Washington

I love Washington state. I was able to live there for two months my first year of college and I have been in love with it ever since. I also was lucky enough to have several roommates from the Seattle area and was able to visit frequently. My Dad is also from Washington, so maybe it's in the genes, who knows. At any rate, James and I recently traveled to Washington for a very long needed family reunion on my Dad's side. All of his aunts and uncles and his grandmother (Nana) and all or most of her siblings are still living in Washington. My Granny (my dad's mom)passed away late last October from Leukemia and she always wanted her ashes spread in Washington, I won't say where so we don't get in trouble, BUT all eight of her children as well as many grandchildren came out to Washington from all parts of the US (mostly VA) to celebrate her life and spread her ashes. It was a great (and exhausting) trip. It was in the 70's or 80's and sunny almost the entire time we were there. Now I mentioned that my dad is from Washington. So when we go on vacation there...it's not vacation. For those of you who have ever watched Full House, there's an episode where they go to Hawaii and Danny has the "clipboard of fun". That's my Dad in Washington. Every minute is packed and we had late nights and early mornings. We rented a house near Tacoma with my parents, my brother Kenny and his family and my brother Peter. The agenda included:
Saturday: arrive in Washington (we left on Friday, drove up through Spokane and stayed the night with friends before completing the drive on Saturday-16 hours of driving), tour Pike Place market, pick people up from the airport, get to the rental house and stock with food. I made a couple of other stops along the way with James, such as Snoqualmie Falls and Kerry Park.
Sunday: Church (I'll admit...only my parents went), take a ferry over to Bainbridge Island to go to Poulsbo, dinner at Chris and Amy's (my second cousin and his wife)
Monday: Hike various hikes in Mt. Rainier National Park. My dad had intended for us to do different hikes, unfortunately it was very cloudy that day. SO we hiked (more like a walk) through the Grove of the Patriarchs (really big old trees) and did the Burroughs which was a tough one- 5 miles round trip I believe.
Tuesday: More hikes, one to spread Granny's ashes, the other one I can't remember what it was called. Dinner at Gerry and Marge's (my dad's uncle and his wife)which we got to late because of our last hike which James and I turned back on halfway but we had to wait for my Dad and Peter to get back
Wednesday: Drive out to Forks by way of the Narrows Bridge, (and not because we are crazy twilight fans, we've been going there for years)we stopped in Silverdale to look at some family grave sights, Poulsbo to get some doughnuts (explaination to follow), Port Townsend to get some ice cream at Nifty Fifty's and Lake Crescent just to check it out. It was a long day of driving and stopping and trying to keep up with my dad's 90 mph driving skills. But even longer for Kenny and Cheata with 2 screaming children in the car.
Thursday: We waited for low tide out on Rialto beach so we could hike up to the hole in the wall, this big rock formation with a gigantic hole in it that you can walk through and look at tide pools. We hung out on the beach, Kaiya fell in the cold water, had a small fire on the beach, hot dogs, and s'mores. We were supposed to go to the Hoh rainforest as well but like I said the trip was exhausting and we all needed a break. ( but we still loved every minute of it)
Friday: Drive back to Tacoma area- James and I broke off from the pack after stopping at Lake Crescent again, and we took a ferry to Vashon Island- where I lived in college- so I could show James around. Dinner in Tacoma with my parents and Kenny and Cheata- walk along the beach. Then we went home, had some berry pie, and played "The Great Dalmoudie (sp?)" which is just like P&A or Scum, whatever you call it, but with cards that are made for the game. Cheata enjoyed kicking our trash.
Saturday: HUGE family reunion at Spanaway park with tons of people I have never met as well as the relatives we'd been spending most of the week with. Then James and I drove to Seattle to meet up with some of his army buddies and Kenny and Cheata joined us for some sushi and crab legs at Todai's. (I also had to visit H&M since there isn't one in Utah).
Sunday: James and I drove home. Long drive. 14 hours. Good to be home. Pictures will be posted in subsequent postings because this one is dang long enough.

Saturday and Sunday in Washington

The Ferry to Poulsbo, my Dad eating a "maple man" sort of like a maple bar, but bigger, and shaped like a gingerbread man. It's really the only reason we go to Poulsbo-he's obsessed. And above- dinner at Chris and Amy's. And finally, a quick stop at Stadium high school.

In Pike Place market- by the way, I didn't take all of these pictures, they are a mix of my own and Cheata's.

Monday and Tuesday in Washington

Dinner with the relatives at Marge and Gerry's

The Burroughs

Grove of the Patriarchs

My dad and his siblings. Hiking in to spread granny's ashes.

My favorite Kaiya quote from the trip (even though I wasn't there) Kenny and Cheata are hiking back down from the burroughs hike and they see a Marmot on the trail, Kaiya from her Dad's shoulders says "look Daddy, a baby monkey!". That and the "hopsquatch" (aka sasquatch). Good times. The burroughs hike was a tough one for Kenny and Cheata with both kids, we tried to help them out but once we got to the snow field they turned back. The pictures don't do the snow field justice. If I had the guts, I would've taken a picture down as I crossed the snowfield but I was too busy holding on to the freezing snow with my bare hands and trying not to die. After Kenny and Cheata decided to turn back, Kaiya was not happy. She wanted to "have an adventure".

Wednesday and Thursday in Washington

It was c-c-c-cold in Forks in the morning on Thursday. Hence, the fire and all the sweatshirts. However, that wouldn't explain the three crazy people jumping into the northwest pacific freaking cold ocean. There's a before (notice the clenched fists from the cold), during, and after shot.