A GIRL, A BOY, AND A TROPICAL VACATION

Once upon a time there was a girl. Who fell in love with a boy. Who, luckily for both of them, fell in love with her. They grew up in a small ranching/timber community in the Cascade Mountains on the southern Oregon border, where the girl could see Mount Shasta -- which the boy's mother climbed and he skied -- from her bedroom window.





Then the boy decided to attend Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. He liked the college, and became a lifelong OSU Beavers football fan. But he did NOT like all the rain that drizzled from the sky for months at a time.





So, when it came time to go to graduate school, the boy and the girl went to the OSU library, where their research revealed the university with the least amount of rainfall per year. Which just happened to be in the Arizona desert. So, the boy and the girl packed all their belongings, including their cat, Fang, into a red 1961 Comet and headed off for new adventures.



The boy, who loved hiking and didn't like rain, loved the desert.



The girl, who didn't like heat and missed her mountains, didn't so much. And Scottsdale, which wasn't a resort mecca back in those days, billed itself as the "West's Most Western Town." Oddly, the girl didn't exactly find shopping to her liking. (Note that the store actually advertises air-conditioning, which, although the temperature was 110 degrees this day, wasn't all that common back then.) But the girl loved the boy, so although she didn't love the desert, she stayed. And life was good.



Then their son grew up and moved to Washington D.C., where he got a job as a Senate staffer, fell in love with the city, and decided to stay. When he started a family, the boy suggested to the girl that they move across the Mississippi to be closer to the grandkidlets. Which is how they ended up in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, which is a short flight, or a day's drive, from Washington.



Although the girl still missed Oregon, especially the Pacific Ocean, she settled into the lush green of east Tennessee and was happy. Until this past year. When 60.66 (!!!) inches of rain fell. And still it continues. Which is when the girl finally began to understand why the boy took her to arid Arizona in the first place.

So she now fantasizes about a tropical vacation on a spun-sugar beach.



And of course there must be colorful tropical drinks.





And a lifeguard, to watch out for sharks and improve the scenery. Fortunately, Denzel was available to take on that job.



And, finally, a cabana boy. Who lives to serve.



And although outside her office window, the skies are a dismal gray and the rain continues to fall, inside the girl's imagination, life is good once more.