Tag Archives: Highway 9

Christmas Party Travels

Our annual Mennonite Girls Can Cook Christmas Party for the B.C. girls and me was graciously hosted by Bev and her husband. We traveled up north and across the border to Abbotsford on Monday afternoon. Greg and I stopped at Anneliese’s home to drop off our luggage and for our ride to Chilliwack for our celebration.

Bev set a beautiful table with place cards to guide us to our seats for the meal.

Photos were few and far between but I pieced some together to give us some visual memories.

We sang ‘Praise God From Whom all Blessings Flow’ at the beginning of our meal.

Soup was made by Judy, Salad by Kathy (oops no photo), assorted buns by Lovella, Potatoes by Marg, roasted vegetables by Anneliese, Meat cooked to perfection by Harv and Bev, dessert by Julie (no photo) but the memories of it make my mouth water.

The girls escaped to the living room after the main meal and before dessert for our gift exchange. After some good exchanges of gifts and conversation we regrouped at the table for dessert. We made it back to our hosts home for the night several hours after our usual bed time full and happy.

Sunrise in Abbotsford on Tuesday morning was beautiful. Anneliese made a lovely breakfast for us before we headed back across the line to the states. We chose to travel highway 9 for a distance before we connected up again on the interstate.

We made some stops in Washington and enjoyed lunch at our old Mexican favorite in Kirkland. Had a relaxing afternoon and evening at our kids’ home. Early on Wednesday morning we left for our final leg home.

Snoqualmie pass was in good shape for traveling. We didn’t have rain and our visibility was excellent until we reached the Ryegrass Safety Rest area.

Thankfully the dense fog only lasted for a few miles and we had clear skies the rest of our way home. We are always thankful to God for safe travels.

While we were in Western Washington this little guy broke his first board at Tae kwon do!

Breathing a sigh of relief to be done with our December travels and now getting caught up with what needs to be accomplished before Christmas day. First on the list is our Christmas cards. I was so surprised to walk right up to the counter at the post office to buy some stamps. Hopefully I’ll complete the cards today while listening to Christmas CD’s.

God rest ye merry gentlemenLet nothing you dismayRemember Christ our SaviorWas born on Christmas DayTo save us all from Satan’s pow’rWhen we were gone astrayOh tidings of comfort and joyComfort and joyOh tidings of comfort and joy

Wishing you comfort and joy as you prepare.

Highway Nine Barns

A few weeks ago we traveled on highway 9 to get to the Mt. Baker Scenic Highway and back home again. These are some of the barns we saw along the highway. This one above is tucked among lots of nice greenery.

Weathered red a-frame barn.

A brand new barn.

A clean white barn.

An advertising barn.

A weathered barn with two silos.

Linking up with Tom the Backroads Traveller for The Barn Collective.

At church this morning we prayed for all those suffering from the disasters around the world and the U.S.A., earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, flooding, tsunamis and tornadoes. The good news from the Puget Sound Area is that we are seeing blue skies again and we can see the mountains in the distance again because the smoke has been washed away. I am so grateful to see this improvement and to take a good deep breath. While I type I’m watching Fox News with their full time coverage of Hurricane Irma.

Barns Along Hwy 9

Driving home on highway 9 on our August 15th day out to the Mt. Baker Scenic highway I spotted several barns. The problem with barns along a highway is that when you are driving at over 50 miles an hour and you aren’t the only car on the road you can’t just stop on the highway to take a photo. As the passenger I had to snap away and hope the photos came out okay.

This particular barn had it’s own parking lot because it happened to be the North Trailhead of the Centennial Trail.

Tracy Tallman contributed this People’s History account of the family of Kamezo (1883-1975) and Miye Nakashima and their Snohomish County farm. Kamezo and Miye Nakashima were among the earliest Japanese families to farm within Snohomish County. They purchased their farm, located near Arlington, on July 31, 1937, from Sophie Frye Bass (1866-1947). They operated it as a dairy farm until 1942, when, during World War II, Executive Order 9066 forced the Nakashimas into internment camps along with nearly 120,000 first-generation Japanese immigrants and their American-born citizen children. On April 15, 1942, the Nakashimas were forced to sell the farm, and members of the large family were sent to different internment camps. Upon their release, Kamezo and Miye relocated to Seattle, where they managed the Marion Hotel.

The rest of the essay with some historical photos on the Nakashima Family and their farm can be found here.

I’ll be linking up to The Barn Collective hosted by Tom The Backroads Traveller.

We are having a mostly quiet weekend here. We’ve got a cut of pork on the Traeger that will cook low and slow for dinner. Dear finished upgrading our closets in our master bedroom suite with new doors and new shelves and hanger bars. I forgot to take a before photo, oops. I’ll share a couple after shots soon while things are still nice and tidy.

Autumn Mosaics

kettle

We took a drive a couple of Mondays ago to see what we could see along Hwy 9 and Hwy 20 north of Seattle in Washington state.

2016-10-10-fall-drive2

We saw some lakes we hadn’t seen before like Big Lake.

2016-10-10-fall-drive

It was a beautiful drive for the hours we had until the rain came in.

2016-10-10-fall-drive1

Along the Skagit River in Rockport.

mohai61-001

This afternoon Josh, Laura, and I attended the final season game of the Sounders Soccer Team and said goodbye to a fan favorite player Zach Scott. Winning this game means we are now headed to the playoffs. We are happy fans. We also had a wee visit from our dear daughter in law and her Granny who were on this side of the mountains for a memorial service for Granny’s brother. It was a great afternoon from start to finish.

Linking up to Mosaic Monday hosted with Maggie at Normandy Life.