Life Changing, Washington 2008

On Sunday afternoon we started our trip back to Seattle from Newport, WA. This time we decided to take the southern route through the Cascades in to Seattle on I90. We stopped off a couple of times on this route, but really did not enjoy this route as much as we did the northern route.

We had a wonderful time on our trip. For Josh it turned out to be life changing, and for me it just reaffirmed what I've known all along which is, I belong in Washington.

I am grateful grateful grateful for Josh who got us discounts, and double discounts on our rooms while we were in Washington, AMAZING! Josh had a fantastic idea that we turn in our rental car early and stay at a hotel that would shuttle us to the airport in the morning eliminating some of the hassle before our flight. Because of Josh and his ability to win people over, we were able to stay at the Hilton in Seattle on our last night there for a truly unbelievable price.

I am grateful for being able to take the trip in the first place and everything that happened while we were there is a bonus.

I am grateful for Michael being in the NAVY which is what started this whole thing in the first place, 11 years ago. Sometimes I'm not sure I ever would have left my home town had it not been for him and the NAVY.

I am grateful grateful grateful for my mother who looked after my girls and checked on our pets while we were gone. We couldn't have done the trip without her.

I am also grateful for Karen who came and looked after our animals while we were gone.

Good things are happening for the people I love.

You my little free thinker, you.

Visit with the Andersons in Newport, WA 2008

On Saturday we made it to Newport around 6:30pm where we checked in to our Bed and Breakfast called The Inn At The Lake on Diamond Lake. We then walked across the street where we got to give big big hugs to Jess, Jeremy, and their three kids, Brea, Kayla, and Tristen. We were able to have dinner with them, play with the kids a bit, sit by the fire and have a nice relaxing evening with them.
Sunday morning we went back over to Jess's house where we had coffee, played with the kids and then went for a ride into Idaho to meet Shelby. On our way to Shelby's house we passed over the Pend Orielle River (I think that's how it's spelled) one of the few rivers that flow North! At Shelby's house we had some really meaningful conversation about several different topics which were educational to both Josh and I.
Then around 1:30pm Josh and I said our good byes to the Andersons and got back on the road.

Journey Through the Cascades 2008

This was the second adventure of our recent journey to Washington.

We arrived in Washington Thursday afternoon, we stayed in Friday Harbor until early Saturday morning. Saturday we got up at 4:45am to catch the 6am ferry back to Anacortes so we could start our journey through the Cascade Mountains to visit my friend Jessica and her family who live about 20 minutes from Idaho. It was a seven and a half hour drive, at 5am it seemed daunting, but once we got started we quickly found it to be just an amazing day.
We decided to take highway 2 through the mountains, which is a northern route through the Cascades that took us through Stevens Pass. It was gorgeous, we saw very little traffic and very few people. It was a beautiful day and we loved the anticipation of what was going to be around the next corner.
At one point our elevation was 4061 feet, we saw snow up there along the sides of the road which made us smile.
We eventually stopped at one of the state parks where we were able to get out, walk, and stretch our legs a little. We walked down along the Wenatchee River, I had forgotten how clear all the bodies of water are there. Just amazing.
After we came through the mountains and made it to the eastern foothills of the Cascades I saw a whole other world of Washington that I never knew existed. We got to see some of the apple orchards, and what an awesome time to see them, the fall color was breathtaking. As we went on, the climate got more and more dry, the ground and plant life got more and more desert like, it was really interesting to see such a drastic change. As we continued we came to the agricultural part of Washington where we drove through about 150-200 miles of nothing but golden straw fields. It was almost like the twilight zone, miles and miles of nothing. Eventually as we drew closer to Spokane we started seeing more and more life, trees again, houses, cars, lakes, and people. After three hours of nothing but straw fields it was nice to see a little civilization again.

Friday Harbor 2008

Today I am grateful for...

Doing some research before our trip so that things would be a little easier once we got there.

I'm grateful for Josh, ....asking for discounts on our hotel rooms and even getting secondary discounts sometimes! He saved us lots of money.

Friday Harbor house, what a wonderful place to stay.

Walking walking walking through Friday Harbor.



Thursday night we arrived in Friday Harbor, got a room at the Friday Harbor House and got a good nights sleep on their fantastic beds. We got up early Friday morning, had some breakfast, and headed out for a quick drive around the island before our whale watch trip. We visited Lime Kiln Point State Park, Josh enjoyed watching the fishing boats that were working right off the shore there. We saw a large part of the island before heading back to the marina.

Friday afternoon we went out on a whale watch boat, it was a fantastic trip. Our naturalist, Chris was great at answering questions, explaining things and sharing information. We saw lots of islands, one in particular that had a lot of exotic wildlife on it, the intention was to import all of these animals for hunting, but the island was so small the hunting was too easy and the idea never took off. So now they have an island full of imported deer, rams, and other animals.
We also saw sea lions, bald eagles-which are huge by the way, I never realized they were so big!
We saw some transient whales while we were out, two males and four females traveling together. We saw them make a kill and then do some celebrating by breaching, spy hopping and tale smacking. It was really exciting.
I'm grateful for the conversation I had on board with Chris and being shown all the families of residents and hearing their stories.
We also saw Dolls Porpoise as they were playing off the bow of the boat on our way back in to Friday Harbor.

We then had dinner at Downriggers where I had the best Bloody Mary ever!
We got a good nights sleep and then got up at 4:45 to catch the 6am ferry back to Anacortes.