Category Archives: Travel

All Creatures…

…great and small. Our Lord God made them all. Last Friday, while we were in Arizona, we took a trip to the Phoenix Zoo. The weather was in the 70’s and very pleasant. This post will take the place of my Quotes of the Week.

We waited a long time to see one of the three elephants the zoo has in residence.

And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”  So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:20-21

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:24-25

Psalm 104:10-12, You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills; they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches.

 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? Matthew 6:25-27

While we were looking at the giraffes in the distance behind a low fence this hummingbird came right up to the plant next to us and I was able to take a lot of photos while our heavenly father provided food for it.

Laura captured the photo of the sun beaming down on Jamie right on our developing grandson who is due in April.

For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13 (ESV)

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:26-27

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.

Psalm 139:14

With thankful hearts we left the zoo and headed to Old Scottsdale to have another walk about and find a spot for dinner.

Strikingly Different

We left Arizona yesterday flying into Spokane and were met with the striking difference in temperatures. This morning we started out at 12 degrees here in Colville. We’ve warmed up to 14 while I’m typing this. Today will be a catchup day for me. I’m behind with emails, blog visits and laundry. The photo of the sweet hummingbird was taken during our time at the Phoenix Zoo enjoying the 70 degree weather. We soaked it in and I’ll be posting more from Arizona after I catch my breath.

To those of you who are experiencing the deep freeze stay safe and warm!

Desert Doings…

Our family has been enjoying a work vacation in Arizona with play breaks.

 

We enjoyed a couple hours at the zoo and Addy got a nap in.

After the zoo we went to Old Town Scottsdale and enjoyed dinner there.

 

 

Our kids’ cousins were in Arizona for the weekend and drove over for dinner on Saturday night.

On Sunday we had a meal together and time at the park before Josh and Laura headed home to Seattle.

We all got a good dose of Vitamin D today! We’ll be back to the land of slippery snow soon enough.

Time for a little rest now.

 

First Road Trip of 2019!

We decided Thursday evening to hit the road Friday morning (January 11th) to visit our western kids. It’s a 5-1/2 to 6 hour drive from Colville to Bothell. The weather window looked real good for crossing the Cascade mountain range so we packed up for a quick trip. We had to be back home on Sunday.

This was the only photo I took on our trip west. This is the Vantage Bridge over the Columbia River Gorge. Our drive was smooth and easy all the way to our destination. We did not stop except to get a few gallons of gas in Cle Elum before going over Snoqualmie Pass into Western Washington.

Our first stop was at La Corona and these two joined us for an early dinner.

They just got their keys to their very first home. We were excited to make the trip to see their new home in person.

Before Dear and I left for this quick road trip I had made a big pot of Borsch. I froze several containers of the borsch and we took them to Western Washington for our kids to enjoy. We dropped off a container for our Colville kids, too, on Thursday afternoon.

Perfect for a warm up after playing in the snow.

While we were in Western Washington we didn’t take any photos except for the selfie at La Corona. After La Corona we all gathered at our oldest son’s home for some family time. On Saturday we drove to Katie and Andrew’s new home and had a little tour. From there the guys went to the big box store to get some things the kids will need to fix up their home. The girls gathered along with my sister Lana to do some fun shopping at our favorites, HomeGoods, TJMaxx, Target, Hobby Lobby and Costco. After Costco we all gathered at Josh and Laura’s again for a meal together that we brought home from Costco. I bought some new wall art for our country bungalow.

Early on Sunday morning we left for our trip back to Colville.

This is a new wild animal crossing bridge over Interstate 90 just east of Snoqualmie Pass.

We saw a lot of birds of prey from Cle Elum on through Ellensburg. Hard to get good photos speeding along the interstate at 70 miles plus. This was one eagle I was able to capture. After Ellensburg as we headed up and over Ryegrass we encountered some heavy fog that put a huge strain on our eyes.

Once the fog cleared we continued listening to our book on cd that helped our trip West and back East fly by. We were listening to the new Inspector Gamache crime mystery by Louise Penny, Kingdom of the Blind.

Dear got a migraine and I had to drive so no more photos till after we left Spokane and Dear was ready to drive again. In Spokane we stopped at Home Depot and Costco before heading north on highway 395.

The rest of these photos are from after we stopped for dinner in Chewelah at El Ranchito. The road from Chewelah to Colville is one we are very familiar with and the scenery changes seasonally but some things stay the same.

The big C and the cross are the landmarks we see as we approach city center in Colville.

We dropped off some goods for our kids in Colville that we purchased for them at Costco and had some sweet time with Addy before we headed the 8 miles home again, home again, jiggety jig.

It was good to get home and heat up the house before we hit the sack.

We still have a cd to listen to for the Inspector Gamache story’s end. Our trip afforded us 9 cd’s out of 10. Do you listen to books on cd? We love to travel that way.

We had/have 3 family birthdays this week. More about those events to come…

Westside Celebrations

On the first day of December we made the drive south to connect to interstate 90 and east and over the Cascade mountain range to the greater Seattle area of Washington, about 365 miles.

Our oldest son and daughter-in-law welcomed us to their new home for the weekend with a beautiful suite for us to stay in.

Their home has been decorated beautifully by Laura and now the Christmas touches have been added for the month of December. We spent a quiet Saturday evening in their home.

On Sunday we saw them off for a fun birthday adventure with Laura’s side of the family and then we prepared for our trip north to Canada for the annual Mennonite Girls Can Cook Christmas dinner. As we prepared for our journey we had the revelation that we had left our passports way back in Colville. We were so sad to realize this mistake on our parts and started considering what to do. Since I have an enhanced license we decided I would make the 2-1/2 hour drive on my own. The roads and border crossing were great and the afternoon/evening was fabulous. It was so good to see the “girls” and their husbands again. While I was in Canada Dear was able to enjoy a meal out with our Western Washington kids!

I’ll share about the party and the rest of our weekend in other posts.

I watched the service for President George H.W. Bush on Wednesday. What a rich experience that was filled with reverence and emotion.

Have you ever read the lyrics to Hail to the Chief?

Hail to the Chief we have chosen for the nation
Hail to the Chief, we salute him, one and all
(We salute him)
Hail to the Chief as we pledge cooperation
In proud fulfillment of a great, noble call

Yours is the aim to make this grand country grander
This you will do, that’s our strong, firm belief
(Our firm belief)
Hail to the one we selected as commander
Hail to the President! Hail to the Chief!

Hope your week is going well.

What to Do? What to Do?

I’m wondering what I should do with my three remaining days of living in the Puget Sound area of Washington State. We recorded yesterday and received our keys at 6pm. It was getting dark when we headed over to take a quick walk-thru to drop off a small load of stuff. We (myself, son, DIL and grandgirlie). Dear remained on the west side of the mountains with responsibilities to wrap up.

This is our new driveway and I went to the street to take photos of the drive for our container delivery people. Addy spotted me and made a run for it to join me. I had to catch her at full speed before she toppled over! This was yesterday.

Today I drove the six hours from Colville to Lynnwood with my companion on CD being Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope. Now I’m deciding what I want to do on this side of the mountains before we leave to our new home on Sunday. We are moving from a major population area of close to 4 million to a community of about 5,000.

Before I left on Dear’s birthday to head to Colville to deliver paperwork and a check to close on our new home we celebrated Dear’s Medicare birthday with our kids on the western side of the mountains.

The Weekend Roundup “I”

Starts with “I.”

A Favorite.

Inside

This letter wasn’t an easy one for me but I know as soon as I visit other entries I’ll think, “why didn’t I think of that?”

Starts with I: Island

This was taken on Whidbey Island in Washington State looking towards Camano Island. Washington State has several lovely islands to visit. Some you can drive to using bridges and others you can enjoy with a ride on a ferry.

A Favorite:

Interesting scenes in Indiana that we don’t see here in Washington State.

Inside:

Inside Rory’s looking out to the Puget Sound in Edmonds, Washington.

Parting shot:  From Whidbey Island

Linking up with Tom for The Weekend Roundup “I”.

I’ll try and visit as many as I can this evening as Dear and I head out early again tomorrow morning for our 6 hour trek to Northeastern Washington with another truck and trailer load. This trip I’m following behind in one of our cars and we’re leaving it in Colville just bringing home the truck and trailer to pack up the very last load!

 

The Wild Turkey Capital…

…of the Pacific Northwest.

Colville lays claim to that title. All of these turkeys were on our son’s property last weekend and we’ve seen many a rafter of turkeys on the roads we travel around Colville and Chewelah.

Now we haven’t seen one of these on the loose but this bull was spotted just a couple properties north from our new house. We definitely won’t be in the big city anymore.

It’s good and it’s scary with many unknowns but we look forward to be settled in by the end of September with all our stuff around us again. We also look forward to meeting our new neighbors. We hear they are good neighbors and will strive to be good neighbors as well.

We Need Relief…

…from our smoke filled skies. Praying our fires are contained and no new fires start.

We left Colville this morning and we had smoke filled skies all across eastern Washington, central Washington, over the Cascade mountain range and into Western Washington. It’s sad to see so much smoke. It also is hard on the eyes, throat, lungs and sinuses.

“The Air Quality Index jumped from a 156 (Unhealthy) last night to a 202 (Very Unhealthy) this morning. Inchelium is at 203 – these are the worst levels in the State of Washington. Folks should stay inside with the windows closed per the EPA, or go to malls or other places with filtered air.”

Looking forward to clear skies ahead.