The real reason ski pants are padded.

Why is it that when you come home from a trip all the work you did before you left has to be done all over again?

Like laundry.

I know that I washed every piece of clothes we own before we left for our trip. And I know that we didn't wear every piece of clothes we own while we were on our trip. So how is it that it all got dirty in a matter of three days?

Dirty laundry multiplies when mixed together in a suitcase. (Thus the reason we keep laundry separated. Ahem.)

We just returned from a weekend trip to Santa Fe and let me say right here that I love Santa Fe. Love it. The mountains are beautiful. The food is fabulous. And then there is the best part.

It has Target and Starbucks.

Since living in Smalltown, I am shopping challenged. I have Wal-mart and dollar stores. On a fancy day out, I go to the mall and visit JCPenney or, as my grandmother would say, The JCPenney.

Yep. That's when I wear my good lipstick.

You can see that visiting a city with stores and all is quite exciting for me. So exciting that I had an agenda of retail activities.

Actually, the agenda looked something like this.

1. Go to Target.

2. Stay as long as possible.

3. Purchase spring shoes in the dead of winter because this could be your last Target visit until summer.

4. Ask Hubs to drive thru Starbucks.

5. Sip the Venti Mocha like it's your last meal.

I don't ask for much, really.

But even with all of the retail madness, the highlight of the trip was the snow. Real snow. It sticks and everything.

On our last day of the trip, we headed up the mountain one more time to find a fun place to sled and just play in the snow. We found a cute little spot where we joined a few other families.

Let me add here that we had been in the car a while and I had coffee earlier. Along with some bottled water.

Hubs and Daughter started sledding and I took lots of pictures. Then Hubs and I traded off and he took lots of pictures. I am sure that onlookers could spot us as tourists in a second. The Florida tag may have given it away.

After a while, I needed a little, ahem, break and started plodding through the snow towards what I thought was a standard state park restroom.

Hubs yelled,"You don't want to go in there."

I yelled,"Huh?"

"You don't want to go in there. Trrrussst Meeeee."

Well, one thing I've learned in nearly fifteen years of marriage is that trust is critical to the relationship. Especially when it involves the warning of a public restroom.

I returned to our little personal sledding hillside and Hubs explained that the little house that I thought was a standard state park restroom was really a building which held a porta potty.

Then he proceeded to describe it to me in detail. He had visited it earlier and had a clear description which I will spare you from now.

You're welcome.

I did what any normal person would do. I quit sledding and prayed that any unfortunate accident would not involve me having to dig through the suitcase for a fresh change of clothes.

Where two or more are gathered together on a hillside, there He is in the midst of them. I made it through our sledding session.

Later in the car, Hubs shared with me that he did not want me to get sick or be offended by the less-than-sanitary potty situation. More importantly, he didn't want me to break my porta potty record.

See, I told you. Trust in a marriage is crucial.