt for us and wished I’d only got the coffee. It was Danon Yogurt which is pretty terrible when you’re used to Tillamook Yogurt. It’s the best.

Turns out Diane was dirty and needed a shower so she took one. Then I took one, too, because I was pretty dirty from the trip yesterday, too. I was so dirty, in fact, that Diane made me take the first shower. It was good to scrub off the sweat and accumulated body cells shared by the other 200 people on the airplane. I guess the garlic odor finally went away because nothing was said about it. When I was done, Diane took hers so we were equally clean for at least a little while.

That ended when we stepped out of the room at noon to check out. It’s hot here. Did I mention that? And humid? It’s that, too. So, we were promptly sweaty without really doing anything except ride the elevator to the lobby.

At that point we couldn’t put off going to Ruth’s any longer because we literally had no where else to go. So, we engaged the Days Inn van driver to haul us and our luggage over to Dollar Car rental where we picked up an incredibly expensive vehicle. Diane contracted for a Full Size car which, according to Dollar, is a Chevy Malibu. In the real world that’s a mid-sized vehicle. Since we needed room to haul our luggage we opted for the next level up which turns out to be premium, I think, and got a 2016 Impala. We knew it had a very large trunk from previous experience and were able to load everything into the trunk. Noting it had a GPS system, I asked if it was functional and was told, “no, but we can activate it for $16.95 a day.” Really? And she said this with a straight face so there must be some folks out there who pay for it. We’re just going to use our phones to find our way around and that works just fine. I gotta tell you, though, we really like the GPS in Diane’s Silverado. It’s very handy and I can use a handy app on my phone to find a location and send the directions directly to the in-dash navigation system.

After leaving the car rental place we made it the 1.9 miles to Ruth in about 20 minutes. There were a few wrong turns involved which weren’t my fault because I wasn’t driving. I’m not allowed to drive rental cars because Diane won’t let me. I may have mentioned it before. Anyway, Ruth was very happy to see us and immediately went to work cooking stuff to feed us. We had BLT’s without the L. They were delicious. Then we rested the remainder of the afternoon and talked a lot. Well, Diane and Ruth talked. I mostly listened. I find that life is much easier when I listen more than talk. Sometimes, however, I just can’t help myself and wind up in trouble. Every time.

While we talked, Ruth began puttering around in the kitchen making preparations for the evening meal which, again, was delicious. I should have taken a photo, right? I ate more than a normal person should have, but it was really good. Everything Ruth cooks is terrific. That’s one of the reasons why we, as a family, agreed that it was OK when Lyle decided he wanted to marry her. We’ve never regretted it.

Another activity we participated in today was to discover a way to visit Ground Zero in New York City. So, that’s what we’re going to do Friday. Drive to New Haven, hop on a Metro train to Grand Central Station, then catch an Uber taxi to our destination. Ruth has never been, either, so it will her a fun for us all. It’s going to be an all day affair.

As for tomorrow, rumor has it we’re going out to dinner with some of Ruth’s friends. She gave us background on them and it sounds like it’s going to be another fun time. We’re looking forward to it.

Now it’s 2020 (8:20pm) and time to stop.