Every Which Way

 Chuck and I did a day trip last weekend - a mini road trip. He loves to drive, drives a city bus here in Seattle, but of course that's much different than a relaxing drive through the countryside or the mountains.

 

 (Thanks Google - actual photos of Seattle)

 

 

We headed south through Seattle, through Tacoma and into Olympia. We stopped at the capital building and walked around. There were very few people around and we kind of had the place to ourselves. Found a WWII memorial that was so humbling to see. So many people have given their lives for this country. I wish we were more united for their sake.

 Goodbye Seattle

 

 

 

 

What looked like figures of soldiers turned out to be the names of everyone who had died. It was very moving.

 

 We turned west from Olympia and went up the 101 on the inside of the Kitsap Penninsula. I've lived here more than 30 years and had never taken this route before. (I'm sure Chuck has with all the driving he's done around here.)

We continued west for a little while then headed north and after a while found ourselves on a dirt logging road. Before we left the house Chuck was looking for places to visit and found the High Steel Bridge and we were making our way there.

Originally it was the tallest railroad bridge in the United States. It's now a roadway for cars and the Skokomish rivers runs under it. We saw a waterfall on one side, flowing down through the trees. I expect it's a lot bigger in the spring, once all the snow has melted.

The Skokomish river

 

 

The waterfall

 

We headed back out the way we came and continued north on the main road. We drove along the water most of the way home, stopped at a small diner for lunch, then took the ferry back across the water to Edmonds. 

 

 

The ferry heading toward the dock to pick us all up, with a cruise ship heading out to sea.

 

 

 

 

Can you see Mt Rainier to the left of the ship? (Downtown Seattle on the right, about 15 miles away.) Now you know that photos only give a small percentage of what the eye sees, right? Mt Rainier was about 60 miles south of us but was so bright and clear I felt like I could reach out and touch it! When the mountain is out here in WA state, it's breathtaking! 

 

The weather was beautiful, the scenery was stunning, it was exactly what we needed. We're already planning our next trip! 

 

Camping, Moving, and School Supplies!

Beth and I went back-to-school shopping the other day. She's 37 and has been out of school for a while but she LOVES office supplies! And the prices right now are hard to beat! Then we stopped at the grocery store. This was on Friday and the place was packed! I don't remember the lines being so long, it was crazy. I figured it was because of the start of the holiday weekend.

 

 

Sharaya and Ally moved out on Sunday. She had movers get the big items out of storage then came here. We helped her load up a few things in her car and as she pulled away, I started ugly crying! I was so emotional knowing I wouldn't see them every day anymore. It's been so good having them here. I'm gonna remember this year as such precious time with them.

 

Diana and Peter went camping this weekend. They sent a video of Poppy playing in a river, she was having a blast! And Peter is a phenomenal photographer. I might steal some of these for my greeting cards!

 We've had a pretty quiet weekend. We just helped Sharaya take a another load from the storage unit over to their new place. Chuck is making dinner and I'm, well, I'm writing to you! Hope you're doing well! 

In my next post I have a couple of miracles to tell you about!

Having Fun With Will Boeing

Chuck got us tickets to the Boeing Future of Flight for my birthday. I've been enamored by planes, the Space Shuttle (when it was flying) and I just love being around them. This was a small museum and we were only there for an hour or two but we had fun!

I didn't realize the Vertical Stabilizer was this big! See me in the corner?

 They had a replica of the Destiny Module that's at the International Space Station.

How they go months sleeping upright I'll never know.

We went out on the sky deck and got to see a few planes land. 

In the second picture you can barely see Mt Rainier on the right.

This is the Assembly Building.  

Each one of those bay doors is large enough for a complete plane to go through.

 

 Before we left we asked one of the receptionists to take some pictures of us by the photo op area. You can tell she's done this a lot because we sure had fun!

Saturday Snippets - Totally Missed It

I came home from work on Tuesday and Chuck was cleaning out the garage and side yard! He had rented a truck and had already taken one load to the dump. I changed my clothes and went out to help. He got the side yard completely empty and we got about 2/3 of the garage cleaned and swept.

Sharaya and Allie came over for dinner on Wednesday and we played Mexican Train again. One of the reasons we love it so much is because we can all play it.

I completely missed Thankful Thursday. It was a long day at work for me because I redid a few things at my desk.

Earlier this year I had put up a taller wall to get some privacy between me and the front office. I had so much work and trying to help run the front office was just too much. It worked well for a while, then a couple months after I did this, Covid hit and we closed. Now all the reasons that caused me to put it up no longer exist.

I also needed more storage space. There was always stuff piled on my filing cabinet, I just didn't have the room to store everything.

Before

After

Now I can't wait to go back to work on Monday!

Beth and I took the ferry over to Kingston yesterday. This time we walked to the little shop and ordered ice cream. (We had crepes there when my sister was visiting.) It was so good on a hot day!

I took this hoping Mt Rainier would show up better. I've outlined it so you can get an idea of how big it is. The small shapes below it are the skyscrapers in downtown Seattle.

Have you been on any adventures lately?