Sunday, July 5, 2015

Oregon and Washington - 6/22 - 7/3/15 a/k/a Hot Summer Nights

Special trip to visit friends and relatives.  Oddly, this trip is for last visits because when we move to Florida that will pretty much be it for our West Coast friends unless they come visit us.  So glad we have Face Book and e-mail to keep in touch.

Here is who we saw:

Sweet Cousin Judy

Friends since 7th grade

Worked with Deb in LA law firm in 1983-84

 Jim, my friend Cathy's brother.  We have fun
visiting on Facebook.

Terri & Dale, lovely people


We took off on Monday and drove to Bend, OR.  My cousin Judy lives there.  It is a cute city, one we visited several times.  We had a good visit and it was good to see her.  Visited magical Peterson Rock Garden (3rd visit).  I just love that place.



I would love to have spent hours talking to Mr. Peterson.  I just see him working
on this and planning what he is going to create next.  He had to be one special man.







On our drive to Olympia, we stopped at the Mt. St. Helen's State Park.  The view of the mountain was astonishing.  I was leaving and had to go back 3 times to look at it again.  This photo can't capture it, but it gives a basic idea.

Mt. Hood

Mt. Bachelor

Mt. St. Helen's
Blew her top May 1980 

 View of Mt. St. Helen's


If there are lavender fields close, we'll go check it out.
Castle Rock Lavender
John and the owner sat in these chairs under the tree and visited.

A lovely little 5-year old lavender farm

I adore lavender
Looks, smell & taste



This trip was about friends.  Nice 3 night visit with my 7th grade friend Colleen, friends over 50 years.  Our time together went by so fast.  So glad to see her.  We had lots of memories to share and talked our heads off.  Bless John for just being there.

We can even make the grocery store fun.



Love these types of swings
Peek-A-Boo

End of the Puget Sound

Olympia Marina

 State Capitol in background

Had never seen clouds like this

Stopped off in Covington, Washington - a beautiful little town outside of Seattle, to see my friend Deb and her family.  She treated us to a trip to Snoqualmie Falls.  So beautiful and it was fun to have cocktails and snacks in The Attic, top floor of the lodge.  We stopped at a famous candy maker's shop and had to taste a few pieces.  Deb gave us a beautiful photograph of Mt. Rainier and they prepared a wonderful BBQ'd dinner.  We had a good visit.  We had not seen each other for over 20 years and we talked like it was yesterday.

Snonqualamie Falls with Salish Lodge on left

Always good to make a stop for chocolate

Off to Seattle for two nights.  Enjoyed a wonderful brunch with our friend Jim who lives in Seattle.  We had a good visit and talked about one of our favorite topics, travel.  We stayed away from politics, LOL.

Brunch in Seattle, Capitol Hill, with Jim

I like Jim in his hat and so glad he wore it.  Looks like Hemingway.

Stayed at a wonderful Airbnb in Seattle.  Theresa, the home owner, has a lovely place and provided us with lovely snacks (cheese, cherries, wine,............and the best dozen homemade cookies).  She was an amazing hostess.  Sat in the backyard on Sunday and relaxed and read for several hours.

From Jim's neighborhood
I think I was tilted, not the Space Needle


 Gorgeous homes in this neighborhood


 Can't believe the totally blue hydrangeas


 Pacific Northwest has some of the most beautiful flowers


Lovely backyard of the Airbnb were we stayed while in Seattle.
That is one expensive city.

Half already eaten.  Theresa, homeowner
brought us a dozen homemade cookies.  Best
ever.  She's "The Seattle Cookie Lady"
http://seattlecookielady.com/cookies.html

 Our day of rest with a backyard
BBQ, reading, cocktails, grilled chicken


Leavenworth - the pretend Germany - is a cute town and we stayed two nights.  It is touristy, but in a beautiful location and I go primarily for the pastry.  They have my favorite pastry in the entire world.  Only other place I know to find it is in Solvang, CA.  So I ate pastry, and we had German food/beer, toured around, and shopped.  The Wenatchee River proved to be irresistible and I had to go in - with my clothes on - since my suit was in the car.  Rafts, tubes, kayaks, SUP and people all enjoying the river.  It was not too cold and felt wonderful as the temperature was around 104 degrees.

Pretty drive through Cascades



Iron Goat Interpretive Site


This biker was on a cross state bike ride - WA coast to Idaho
Our trip to Leavenworth was so up hill I can't believe anyone would want to do this.


 Wenatchee River
So busy with water sports

This is where I went in the river with my clothes on
It felt so refreshing, but the sand was HOT.

Such a cute town.  Interesting story
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leavenworth,_Washington


Main Street Downtown


I'd say my reason for the visit - yum
Bavarian waffles - only other place I can get them is Solvang, CA
I ate 9 of these in 2 days (= 5lbs I gained)


Headed for Richland on Wednesday to see our friends Terri and Dale.  We got to their house in the afternoon, had a drink, visited, and I got to swim in their new pool.  It was truly like bath water being that it is so hot on this trip.  They made us a wonderful BBQ rib dinner, grilled eggplant, potato salad, and my favorite Red Lobster cheesy rolls.  Peach pie with ice cream topped of our feast.  We had such a good visit, always do.

Beautiful pool, I was in it.  Like bathwater.


Clematis, one of my favorite flowers.  Interesting how it looks
after it has bloomed out, kinda cool.


Just your basic feast.  Peach pie and ice cream for dessert.
Now how did I gain 5 lbs on this trip?


We enjoyed dinner al fresco.


On our way out of Kennewick, we stopped to see the Carousel.  It was not opened when we were there, so no ride, darn.  This is a restored 100 year old wood carousel.  Quite beautiful.




Off to Pendleton, OR.  It just keeps getting hotter and hotter and today it peaked at 107.  Just too hot for us to get out and tour around.  John has had both of his heart attacks in July so I try to keep him from over doing it.  We drove around downtown and I took some picture of cool churches, we had a nice lunch, then headed for the cool Wild Horse Casino.  We promptly spent our allotment and checked into our hotel.  Enjoyed the pool and hot tub.  Enough for us in this heat.

View from top of hill.  The big white roofs are where the famous
Pendelton rodeo is held each year.

First Methodist Church
A stone beauty

 Right across the street from the Methodist Church
A very unusual church design

Interesting how the siding comes down and meets the stones.

Particularly fine stained glass

The temp went to 107

End of our journey..  We made a stop in Baker City, OR because John wanted to see the gold display at U.S. Bank.  It was pretty impressive, with the largest piece weighing almost 7 lbs..  Didn't think the bank would have appreciated photography, so here is a photo of their postcard.



City Hall


The Baker Tower, 1929.  Was an 82 room hotel
now converted to apartments.

St. Francis de Sales Cathedral 
Beautiful architecture


Constructed in 1906–08 of local volcanic tuff

So our journey of visitation comes to an end.  How blessed we are to have such good people in our lives.  It was special to see that no matter how long you are away if you are with friends there is no awkwardness of time that has passed.  I love you all dearly.

And a fitting quote: