Category Archives: Travel Washington State

On the Road Hodgepodge

A few photos from Christmas past.

Thank you, Joyce, for the Wednesday Hodgepodge questions each week.

1. What’s one task you’d like a little Christmas elf to sneak in and take care of tonite? 

I would love for a little elf to come in and address all my Christmas cards!

2. What’s your biggest challenge during the holidays? 

Writing our Christmas letter is harder some years than others. Once the letter is written, the cards are addressed, and the envelopes are taken to the post office and dropped down the slot I feel a load off!

3. Are you a cookie baker this time of year? If your year had to be summed up in the shape of a cookie cutter what shape would it be? 

Cookies are not something that get baked every year. This year I hope to make some cookies for our Children’s play/musical coming up soon. My cookie cutter shape for 2024 would be thistle in honor of our trip to Scotland.

4. Santa likes milk with his cookies. Do you like milk? What kind of milk is on tap in your house? (whole, 2%, skim, almond, oat, etc). What’s the last thing you made that called for milk? 

I like milk but I can’t have too much of it as it doesn’t sit well with me. We typically have 2% on hand. Cereal is the last thing I enjoyed with milk, not something I made but something I put together.

5. Share one favorite line from a Christmas carol or holiday tune? 

O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, There is room in my heart for Thee.

and

O come. let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

And there are so many more!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We are on the road again today, on our way back home from the westside of the Cascades. We were in Canada on Monday and overnight into Tuesday. Lots of time in our vehicle. I will be late in visiting Hodgepodgers. In Canada we enjoyed time with the B.C. Mennonite Girls Can Cook. More photos of our time to come later but here is a preview of some of the food we enjoyed.

Idaho Getaway

On the way to our Coeur d’Alene overnight we stopped at a new to us restaurant in Spokane Valley for breakfast. It is an hour and a half drive for us from home to the valley so we were ready for some food. The Crimson Door was a unique spot and the staff and food were both good. Before we got back on the freeway for the 10 minute trip to Coeur d’Alene, we stopped at the Union Gospel Mission thrift store. We were happy to find 3 books by one of our favorite Pastors.

We enjoy traveling the short distance to our neighboring state for getaways or just a day of shopping. A few of the things we like are lower sales tax, lower gasoline prices, not having to pay for shopping bags and a nice variety of places to eat.

When we arrived at our lodging in Coeur d’Alene we were surprised to see a card and these roses left for us by the staff. Our travel agent had let the management know why we were traveling unbeknownst to us.

We shopped at a variety of stores for some gifts including Costco where gasoline was only $2.69 per gallon! One of our stops was at a second hand vintage and antique store where we found some Hardy Boys books for our Grands. Addy and Auntie Lolo had made out a list of the book #’s that were missing in their collection over Thanksgiving weekend.

We drove a little north of CDA for our anniversary dinner at Parallel 47 in Hayden.

We felt that Filet Mignon was appropriate for celebrating 50 years of marriage.

Full and Satisfied we made our way back to our lodging. After putting on some layers of clothing and gloves we walked the short distance to the CDA resort to walk the boardwalk of Christmas lights that they annually light up for Christmas and for their Christmas lights cruises on the lake.

The fire breathing dragon is always a treat for the kids and a little startling for adults, too.

We walked through the resort where we enjoyed a quartet of women singing Christmas classics all dressed up in clothes from years gone by. That was a treat. I recorded them but didn’t get a still photo of them. For whatever reason I’m unable to share my videos on my blog. Sigh.

On Friday morning we had breakfast in Hayden with all the locals. We made a stop at Pilgrim Market for some goodies and then headed back to Colville via one more shopping stop at Cabela’s.

Auntie Lolo put this up on facebook and we received many good wishes from friends near and far. Thank you, dear Lolo!

So thankful to God for bringing you two together, for knowing what an amazing team you would make, for the example you are to your kids, and for the love you share! We love you, we love you, we love you! Congratulations on 50 years!

 

Thank you to everyone who already left comments and best wishes on my 50th Wedding Anniversary post.

This post is up on Monday and we are in the midst of more travels heading to Canada for our Annual Mennonite Girls Can Cook Christmas dinner. We traveled to the west side of the state on Sunday after church. I’ll be missing in action for awhile but hope to get some visits in here and there.

Along the Way…

Our little family of 10 planned a special getaway to Walla Walla for Saturday the 29th of June until Tuesday the 2nd of July. Greg and I left a day early to make a stop at Palouse Falls and spend the night in Richland, Washington.

We found our way to the parking lot at the viewpoint to see the falls.

 

From Palouse Falls we headed a little west to the town of Richland which is part of the Tri-Cities for a night at a Marriott property. We had enough points to have our night for free. When we checked in the friendly employee upgraded us to a suite with a view of the water (The Columbia River) for which we were grateful. We dropped off our luggage and ventured to the restaurant we chose for our dinner. We were back to our room for an early night and woke up on Saturday to a lovely sunrise.

We would have several hours to wile away on this day until we met up with Katie and Andrew for a wine tasting at Seven Hills Winery at 1:30. The Walla Walla area and the Columbia Valley area in this part of our state is renowned for wine production. Our check in time for our Airbnb wasn’t until 4pm.

Cheers!

There is much more to share. Thank you for stopping by.

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!