Category Archives: Travel

I’m Melting…

…or the time in between Winter and Spring in Chewelah. There was a lot more snow on the ground at our son’s place before we arrived. I was happy to visit after the fact. I shared Fall scenes from his property and here are some winter scenes.

This was our daughter Katie’s first visit to her brother’s home so we all trekked about the property for her to get a good picture of his property.

We ended our stay with breakfast at The Chalet Restaurant and Alpine Room in Chewelah, a great place to eat.

We had a wonderful time together at Dan’s place. After breakfast we said our goodbyes and reminded each other that we’ll all be together again in late April when we travel to our niece’s wedding in Southern California from 3 different airports. We’re at that stage in life when our kids are a bit scattered and enjoying life as they should apart from us. We always welcome the times we can come together and enjoy each other. Do your grown children live far or near?

To the Island!

We have several islands to enjoy in our area. One of our favorites is Whidbey Island. On Saturday we caught a ferry in Mukilteo that took us to Clinton at the south end of Whidbey Island. We drove up to the ferry line and were happy to make the ferry that was already loading. We were the last car on…

It was a blustery day. We braved the outdoor deck for long enough to take a photo. This is my cousin Jim, his wife Jeanie, and our daughter Katie.

Our first stop was up the island in Coupeville. Coupeville is located on Penn Cove. Penn Cove is known for mussels. This coming up weekend is Penn Cove Mussel Fest. Coupeville is the 2nd oldest town in the state of Washington. We ate at the Front St. Grill. They had a page full of mussel offerings to enjoy. We chose the Coconut Green Curry Mussels. Delicious!

We walked along the Front St. and enjoyed perusing the shops.

We hopped back in the car and returned to the southern end of the island to visit our favorite town of Langley. This is our traditional photo spot on 1st. St. in Langley. Saratoga Passage is behind us. We spotted a whale in this Passage last year. Saratoga Passage lies in Puget Sound between Whidbey Island and Camano Island.

After walking through our favorite shops we headed back to the ferry dock. When the ferry rolled in I saw these two seagulls perched on the lights above the pilot house. It made me chuckle that they chose the first class perches to roll into the dock.

We were quite pleased that the weather was nicer than what we expected for Jim and Jeanie’s visit and for our adventures. Last night we had a farewell meal together with our company plus my sister, her husband, our son Josh, our SIL Laura and Katie. Hope your week is going well…

Tour of Seattle…

…on a blustery day!

The wind and rain limited my camera from clicking much outdoors. We were again blessed with a parking spot right at the Market! Amazing! My cousin and his wife who happens to be my best friend from college are in Seattle and I tried to give them my hallmark tour but we just had to go with the flow. While at the Market we went down the steps to the famous “Gum Wall”.

It can be a little overwhelming for newcomers! Jim and Jeanie were good sports.

Jim wanted to enjoy the abundance of our seafood choices and ordered a crab cocktail to enjoy while we walked around the stalls in the Market.

When in Seattle it’s a good idea to enjoy our bounty!

Katie joined us on our tour, too. Our last stop downtown would be Boka for Happy Hour where we would meet Dear when he was done with work.

I’m grateful that Dear is willing to work hard while I gallivant about the town. We love to meet up after work for him to enjoy a good ending to the day.

Father and daughter time is always good along with some good food!

We have lots of good history with Jim and Jeanie. Jim, Jeanie and I all graduated together from Cal State Los Angeles in 1972. Jeanie and I both graduated with a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Home Economics. We both completed a 5th year to receive our Teaching Credential. Jim and Jeanie were married the same year Dear and I were married. We’ve had lots of celebrations together. We lived in Huntington Beach together as newlyweds and attended the same church. Their 3 kids were born in the same years our kids were born at different ends of the year.

Our Seattle tour was on Friday afternoon. I’ll be sharing our Saturday tour on Whidbey Island soon. Today we attended church together with a great celebration of Missions around the world and in our neighborhoods. Good times and good memories continue. A great afternoon of re-kindling our memories of fun playing Rook together so many years ago…

Hope you had a good weekend!

Two Country Drive…

Have I ever mentioned I love being able to take in 2 countries on a drive starting from my front door? Two countries in one day with beautiful weather is a special treat. Having Katie along on this road trip was a delight for me. As we started out our trip we started singing “Oh Canada” and Katie managed to sing most of the words!

This wasn’t our best view but I found out that when I’m the driver on a road trip fewer photos are taken. Our views were truly magnificent and I don’t think a photo could have really captured the glory anyway. We saw our wonderful Cascade range of mountains starting in the U.S.A. with many more glorious views in British Columbia. An eagle flew over us on our way up and on our way back. We drove through a lot of country that these creatures call home…

The photos from the road that I took like this one were when we were stopped for road works or at the Border Crossing. Speaking of Border crossings, I am always appreciative of the kind courtesy we receive from Border Crossing Agents from Canada and the U.S.A. I am grateful for the work they do, as thankless as it might be, to keep both our countries safer.

Our primary reason for traveling to Chilliwack was to pick up a shower gift I ordered for our niece Debbee from Winks. Katie, Laura, and I will be traveling to California soon for her bridal shower. I was so excited about seeing Kathy (one of our Mennonite Girls) at Winks I forgot again to take any photos. Kathy did a lovely job of bagging our purchase. This photo was taken after we got home. Sorry I can’t show you the gift until Debbee unwraps it. We were only at Winks for a very short time as we had a very important date down the road.

Meeting up with these Mennonite Girls was the best part of Katie and my trip. It was fun for Katie to meet them all and to see Bev again. We chattered for quite a while over our nice lunch and then parted ways. What? You want to see what we ate? Wouldn’t you know I at least got a few photos of our food.

I was real happy to see the pickle spears on our plates. Here is another question for you. Do you eat the pickle or leave it on the plate? It seems Marg and I both enjoy eating ours and are willing to eat yours, too, if you leave it there too long!!

From lunch we followed Bev to Yarrow to check out a local pottery shop that her friend Ted Dreidiger owns and where he throws and fires his beautiful creations. Umm, it’s not food, so again my camera stayed in my purse. Oye! I did take a photo of my purchase when we got home. It’s a great piece that’s perfect to warm a round of brie in or to serve other hot or cold dips in.

It was fun to visit Ted in his workshop and to see all his great pieces. Thanks Bev for suggesting this stop on our way back to the U.S.A.

As we continued home after our nice chat with the U.S. Border Officer Katie was game to see the downtown area of Lynden, Washington. Can you guess what we brought home in that box?

Bumbleberry Pie! We wanted Dear to get a taste of our trip, too.

Look at all that yummy filling!

We will be having a nice quiet day at home today with more excitement starting on Friday. It’s good to pace yourself…

What have you been up to?

More From the Road…

Although the eagles and mountains we saw on our roadtrip were the most majestic of our views we saw other lovely sights. This robin sat still long enough for me to capture with my lens.

The sun played nicely on and through the moss on the trees we passed along the road.

The last photos I took on this trip were of this Orthodox church in Arlington where we returned to Interstate 5 to head home. Love the design of the crosses.

What’s up for you today? We are having a meal tonight with 3 of our 5 kiddos. I’m thinking I’ll set the table with pink, red, and white…

Sun and Eagle Chasing…

Our trip on Sunday up highway 530 in Northwest Washington was one of trying to find the sunshine and spotting some eagles along the Skagit River.

We found both and enjoyed the sunshine and the eagles we spotted. Some of our Mennonite girls get eagles right on their own properties and others don’t have to travel far to enjoy viewing them. Maybe next year I’ll just go squat on their properties to see many eagles all together.

The Skagit River area between Concrete and Marblemount off of highway 20 in Washington is a good spot to see eagles in January. We were a little late to see a good number this year.

The Skagit river was flowing nicely with some interesting swirling that we enjoyed watching.

Tomorrow I’ll be picking up our daughter from the airport for her 1 month stay with us while our Son in law is doing some training off the base. We’re happy to have her here with us instead of on base by herself for the month. We are looking forward to some fun events together. She’ll bring a different kind of sunshine to our home.

Off the Beaten Track…

We had a choice or two on how we might reach our destination for our Sunday drive. We chose the back way. We decided we had enough of the interstate and wanted to see interesting scenes along a smaller highway. We were happy with our choice to take highway 530 to Rockport. We had some good views of Mt. Pilchuk.

How’s this for a tree lined road?

Here we have a little peek of snow covered Mt. Pilchuk. We enjoy roads that wind along rivers.

We arrived to our destination and spotted what we were hoping to see. Can you see it? I’ll have more photos in the days to come.

This week begins a very busy time around this old house. How’s your week shaping up?

A Sunday Drive…

Dear and I decided on a Sunday drive to the North of us on a small highway to see if we could spot some eagles. We were socked in with fog at our house and it was so nice to travel out of it and come into the nice bright sunshine. Funny that we had to go North instead of South to get to the sunshine. I’ll be sharing more photos tomorrow of our outing and the 3 eagles we did spot.

This is the Skagit river at Rockport, Washington, looking East. A different part of our beautiful state. Blessings on your week!

Travel Tips?

First off before I get to my news and question for my friends in bloggy world I want to thank you for all your kind thoughts about my state of mind this last week. The blur has lifted and things have cleared up nicely in my outlook. God is good, all the time.

Some trips have been added to my calendar for the winter months and that’s where I would love some suggestions from you. In March during my birthday week Dear has a conference to attend in Milan, Italy. Since it falls during my birthday we decided I should tag along and take advantage of a free hotel room. His company booked his ticket and we booked mine on the same flights sitting together. Woohoo!

By the way this photo is not from Milan or Europe at all but from our own National Cathedral in Washington D.C. Since I’ve never been to the mainland of Europe (only Great Britain), I didn’t have any of my own photos of Milan to show you…yet!

So…have any of you ever been in Milan or in Italy? If you have would you be so kind as to offer suggestions of things I shouldn’t miss while there. I’m not a fashion guru so I won’t be spending a lot of time with what Milan is known for but I’ve already seen some beautiful images of the Milan Cathedral and am really looking forward to visiting it with my camera. As usual on these trips most of the time I’ll be on my own.

We’ll be there in the middle of March and fly home on the first day of Spring.

Women’s Bible study started up again this week and it was good to be back with the ladies in my group. Thursday night our small group is going to help prepare a meal and deliver and serve it to some Homeless folks in downtown Seattle. The coming weekend looks free. How are things in your world?

Laying to Rest…

I’m looking forward to all the Election brouhaha being laid to rest by tomorrow. In the spirit of that hope I decided to share some more from the Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia. I hope you’ll enjoy the peaceful, restful images…

I’m grateful that whoever wins in our nation’s election that God is still on the throne and He is the one that holds our world together. I’m thankful that my hope is in Him and Him alone for my future. Judging from all the polls half of our country is going to be disappointed once the numbers are all in.

Blessings on all who come by here and God bless America…