Category Archives: Travel

The Roads We Travel

On Sunday our children’s choir started our services off with a preview of their upcoming Children’s Christmas play/musical. It is always a treat to have the children perform. As soon as the service was over we hit the road for our trip to the west side of the mountains.

We made a quick stop in Spokane to get a sandwich for the road before we reached I-90 for our 284 mile stretch to Bothell.

For most of our eastern Washington journey we were happy for sunshine and clear roads.

It’s a family tradition that when we spot the Columbia River and Vantage Bridge we send out a group text with the words, ‘Roll On’. Everyone knows exactly where we are and will be able to calculate when we’ll arrive at our destination.

From this point we would be starting our ascent up and through the Cascade mountain range.

On the eastern slopes the skies changed. We were patting ourselves on the back for replacing our windshield wipers the day before.

At Snoqualmie Pass I snapped this shot before our descent into Western Washington.

We made it to Josh and Laura’s house and had a good catch-up before we met up with Andrew and Katie for Thai food to continue our Anniversary celebrations. Josh and Laura baked a cake for all of us to enjoy after dinner. We have some very thoughtful kids.

Soon we were all ready to put our heads on our pillows for the night.

That reminds me of this sweet photo that was sent to us of JJ after a long morning of shopping this past Saturday on the Eastside.

Hope you all have time to rest and contemplate all that this season holds for mankind.

A portion of the Nicene Creed;

We believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made;
of the same essence as the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
and was made human.

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.

Scotland Travel Journal ~ The Old Course

In our time in Scotland, Friday the 20th of September was filled with golf. After Josh completed the course at St. Michaels Golf Club, he and Laura came back to the Lodge to get ready for our afternoon in St. Andrews. We found a parking spot at the St. Andrews Links ~ The Old Course and made our way to the Tom Morris Bar and Grill.

Another bowl of Cullen and Skink for me!

We all shared some Sticky Toffee Pudding and were ready for our tour of the Old Course which would begin at 2pm.

The World Famous Old Course. You can find some history of the Old Course here.

If we would have known about the Himalayas we would have tried to get on this course for fun. Here is a link for the history of the St. Andrews Ladies Putting Club (The Himalayas).

This day was a full day with clouds. The clouds did not produce rain this day and for that we were thankful.

St Andrews Links is one of the hosts to the first major professional golf tournament, the Open Championship. The first playing of the Open at the Old Course was in 1873, the winner was Tom Kidd. St Andrews Links has hosted the Open Championship more than any other course. It typically hosts the Open every five years. St Andrews Links provides unique challenges with its infamous bunkers, including the Old Course’s “Hell Bunker” on 14 and the Road Hole on 17. Many of the greatest Open Champions have crossed the famous 700-year-old Swilcan Bridge on the 18th hole of the Old Course.

And we crossed the bridge, too.

After our tour we decided to walk into St. Andrews to visit the Castle ruins, the cathedral, and other historical sites connecting our trip again to the John Knox and many other Reformers. On the way into town we stopped at the Martyrs’ Monument.

Martyrs’ Monument in St Andrews, Scotland, enjoys a high-profile location adjacent to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, overlooking the world-famous Old Course and the spectacular West Sands. It was built to commemorate a number of Protestant figures who were martyred in St Andrews between 1520 and 1560, and highlights the important role that the town played in the Reformation.

Martyrs’ Monument was built to commemorate four men executed in St Andrews during the 16th Century for their Protestant beliefs. St Andrews, which at that time had the largest cathedral in Scotland and one of the most celebrated in Europe, was, somewhat inevitably, drawn into the events leading up to the Protestant Reformation.

Patrick Hamilton was first to be burnt at the stake, in 1527, after he promoted the doctrines of Martin Luther. Henry Forest was executed in 1533 for owning a copy of the New Testament in English. George Wishart was burnt at the stake for defying the Catholic Church and Walter Myln followed in 1558, having advocated married clergy.

I’ll wrap this post up here and continue our St. Andrews adventures on another day.

Happy Birthday, dear Laura, enjoy your day!

Hometown Love Hodgepodge

 

After today, there are only 5 more Wednesdays in 2024 and the last Wednesday of the year is Christmas! Thank you, Joyce, for the Hodgepodge Questions again this week!

1. What was your favorite part about growing up in your hometown? 

My hometown was a melting pot of people from many cultures that opened up my eyes to the world. Besides friendships with other Russian-Americans like myself, there were many Mexican, Jewish, Japanese, and Armenian Americans in my friendship circles. The photos are from a mini-reunion with some high school friends.

2. Do you prefer ‘material’ gifts or ‘experience’ gifts? If you answered experience, tell us about one you’ve received and truly enjoyed. 

At this stage of life I’ll say the experience gifts are the best! The gift of our whole family being together is always so so good. Our 50th Anniversary weekend in Walla Walla with all our kids and grands and our Scotland trip with our oldest and our dear DIL were priceless!

3. Is brown a color featured prominently in your home decor? Your wardrobe? What’s a favorite brown thing you own? Of the brown foods listed here which one is your favorite and/or most often consumed… brown sugar, brown rice, pretzels, coffee, dates, cloves, German chocolate cake, whole wheat bread?

Shades of brown do play a dominant roll in our home especially since all of our wood furniture and chairs and sofas are brown. Our walls are Khaki Shadow. As far as foods go, it’s coffee for me.

4. Which ‘Charlie Brown’ character do you relate to most? If you’re not sure, you can take a fun quick quiz by clicking here-Which Charlie Brown Character Are You?  or the one found here-Charlie Brown Quiz. I got the same answer on both. 

I got Linus and Marcie and I’m really not an introvert. I don’t need a security blanket, either. 🙂

5. What’s a favorite item you’ve purchased this year? 

This ‘Coo’ print we picked up at Hobby Lobby to remind us of our Scotland travels is a favorite. This Highland Coo puts a smile on my face each morning as I walk from our bedroom to our living area for my cuppa black (dark brown) coffee!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Here’s a real Highland Coo…

This one is a baby.

Thank you to all who visit here and double thanks for leaving a comment.

Scotland Travel Journal ~ Dunnottar

After lunch at the Flying Stag in Braemar we continued east on the A93 to a slugroad for a coastal route that would take us to Dunnottar Castle. GPS is a wonderful thing.

The history of Dunnottar castle can be found here. I also found more of it’s history here that I’ve quoted below.

Perched atop a 160 foot rock and surrounded on three sides by the North Sea, these dramatic and evocative cliff-top ruins were once an impregnable fortress of the Earls Marischal, once one of the most powerful families in Scotland.

Scotland has some magnificently located castles. Think no further than Stirling Castle or Edinburgh Castle, both built on top of rocks that allow them to dominate the landscape for miles around. But if we had to pick just one to trust with our lives in a time of great danger then it would without any doubt be Dunnottar Castle. No other Scottish castle comes close in terms of a sense of sheer brooding impregnability. This is a castle which looks across to the nearby coastal cliffs and whose presence, even today, conveys a very simply message: “Don’t mess with me.”

At this point we could see we would have a long downward descent before we reached a steep climb to get to the castle grounds!

Down, down, down and then soon we’d be going up again!

Given Dunnottar’s obvious defensive qualities, it is no surprise to find that it has been home to fortifications of one sort or another for most of the past two thousand years and probably much longer. The very name “dun” is Pictish for fort and it is believed that St Ninian came to Dunnottar in the late 400s, converting the Picts to Christianity and founding a chapel here.

In 1715 the tenth Earl Marischal backed the losing side in the Jacobite uprising and was condemned for treason. His estates were forfeited and Dunnottar Castle was sold to the York Building Company, who removed everything that was transportable and usable. The difficulty in accessing the castle probably saved it yet again: it seems likely that if it had been readily reachable by cart, far more of the structure would have been demolished and taken away.

The drawing room was restored in the 1920’s.

Dunnottar’s darkest moment came in May 1685 when 167 Covenanter prisoners, 122 men and 45 women, were locked in the Whig’s Vault below one of the buildings in the Quadrangle. Some died of starvation and disease, while others were killed after trying to escape. The survivors were transported to the colonies as slaves (where most died of fever) after two months in the castle.

We made it with time to spare before closing. Thank you, Lord, for our timing, the weather and the strength to walk and climb and descend all the stairs!

We headed a little south along the coast to find our B&B for the night, to check in and get a recommendation for dinner. The day wasn’t over…

Scotland Travel Journal ~ Braemar

Continuing on our journey through the Cairngorms on Wednesday September 18th, our lunch stop was in Braemar. This was a very busy village with tourist buses and many visitors. We found a parking spot in front of the Fife Arms, a 5 star hotel in the Highlands.

We were early for lunch so we walked about the village.

The Parish of Braemar and Crathie is one of the largest, highest and most remote in Scotland. It is set in the magnificent Cairngorms National Park, more or less equidistant from Aberdeen, Inverness and Perth, and on any given day the number of visitors to the area may exceed the resident population.

Christianity probably came to Deeside in the fifth century when monks from a monastery at Whithorn in Wigtonshire travelled throughout Scotland.
Later groups of missionaries came to the area from Northern Ireland and from Glasgow and after 400 years of work, by 900AD, Celtic Christianity was well established.

On August 17, 2019, Saturday, Queen Elizabeth II visited Braemar and Crathie Parish Church in Aberdeenshire. 

Braemar church is built in the shape of a cross with a very prominent pulpit which reflects the significance of the preaching of the word by its founders.

The communion Table is made of oak and came from the original Parish or East Church. The Font bears the inscription “One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism”.

There were several banners around the church. This one struck a chord with me.

It was easy to see that the church needs some repair work done.

We crossed over the Clunie Water to see more of the village.

Laura saw this photo opportunity!

We planned on eating our lunch at The Fife Arms, a 19th-century hunting lodge on Clunie Water. This ornate hotel is a 2-minute walk from central Braemar, 15 minutes from Braemar Castle and 8.9 miles from Glenshee Ski Centre.

We waited for lunch service to begin at The Flying Stag and enjoyed our surroundings. On this very warm day air conditioning would have been appreciated. Windows were opened and we had some cooling.

Remember my theme for the Cairngorms or the Highlands? Antlers abound everywhere we turn.

We couldn’t dilly dally here since we were on a quest to reach Dunnottar Castle on the North Sea before it closed for the day. After lunch we headed east from Braemar and passed the many acre Balmoral Estate with not a glimpse of the castle. The castle can be visited from April until the beginning of August. Leaving Braemar, we were only halfway done with our fun experiences for this day in the sunshine.

Our weather continued to be exceptional for our driving days for that we again were very thankful. We did reach the castle in time and there are many photos to share so this post will come to an end here.

Currently here in Colville we have experienced rainy days with some snow showing on the mountain tops around us. Hope all is well in your corner.

Artful Hodgepodge

History and art is something I enjoy together. I took this photo at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C.  spring of 2011. George Washington in our National cathedral with the stained glass window and sunlight adding some highlights!

If it’s Wednesday it must be Hodgepodge. Thank you, Jo!

1. What’s something you think is under appreciated. Explain.  

The work that policemen have to do dealing with people who are mentally ill, drug addicts, and other people who have no respect for their authority is under appreciated. Policemen are important in restraining evil, for the health of our country and the safety of our citizens. I appreciate our Border Patrol Agents in the same way.

2. As winter approaches how do you stay productive?

It helps me to stay on top of things if I have company coming. Winter does make things harder when the snow and ice appear. Keeping my lists and ticking off the items is a good motivation for me.

3. What’s a popular food you don’t like? 

Sushi

4. What do you think is more interesting-art or history? Elaborate. 

Seeing works of art in an amazing historical cathedral is very satisfying to all my senses.

I find history in art very interesting.  It’s enjoyable to connect some historical facts to the places we travel to. Art is more interesting when I know something about the artist. Modern art has no appeal to me.

Children’s story illustrations/artwork are a favorite of mine, too.

5. What advice would you give to someone half your age? 

Don’t put off traveling. Plan the trip and go!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Speaking of being productive in the winter, this two have a way of getting me moving…

We had our first sign of some snow in these parts. Addy also lost another tooth!

Thanks for popping by and leaving a comment. You are appreciated!

Scotland Travel Journal ~On the Snow Road

On Wednesday morning, September 18th, our 98 mile journey would take us through a large section of the Cairngorms north and then east to Dunnottar Castle.

We had the buffet style breakfast the Inn provided and then packed up and checked out for our travel day.

The night before I searched on my computer for likely stops along the road. The Lair Tea and Gift shop in Glenshee popped up and sounded like a great place to stop. We kept our eyes peeled along the road and pulled in.

We were the first customers of the day.

The staff were getting ready for a motorcycle group that were arriving closer to lunch time.

We placed our orders and enjoyed our treats. We all were thankful that this little haven popped up the night before and that we could enjoy our time here.

It was fun to check out the gifts for sale. Tempting but we stuck to our snacks and drinks.

This shop appeared along the road and we didn’t think fast enough to turn off the road for a visit. There are not a lot of turn around spots.

A little further along the road we did use a turnout to stretch our legs and enjoy the scenery standing still instead of in motion.

These Highland landscapes were very different from what we had experienced already in Scotland. As you can see we had yet another amazing blue sky and sunshiny day, squint, squint. This road would not have been fun in the rain or with snow.

Our next stop along the A93 would be at Braemar which is close to Balmoral where the ‘Royals’ might be seen. That will be another post.

Balmoral is not open to the public in September, typically, so there was no chance for us catching a glimpse. Maybe we’ll return during another season and make some different stops in the Highlands…

The Presidential Election 2024

To keep my blog in historical context and to have some of the historical facts found here when I look back I’ll join many and our current President, Joe Biden in congratulating the next president of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

In a historic victory for the American people, President Trump just won a resounding mandate for commonsense.

With a massive victory in both the popular vote and the electoral college, the American people spoke loudly and clearly. They want:

  • To lower prices and restore the American Dream
  • A trade policy that puts American workers first.
  • Tax relief for working families.
  • To unleash American energy.
  • Peace through strength.
  • A secure border.
  • To rid our streets of illegal alien criminal gangs.
  • To support law enforcement

Donald Trump finds himself in rare company, joining Grover Cleveland as the second chief executive of the United States to be elected to nonconsecutive terms. Grover Cleveland was our 22nd and 24th President.

According to the final tally, Trump won 312 electoral votes to Harris’s 226 in Tuesday’s presidential election, comfortably surpassing the 270 electoral votes needed to claim victory. Trump also led the popular vote with over 72.9 million votes, compared to Harris’s 68.2 million votes.

May God bless our country, our current President and our next President.

Comments are off for this post.

Scotland Travel Journal ~ Blair Athol

Just five miles up the A9 from Blair Castle and Gardens is this cluster of buildings, eateries and shops that is a ultimate shopping experience in the Scottish Highlands, House of Bruar. It’s such an easy stop with a huge free car park and easy in and out. The food court was amazing. There was a separate savory pie shop, a fish and chips shop, and a whisky shop. The inner food court had choices I’ve never seen in a buffet style eatery. Walls of shortbread, candy, Scottish Tablet, and other treats filled a large section of the main building. Highland clothing in the men’s shop and a separate shop for Women’s clothing and accessories. My only disappointment was that all the slippers with the lambs wool lining were not made in Scotland or any part of the United Kingdom.

Before we started our shopping we got a savory pie from the pie shop and ate outside in the courtyard. It is always good to have a full stomach before you shop.

After checking out all the shopping areas, we paused to enjoy some treats. That jug in particular has a meaning attached to it in memory of Dear Grandma Wilma. Cheers!

On the way back to Pitlochry we searched out The Atholl Palace Hotel for a quick stop. This would have been a fun place to stay but it was booked for our dates. Check out the link. The interior is so cool.

One more stop before we dropped our car off at our Inn.

Blair Athol distillery is a Highland single malt Scotch whisky distillery located on the south edge of Pitlochry in Perthshire, near the River Tummel in Scotland.

Set in open moorland south of the town, in the foothills of the Grampian mountains, Blair Athol’s ancient source of water – the Allt Dour – flows through the grounds from the slopes of Ben Vrackie, contributing to the whisky’s, mellow quality and smooth finish.

The description sounds nice and we’ll have to take their word for it because we didn’t sample any.

After this stop we took the car back to our Inn and freshened up a bit before walking down the main street of Pitlochry for a little shopping and for dinner. My Pharmacist found a Chemist to purchase some products for me to ease a sore throat and other symptoms that were developing. Night Nurse to the rescue!

We went back to the Old Mill for dinner on this night. After dinner we sat out on the patio of our Inn and enjoyed a little time before settling in for the night. Tuesday the 17th of September was a full day.

On Wednesday after our breakfast at the Inn and checking out, we would head northeast on the Snow road through the Cairngorms to our next lodging on the coast of the North Sea.

Thank you for traveling along with us.