A six day CHRISTA Adventure!

Project 365, Day 129: Meet Christa ! ! !, a photo by JuneNY on Flickr.

It all started when my friend Carol and I picked Christa up at the airport on Wednesday morning May 11th. Her plane arrived about 11:30 a.m. (right on time) and our timing was perfect. We had only been in the luggage area a couple of minutes when she came down the escalator. This is Christa just after she retrieved her luggage.

Our first stop was at an OLIVE GARDEN for lunch. Christa informed Carol and I that we were a "waitresses nightmare", but really we weren't. We let Christa order for the three of us and we shared everything she ordered. It was a great meal. The deep fried lasagna was an exceptional treat.

We stopped in Oneonta to see her old friend, Storm, for a few minutes before heading back to my house. I think Christa slept most of that first day away.

Most of the adventures I had with Christa had to do with food and driving around so she could see things in Oneonta. She has only been gone for a year, but some things have changed. We ate at Brooks once, had Brooks take out once, had pizza and homemade potato chips at TINO's Pizzeria and had a roni roll at Sal's.



Also, I prepared some of her favorite foods (at her request): ham with raisin sauce, pineapple stuffing and macaroni and cheese.

I showed Christa the new Oneonta Mural, which was painted since she left for Oregon.
I drove her out to the old YMCA camp where she was a day camper before working there several summers. The door to the lodge was open because some workmen were there, so she went in and looked around. A couple of nights we watched LIFETIME movies together.

We made a spur of the moment decision on Sunday the 15th to drive to Lockport the next day to see my father who has recently been diagnosed with cancer. We left early on Monday the 16th. Christa slept most of the way there and I stopped a couple of places to take a few pictures. We had lunch at one of those thruway service centers. She had a sandwich and coffee from Dunkin Donuts and I had a steak sandwich from Roy Rogers.

We arrived in Lockport around 3:30 p.m. and I showed Christa some sites from my childhood such as my "other" grandparents house on Pound Street, and where her father and I had our wedding reception in 1970.

We got to Dad's place a few minutes before four p.m. A couple of hours later, we had a nice family get together that my sister, Peggy, pulled together on short notice. We had pizza and soda and visited and I took a lot of pictures. My brother Mike was there. My sister, Gail was there with all three of her sons, her daughter in law Susan and both of her grandchildren, Sara and Jacob. It was a great time!

Christa and I spent the night at my brother Mikes house. The next morning Mike, Christa and I met up with Dad and Peggy at Denny's for breakfast.

We left Lockport and headed home around 9:30 a.m. I took the thruway most of the way because Christa was anxious to get back in Oneonta for her few finals in town. While we were driving home, Christa told me that she thinks she is ready to move back to New York and that she will talk to her boss at the Portland restaurant she works in and see if she can transfer to the Romano's Macaroni Grill in Albany. This made me very happy and I hope it works out soon! We made a brief stop in Cooperstown to drive around and see the places she has worked and hung out in the past.

I dropped her off at Storm's house and we said our goodbyes. The plan was for her friend Molly to drive Christa and Storm to ALB for her early morning flight today (Wednesday the l8th).

She made it home safely and is now relaxing with her dog, Riley.