We survived the trip. Got in to Portland airport around 3 p.m. Waited in long line to pick up rental vehicle - upgraded to minivan in case we were able to get Mom out to lunch or dinner and needed space for 2 wheelchairs. By the time we stopped for dinner on the way to hotel in Lacey, WA and got to hotel it was nearly 4 hours later - 7 p.m. Our so-called accessible room at the Quality Inn in Lacey was a joke to say the least. Barely room to get around in wheelchair - bottom level room down a long hallway and around a corner, about as far from an accessible exit as one could be (up the creek without a paddle in case of fire). I attached a picture of the roll in shower with a shower chair (non adjustable) that sat nearer to the floor than to the grab bars. It was so flimsy that it barely held Gary's dead weight, and I asked at the front desk why they didn't get a $3.99 plastic patio chair to put in that shower as opposed to a $2 garage sale piece of junk that couldn't even hold 100 lb. if it had to. Ridiculous - but since they made me prepay the room when I booked it, there was no way they were going to either refund me anything or accommodate our needs - YOU KNOW WHERE NOT TO STAY IN THAT AREA!!!

We got to bed at 8 the first night and since we had 2 queen beds and Dan (our son) slept in the room with us, I had to share a bed with Gary. He is used to his own bed, so kept trying to take his half out of the middle of it. I was awake about 4 a.m. when I tried to move him over and discovered he was not breathing and couldn't find a pulse. I tried for some time to arouse him, with no response. I finally yelled at Dan and he woke up and tried yelling at his Dad and finally we got a deep sigh and then he started breathing again. I'm sure he does this often at night since he has sleep apnea, but I've never been close enough to hear or respond to it. It scared the living *Poop* out of me! I was so upset I told him he'd better not die on this trip and make me drag his dead ass carcass to Mom's 90th birthday party!!! sheeeeeeeeeeeshh!!

Mom was her usual grumpy self when we arrived at her place on Sunday. I made the mistake of offering to take her out to lunch for her birthday and then it was a real struggle getting her into a vehicle ...we managed but not without alot of bitching and complaining on her part. We went to an Applebees and nothing was right there either......she even asked the waitress for another fork as she didn't like that "pitchfork" they gave her to eat with. lol I felt so bad for the waitress, I ended up giving her a 50 percent tip. lol

Two of my sisters, a brother-in-law and a niece and her hubby showed up that day for the little party after the lunch out. We had cake on the patio at Mom's assisted living place, and then all left about the time she was to go to dinner in the dining room. We headed back to hotel and picked up a few items on the way over. Dan wanted some breathe right strips so we wouldn't have another snore fest like the night before. lol

On Monday we drove back over to see Mom and I picked her up some roses for her birthday, since Monday was the actual day of her birthday. I went to her room to help put them in water for her and she criticized the way I was doing it. I let her complaining go in one ear and out the other. If you knew my Mom, that's the way she's been her whole life ....when you don't hear any complaining from her, you probably won't find a pulse either. lol

We headed back home Tues. morning and got back to Phoenix around 2:30 and Kelly, Gary's caregiver picked us up at the airport. Gary cried because he knew he would probably not see my Mom again as this was a very difficult trip to take him on with his lack of mobility. I had to inform him, as long as he was on his crying jag anyhow, that his ex-brother-in-law also passed away the same day as Mom's birthday. They had gone on many hunting and fishing trips together in the early years when his sis was married to John, and he was a good six years younger than us.

We're home, I got some sleep and now it's back to getting some work done on this place before we head off to San Diego in a month for a nice beach weekend.

Sarah