On The Wet Side of Washington

Has it really been a week since I’ve updated??  Yep.  We arrived in western Washington last Thursday after an uneventful trip over the mountains to the “wet side”.  The Cascade Mountain range separates the east from the west and once you reach the summit the weather changes drastically.  Eastern Washington was so nice and dry and warm.

We’ve been busy, busy, busy since we got here.  Friday we went and visited my brother, George and sister-in-law, Jolene at their house in Graham but first we had to stop at our favorite Teriyaki place for dinner.  I know you’re SO jealous, John (my son).

Saturday we stopped in at a tavern in Tacoma for the Washington/Nebraska game because a bunch of Rod’s friends from the Post Office were going to be there.  He hasn’t seen most of these people since he retired so that was fun.  I even saw some people that I knew.

After that we headed for Lincoln High School to watch our niece and nephew’s 10 year old son play football.  Kody and his team did a fantastic job of beating the other team.  In fact, the “mercy rule” was instituted.

Kody is number 96

He saw me taking his picture so he posed.  Like the haircut??

Joe, Kody, Shari, Allison and Joey

Sunday we headed over to Dan and Kebra’s house to watch the Seahawks play the Broncos.  Well, they did.  I took my netbook and watched the Chargers.  LOL.  Dan grilled us some delicious burgers during a break in the rain.

Kebra and Dan

Monday we headed up to Sammamish to finally meet up with Steven and Linda.  Linda and I have be “cyber friends” for a few years now.  We were supposed to meet last summer at Salt Creek in Port Angeles but with all that was going on in our lives we bailed early.  I’m SO glad we got to meet up this time.  We had a fantastic time at their house on Pine Lake.  Steven grilled up some beef tenderloin and we had asparagus, broccoli slaw and iceberg lettuce wedge with homemade bleu cheese dressing to go along with it.  OMG, if that wasn’t enough we then had berries and cream for dessert.  What a meal!!  Thanks, guys, it was a blast!

I brought my smoked salmon spread for the appetizer

Linda’s AMAZING kitchen!!

Here we all are

Tuesday was supposed to be a “non rainy” day.  Notice I didn’t say sunny?  LOL, it actually was sunny.  We had planned to go to the fair because it was nice weather.  It was a beautiful day!!  The Puyallup Fair is supposed to be the 5th largest fair in the U.S.  We hadn’t been in quite a few years.  Joe’s mom gave us free tickets so that was an added bonus.  Jolene and two of her daughters, Tiffany and Stephanie met us at the parking lot of the mall where we had decided to take the shuttle bus to avoid having to pay for parking.  We visited all the exhibits and didn’t buy any “junk”.

The bus was REALLY crowded and we had to stand

We had a GREAT time eating all the typical fair food.  Rod loves those turkey legs

Jolene loves the caramel apples

Tiffany had a burger while Stephanie had a corn dog

It was a really fun day and I’m glad we went.

Wednesday was yet another “non rainy” day and we planned on taking a drive up to Mt Rainier.  At over 14,000 feet and standing all alone it’s quite beautiful and the drive up through the forests is amazing.  Most people here just call it “the mountain” and the talk around town is always if “the mountain” is out or not.  It’s usually hidden by clouds.  We drove up to Paradise to the Visitor Center so I could get a stamp for my National Parks Passport.  At 5,400 feet, it is the primary destination for most people.  When we left Tacoma it was 66 degrees and when we arrived at Paradise it was 49 degrees.  Brrrrrr

We headed back down the mountain to meet Kebra and Dan for dinner at Famous Dave’s.

I could never take a picture that does the mountain justice so I stole one.  This is a view from Tacoma

Park entrance

Visitor Center

And just in case the mountain erupts…

That was a pretty busy week for us and we’re not done yet.  Today we’re meeting our friends Phyllis and Bob for lunch.  I’m sure we can find even more things to do before we leave on Monday.