Category Archives: Travel Washington State

Tiptoeing Hodgepodge

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Jo From This Side of the Pond is back this week a new set of Wednesday Hodgepodge questions!

1. What puts a spring in your step these days? 

Getting small and large tasks accomplished.

2. April 2nd was National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day. Did you celebrate? Do you like PB and J? If so how do you like yours? What’s your favorite kind of jelly?

No peanut butter celebrations here in the past week. Yum and yes to PB and J. Toast with peanut butter and honey is a favorite. When enjoying PB with jam give me raspberry or strawberry please.

3. What’s a memory you associate with spring flowers?

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The Skagit Valley Tulip festival in Washington State and visiting Roozengaarde farm and garden in Mt. Vernon, Washington.  Skagit is the county where you find the towns that grow tulips in abundance. We’ve enjoyed tulip farms and tulips in Mt. Vernon and La Conner.

4. Three things on your spring bucket list? Do you have a spring bucket list? If not pretend you do. 

  1. Drop some pounds.
  2. Travel over to the ‘coast’.
  3. Start mowing the lawn again.

5. One place you will travel this spring? (It might be Europe or it might be the grocery store)

Waiting on our passports which needed renewing so no out of country trips this Spring. We will for sure travel south to Spokane for shopping at the big box stores. Hopefully (see #4) we will get a trip to the other side of the Cascades on the books.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Speaking of the tulip festival…

You don’t have to go all the way to Amsterdam to enjoy tulips galore.

Winter Drive

The bright sun and blue skies called us out of the house for a winter drive.

We took a short drive north and over the Columbia river to see if we could get a glimpse of Lake Ellen on Tuesday afternoon. When we got to the cut-off to continue on to the lake we decided the road was not one we wanted to travel on because of the ice. It was a nice drive regardless and now we know what it will be like to take the drive come summer.

On the way back we stopped to take a photo of the Garden Valley Church and Cemetery.

After our pause here we continued on to get back to Inchelium-Kettle Falls Road where we turned off to check out the Red Rooster Quilt and Fabric shop. It was a surprise to walk into this well appointed shop at the back of a private property. The 5 dogs that came running out at us were friendlier than they sounded!

On our way out from the Red Rooster…

We crossed the mighty Columbia River again to return home after a stop for a bite to eat in Kettle Falls.

Here we are starting the last weekend of February and sitting by our TV’s concerned about the people of Ukraine.

Our church is keeping in contact with our missionaries in Ukraine. They are asking for prayer to remain faithful and to trust God no matter what is ahead of them. Here are the verses they shared with us…

16 But I call to God,

 and the Lord will save me.
17 Evening and morning and at noon
    I utter my complaint and moan,
    and he hears my voice.
18 He redeems my soul in safety
    from the battle that I wage,
    for many are arrayed against me.
19 God will give ear and humble them,
    he who is enthroned from of old, Selah
because they do not change
    and do not fear God.

Up and Down Hodgepodge

We drove down to Spokane for my last eye exam on Tuesday and once there the skies were not as smoke filled. This photo below is of the Spokane river looking west. Spokane is about 70 miles south of us.

Jo From This Side of the Pond has given us the Wednesday Hodgepodge Questions for the week.

1. Monday, August 16th was National Roller Coaster Day. Are you a fan? Did you celebrate? Last place/time you rode a roller coaster? 

Not enough of a fan to mark this day with any kind of celebration. Last place I rode something that resembles a roller coaster was at Disneyland in 2009.

2. Tell us about a time in your life where it felt like you were figuratively riding a roller coaster. 

The first thing that comes to mind is when we lost all the equity in our ‘dream’ home in 1996 because of a landslide. This was the first home we purchased in Washington State with our California equity in 1988. The period of time from 1996 until 1999 moving from rental to rental was a rollercoaster for many reasons including having all of Dear’s mother’s belongings to move, too. Moving a baby grand piano 3 times in 3 years was not ideal. We thought we’d never be able to get another home loan because of the fact that we gave our home back to the bank and our record would be marred for life but when we sheepishly applied for a loan in 1999 to purchase our Kenmore home we were shocked to find out there was nothing in our history to show we defaulted on our loan. God erased that bad mark in our home buying history.

3. Favorite treat to eat at an amusement park or state fair? 

Fair Scones! Our county fair is happening at the end of August this year after being cancelled last year. Looking forward to attending it.

4. Are you easy to get along with? Elaborate. 

Yes, I think so. I try to give people including myself enough slack to be comfortable. Is that elaborate enough?

5. Something on your calendar to see-do-read-accomplish or just enjoy before month’s end? 

Our oldest and his dear wife celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary before month’s end!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We got rain on Tuesday, lots of rain and we are thankful to God for that. We hope this will help with the fires in our area.

The Birds

I was driving with our daughter-in-law and noticed all these Canadian Geese on this grassy field. I grabbed my phone and tried to get the photos before they all took off.

We had a nice little road trip and are home again. Time with loved ones and lots of good food and shopping was on the agenda. We tracked down our favorite waitress at a different Mexican restaurant from where she formerly worked and enjoyed a couple meals at her new location. She wasn’t able to work during most of the restaurant restrictions but has found a place that has given her some hours. It’s a nice Mexican restaurant with good salsa. That’s a plus for us.

Today is our son-in-law’s birthday. Happy Birthday Andrew. We will celebrate Andrew and JJ this coming weekend.

We are in for a very nice week weather wise here in our corner of Washington state. Weather in the 60’s to begin the week and then climbing up to the 70’s by the end of the week. We are looking forward to JJ’s 2nd birthday and party this coming weekend so those temps will be nice for any outdoor activities. His party theme is Fishing.

More From the Road

Soap Lake has a large Russian/Ukrainian presence.

A Russian/Ukrainian Store.

From Soap Lake we continued on the highway to and through Ephrata.

One of our son’s friends from college came from Ephrata and his family were potato farmers.

In the last month we have been blessed with two new grandnieces. Both born in the Eastern part of the U.S.A. One in the southern states and one in the northern states. Hopefully we’ll be able to meet them in person before too long.

We were sad to hear about the passing of Prince Philip. I’m sure the Queen will miss his presence. Ninety Nine is a long time to live on this earth. Hope the Queen makes it to at least ninety nine.

If you are reading my blog today, Happy Birthday Jim!

What’s going on in your corner of the world.

On the Road

We traveled some new roads this week and found some spots we want to explore more along highway 17 in Washington State between Coulee City and Soap Lake. Along highway 17 there are several lakes and deep gorges that look a little Grand Canyon-isk.

It was fun to see the pops of yellow from these wildflowers

We stopped at the entrance to this park at Sun Lakes. We are interested in seeing the Dry Lakes area and Lake Lenore Caves in the future.

The state of Washington has such an amazing variety of landscapes to enjoy.

We are enjoying a little break from our everyday routines. Hope all is well in your corner.

Happy Friday!

Easter Monday

I’m working on getting my photos from Easter day uploaded and will share them tomorrow. Last week our niece and her husband flew up from California and spent a couple days with our ‘Coast Kids’. Laura shared these wonderful photos from Tulip Town in Mount Vernon.

Our niece Debbee with her hubby Lenny.

Cousins…Laura, Debbee, Katie

Laura and Josh

Katie (Andrew is traveling for work)

Laura does a remarkable job taking photos with her phone.

Our son Dan flew to the ‘coast’ for a quick overnight trip to surprise his best friend for his 40trh birthday and arrived just in time to see his cousin Debbee and Lenny before they left to the airport on Friday afternoon. Now it was time to surprise Jamie D., Dan’s best friend since 2nd grade.

Surprise was a success and the celebrations were the best! Both our sons and Jamie have been the best of friends through the years and Jamie’s family is considered our family. Happy 40th birthday Jamie. Hi Beth :).

It’s a fun thing that Dan found his beautiful bride in Colville many years since meeting his best friend in 2nd grade and her name is Jamie, too. Jamie stayed home with Addy and Jaymison while Dan had his quick overnight trip.

Happy Easter Monday everyone. We’re recuperating from a wonderful day of celebrating our Risen Savior!

Border and Back

Uploading my photos was possible on Monday morning. The route that is highlighted in yellow was the road we took to get to the US/Canadian Border at Laurier. The following photos show some highlights along the way.

We are now on Highway 395 going north toward Kettle Falls and beyond.

The bridge across the Columbia River.

United States Post Office in Laurier, Washington. We made a u-turn here since the Border is still closed between the U.S.A. and Canada except for certain essential travel.

Dear spotted the burl on this tree as we passed and we turned around to get a closer look.

A burl is a tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner. It is usually found on the trunk, at the base of the tree, and sometimes underground in the form of a rounded outgrowth. It is caused by some kind of stress, such as injury, virus, fungus, insect infestation or mold growth.

We pulled off the highway in Orient to get a closer look at this building.

The Kettle River.

Back to the bridge across the Columbia River towards home this time.

Back to views of the valleys of Colville. We enjoy knowing where the roads lead around our country bungalow.

Monday was a warm winter day and I was able to clear out several of the plant/flower beds getting them ready for Spring. My back keeps reminding me that I did that but I’m still happy for that progress.

Tuesday we are scheduled for our Heat Pump repair which is supposed to take all day. Here’s hoping all goes well.

Departure and Arrivals

After being in Washington state for 3 full weeks it was time to put the Washington State sticker on Wholly Rollin’s travel map.

Thursday morning the 22nd of October was departure day for this dear family and their rig.

Thursday was a beautiful Fall day but our grass area under the truck tires was soggy and soft and the back wheels of the truck were spinning in the mud. Oye.

Dear came to the rescue with his 4 wheel drive truck and a heavy duty chain.

Success!

The truck and rig were free to continue on the Wholly Rollin adventure on to Kennewick, Washington and then into Oregon.

It was a privilege to enjoy my brother’s family for an extended period of time.

Until we meet again may God continue to direct your paths and bless your journey.

On this same morning Josh and Laura departed from the west side of the Cascades on their journey to Colville for our annual Hunting weekend, a 5-1/2 hour trip. Little did any of us know that Providence would allow an intersection of our eastward travelers with our westward departed travelers! On their way on I-90 Wholly Rollin pulled off at the Sprague Rest Area just as Josh and Laura were passing Ritzville which is 20 miles west of Sprague. Leonard and Mandy decided to text Josh and Laura to see where they were on their journey and to both traveling groups delight they were able to meet up at the Sprague Rest Area.

A photo op some conversation and then both groups hit the road again for their final destinations.

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye!

Josh and Laura arrived to our place a little before four and these two couldn’t be happier to see their Uncle and Auntie. And then at 6:30 pm Uncle Andrew and Auntie Katie arrived and there was more excitement. We are anticipating a full weekend of fun and fellowship.

As I type on this Friday morning the snow is gently falling here in Colville. This was a surprise forecast this week and it will make hunting and family photo taking a little more interesting than usual. Our hunting crew were up on the mountain by six thirty AM this Friday morning.

 

I took the above photo yesterday in the morning.

And here’s the view this morning Friday October 23rd!

Happy Friday everyone!

Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge

Thursday afternoon on the road to Little Pend Oreille we saw a field full of deer and fawns. These are just a few of the number. It was unusual enough that we stopped the car to take some photos.

 Pend Oreille (pond oh-RAY).

The French name comes from fur trappers and it means “hangs from ears.” That comes from the round shell earring worn by male and female Pend d’Oreille/Kalispel tribe members.

We stopped at the Refuge Headquarters and had a little walk down to the river…

The water was icy!

My youngest brother’s family, Leonard, Mandy, Hope and Andrew.

Flying by the seat of our pants we decided to take the auto tour and see where it would lead us.

We didn’t spot any beavers.

McDowell Lake was impressive and we were treated to 2 bald eagles flying over the lake.

It was a nice loop through the refuge with places to stop along the way. Two Eagles, a squirrel, a deer, and some Canadian Geese were the only critters we spied this time around.

It was a beautiful afternoon for a drive and we finished off the day with dinner at our Colville kids’ home.

Today is a busy day at our Country Bungalow. Addy and JJ are arriving with their dad in the morning while their momma holds a canning class for some friends. Special tour planned in the afternoon and then dinner here with a Greek style Leg of Lamb off the Traeger. Life is rich…