My Camino -- The journey begins ... left Indiana and made my way to Seattle

Aug 16th, 2015 --  I said Goodbye to Steve until Nov 3rd. It is said that when one walks the Camino, your journey begins when you leave "home".  This is the beginning of my journey to Spain to walk the 500 mile Camino de Santiago de Compostela  (also called The Way of St. James) My Girlfriend, Nancy from Seattle and I choose to walk the Camino Frances which is the most popular of all the Camino routes to Santiago de Compostela in Northwest Spain.  This Camino starts in St Jean Pied de Port on the French side of the Pyrenees and finishes about 780km later in Santiago. For all practical purposes the "trek" is listed on the web as 500 miles and if you do the math; 780 km is only 484.67 miles. With all the walking around the villages we certainly walked more then 500 miles. But I'm getting ahead of myself, as my journey to Idaho Falls needed to happen first, for me to meet up with Nancy who was completing a week long bicycle trip with others from the Seattle area. From Idaho Falls, we drove to Seattle, then flew to Paris on Sept 1, 2015.

One of my goals for my pilgrimage was to pay attention to my intuition / to what my angels are trying to tell me / to any messages coming from God --  so as I land in Idaho Falls, and my ears start buzzing louder, (not a new issue for me; as my Ear/Nose/Throat MD tells me this is due to hearing loss); I am reminded to pay attention to what I Hear -- and I'll add to pay attention to what I See.
Here are some pictures from Idaho Falls: 

I flew out of Fort Wayne Indiana airport (Steve being with our RV in Indiana at the RV factory getting some warranty repairs completed).
At the gate where we departed, was this poster: A huge reminder on how I want to live my life and some good advice prior to beginning my Camino pilgrimage--Slow down, breathe, take it all in. Trust, feel your aliveness. Ask, Manifest, connect with your Heart.

Selfie with Steve

If you are looking for a lovely area to visit -- consider Idaho Falls -- lovely town, beautiful area. We stayed here 2 nights, our hotel (Hilton Garden Inn) was several blocks from these Falls. There is a nice walking trail near here.

We drove to Upper Mesa Falls, it's as tall as a 10-story building – pours over remnants of an ancient volcanic super-eruption. A mile south, Lower Mesa Falls repeats the performance, (we did not stop here)  the river continually chiseling away at the solidified ash and lava. (internet description -- don't think I could come up with those elegant words..)  The beautiful Upper and Lower Mesa Falls are the last prominent waterfalls on the Snake River unaffected by man made influences. A scenic walking path leads to excellent viewpoints.

We stayed 2 nights in Ketchum / Sun Valley  at BEST WESTERN Tyrolean Lodge-- within several blocks of the hotel,  there is a ski lift plus a nice easy hiking trail -- we continue to get ready for our 500 miles of walking...


Nancy and Bette enjoying lunch in the sunshine in Sun Valley  

 Flowers are next to Sun Valley Lodge -- We did some people and bird watching here while we enjoyed a nice glass of wine. There were ice skaters on the ice ring

Here are a few pictures of the scenery on our way to Seattle....

Craters of the Moon, National Monument - in Idaho

On our way to Seattle, we stopped and had dinner with Renee and Gary in Yakima -- good friends of mine for several years. After we arrived in Seattle - I visited several friends and relatives in the area.  Sure do miss my Washington friends and relatives !!!!

Next Blog -- off to Paris .......