Monday, Day 5: Not Rainier

It didn't start out a nice enough day to take on Mount Rainier, so we ran errands and ended up at Bradley Park for a walk around the lake.

We walked at different speeds and met up back at the picnic ground.

Washington sure knows how to grow trees.

In the afternoon we hiked one of Bryan's favorite local trails at Swan Creek Park. By then the sun had come out and it must have been beautiful on Rainier, but too late in the day.

I loved the sunlight through the forest. Major drop to the creek on the left.

Rain forest isn't always tropical jungle. Wonderful moss and ferns all over.

Usually I'm the one behind the camera, so this time I got Steve to take a picture of me.

Sunday, Day 4: Memories of Ethiopia and Brazil

We met our old friends the Downings at Good Shepherd School in Ethiopia in the '70s before either of us had any kids. Steve later recruited them for Brazil, not knowing we would move on to Mozambique. They ended up living in "our" house in Campo Grande. When our dear friends from Mozambique, Lucio and Rosalee Guimaraes moved to CG, they struck up a friendship with Downings as well. We had all been close friends for years before we ever were the six of us together. When Downings moved to Rio, they attended the same church as our foster daughter, Queila, adding another close connection.

Now Guimaraes, Hardys and Downings are all retired--in Brazil, in Wisconsin and in Vancouver, Washington. Yesterday we drove down to Downings' church where son Tim is a worship leader. Unfortunately Tim was away playing back-up keyboard for vocalist Natalie Grant, but we got to meet his wife and two kids (who are NOT shy.) Also met Cara's husband and two little ones.

The Downing house is full of Ethiopian baskets, Brazilian lace, wall hangings from Brazil and Africa--just like ours. We have lived in and loved the same places and many of the same people.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Days 1-3: Heading West to Reach the East

Living as we do two hours from Minneapolis-Saint Paul, it is not unheard of for us to begin a longer journey with an event in "the Cities." This time it was a Thursday morning Minnesota Orchestra coffee concert of Rachmaninoff's First Piano Concerto and Stravinski's Eighth Symphony--both of them incredibly powerful. It was a glorious day to add a pic to my Minnesota collection.

We are on our way to Erika's family in Korea by way of Steve's sister Pat in Puyallup, Washington. Friday night dinner of herb-rubbed grilled flank steak was worthy of the most gourmet restaurant. Saturday was glorious day. The kids all had activities on, so the four of us "grown-ups" drove to Port Townsend on the Olympic Penninusal for lunch. We crossed the Narrows at Tacoma and then Hood Canal. No time to really explore the peninsula--didn't come near the national park--but we got a taste of spectacular views.

Port Townsend is a quaint 19th c town full of gift shops, tea, olive oil, etc.

Found a great place overlooking the water for lunch in the sunshine.

View of the Olympics to the right.

View across Puget Sound to the Cascades to the left (but they kind of fade out to the camera.)

Just outside of town is Fort Worden, now a state park with an old lighthouse.
The current facility (much less photogenic) is fully digitized.

Patty and I climbed the light tower although she declined the last ladder part.

Mount Baker on the other side of the Sound, was pretty photogenic.

So was sister-in-law Pat.

Day 5: Puyallup, WA

0 miles!

Thank you, Lord, list:
Great worship
Travel protection
Ferns under Douglas firs
The miracle of baby bison
Family who is still family even when you don't see them very often

We worshipped at my sister-in-law's church, Bethany Baptist, Puyallup. Great music. Sermon was on the Good Samaritan with an interview with a couple who met as urban search and rescue workers on the Sumatra tsunami. They just returned from a week in Nepal digging victims out from the earthquake. Talk about good Samaritans.

Pat's husband, Bob (my brother-in-law-in-law?) took the car to be serviced before we head into the wilds. They found a leaky fuel pump and a tire with a major bubble with the tread coming off that could easily have caused a blow out.

"Probably a pot hole," the mechanic said.

We hit a bump on a bridge yesterday. This was not the usual tummy-tickling bump; this was a hit-a-two-inch-wall kind of bump. We checked the alignment after, and Steve looked at the tires, but this bubble was on the inside out of sight. Those spectacular views coming down the mountain would have been a lot scarier to contemplate while hurtling over the edge or spinning out of control in traffic. Thank you, Jesus! May your hand continue to be upon us as we head north.

This afternoon was spent at Northwest Trek, a sort of zoo in a forest of tall Douglas fir, the second tallest tree in Washington. Northwest Trek features indigenous animals like foxes, lynx, beaver, bear, etc., in natural habitats. This raccoon was a cutie.

These moose in the free-roam area were right up at the fence.

A tram carries visitors on an hour tour of a free-roaming area. The wheel chair we rented for Mom gave us seats in the front car with a great view of moose, caribou, mountain goats, big horned sheep, elk and black tail deer.

The mom and baby bison were right in the road.

Brother-in-law Bob cooks on the weekend, so we returned to all the young adult kids home for one of his fabulous dinners that had been brewing in the crock pot while we were out. Tomorrow we head north. Bryan is recently into hiking and it was great to see his pictures of a recent climb in the Snoqualmie are that we came through on the way here. Makes me very jealous.

Afghan update: The Internet did NOT make a mistake. (Imagine that!) I just wasn't bright enough to realize that knit 2 tog 3x at the beginning of the pattern and knit 2 tog 3x at the end of the pattern means knit 2 tog 6x except at the beginning and end of the row where you only do a half pattern. I still needed to rip out because I was doing it wrong, but at least now I know what I am doing. I think.

Day 4: Kellog, ID to Puyallup, WA

392 miles
6:50 AM- 2:15 PM

Thank you, Lord, list:
Reservations successfully made for Monday at an alternate hotel to the one that burned.
Detours to scenic overlooks
Sunlight on wildflowers
Family
Saturday night pizza tradition

Most of National Geographic's Scenic Byways routes in this part of the country seem to go N-S--not the direction we want to go. Although our goal for the day was to arrive at his sisters for some family time,  Steve agreed to take a short detour off I-90 at Idaho 97 to an overlook with views of Lake Coere d'Alene. Gorgeous!

He even let me scamper further up with my camera.

Eastern Washington was dry and boring, but Steve's sister (who has driven this route many times) told us we should stop at the scenic overlook just before the Columbia River at Vantage. Wow! If I had been wearing something besides flip-flops I could enjoyed more scrambling on the rocks.

Western Washington is anything but boring. The clouds slipped down over the mountain tops in Snoqualmie Pass making everything mysterious. But the clouds didn't make for good pictures and there were no overlooks so, sorry,  no pictures.

You don't want to see an update on my afghan. I ripped it all out. I had been frustrated that the pattern wasn't emerging in a recognizable way. Then I realized that the pattern I got off the Internet had to be wrong. (I know. Hard to believe that you can't trust everything you read on the Internet.) For every repetition of the pattern I was taking away 3 stitches and adding 6. That meant that every four rows I was adding 30 stitches. That doesn't work! So in the boring east Washington stretch, I ripped out and cast on again, counting 4 times before I was sure I had the right number of stitches. (Distracted. We were starting to climb. Not the best place to stare cross-eyed at loops of nobby thread.) So I will be starting fresh on the first day we head north.