Woohoo! We are back in our old home state. Well, we used to call
Washington home, but not since 1975 as we have been on the move with the Air Force. Of course, that doesn’t stop us from reminiscing, going to our old haunts, and visiting family.
Starting on the east side of Washington, we visited with Dan’s parents, his sister, Sue and her husband Forrie in Spokane. We spent some time catching up with everyone. We spent a couple of hours at the
Spokane Riverfront Park. We strolled along a very wide path with one side marked “For Wheels Only”. What a great way to keep pedestrians from being run over. The Looff Carousel was celebrating its 100th anniversary. Dan’s dad used to ride this beautiful old carousel as a child.
~Looff CarouselWe then moved on to central Washington where we first met in high school, got married and well, the rest is history, right? We stayed in a Thousand Trails Park in Crescent Bar on the Columbia River. It was very hot! All our cats went belly up – to keep cool, of course. Crescent Bar is a thirty-minute drive from Wenatchee, where we spent our teen years. It is also where Dan’s uncle lives. It was good to see Jerry and Anne along with their daughter and their two granddaughters. When we weren’t visiting with them, we were checking out some of our old haunts. Yep, it is true – you can never go home, but the foothills and the river views were just as beautiful as we remember.
Our next stop was another Thousand Trails Resort near Lake Wenatchee and 15 miles from Leavenworth. This is a very large park with forested trails and large grassy areas. It is more like camping in a state or national park than a private campground. We were so busy hiking in the woods, checking out the lake, and visiting with Sandy’s brother Steve that we did not spend anytime in Leavenworth. Steve and Deb drove out from Everett to spend the day with us.
After lunch, we all climbed into Steve’s jeep with plans of taking pictures of waterfalls. Steve found two waterfalls – one on the Little Wenatchee River and the other (our favorite), on the White River. It is glacier fed and very beautiful. Sandy and Steve spent quite a bit of time taking pictures while Dan and Deb wandered around looking at the sights.
After dinner, we sat around just catching up and snacking on mini Hershey chocolate bars and nuts. To keep ourselves entertained we were feeding a chipmunk some peanuts. Much to our surprise, the chipmunk turned out to be a chocolate connoisseur. We were saying good-bye to Steve and Deb, when we realized the chipmunk was on the picnic table and he was munching on a dark chocolate bar. Just as Dan reached for the bag the chipmunk threw down the bar and did a head dive back into the bag. He had a second bar in his paws, but dropped it when he realized Dan had picked up the bag with him in it. He did not go far so Dan had to put the bag away. We are sure the chipmunk was looking for a Mr. Goodbar!
We next drove over Steven’s Pass to our new stop in Monroe, again at a Thousand Trails Park. Our current resort is not as large as the last, but does have an adult only pool and spa, as well as family pool, and access to the Skykomish River from right in the campground – very nice with the hot weather we are experiencing. The Steven’s pass highway 2 is very scenic
with mountains all around, waterfalls, tall cedar and pine trees, and a beautiful azure Skykomish River. Dan decided to stop along the way so we could dip our feet in the icy river. While taking in the river views and relaxing, we saw two white water kayakers coming down the river. Sandy managed to get some great action shots of one kayaker. She has put the sequenced pictures together in a slide show.
Next stop La Conner and visiting Sandy’s Mom.
could not pass up the opportunity to visit a quilt museum inside the 1891 Tudor-style Victorian Mansion called Gaches Mansion. The exhibits rotate every three months. There were three exhibits: Color Me Wearable and Fiber Quest. The t
hird was of traditional quilts along with many local quilts and aprons. Sandy has added a Webshots folder of the Quilt Museum and some of the quilts.
y driving south on Whidbey Island. We visited a few of the State Parks and stopped in Langley for a late lunch. Ft. Casey was very interesting with the 6-inch guns and the old lighthouse with a couple of - you guessed it! - quilts.
