SKYKOMISH RIVER NEAR LEAVENWORTH

ANTIQUE KITCHEN IN SNOHOMISH

OUR VISIT TO THE FAMILY IN WASHINGTON STATE

We flew up to the Pacific Northwest to see some of our kids. First stop was Lovern’s daughter, Anna, and her two sons, Matt and Ben. Matt just received his electrician’s license and Ben will be a junior at The University of Washington in engineering. Anna is studying for her Medical Assistant license. Lovern’s other daughter, Peggy, drove up from Oregon with her grandson, Davonte. Davonte is only 15 but already six foot one and still growing. He is a great basketball player and even got on the varsity team as a freshman but he says he wants to be a chef. We all gathered for a lovely brunch overlooking Puget Sound. The visit had involved a ferry ride from Seattle and then another ferry ride the next day to Edmonds to see Zoe’s granddaughter, Lara. She works in a lawyer’s office in downtown Seattle. She showed us some videotapes of two bands she plays in, a jazz band and a Latin band. It keeps her very busy.

Next on the agenda was a visit to our friends, Pat and Joan. They are staying with Pat’s daughter for the summer out of the Arizona heat. They have their own apartment on the rural horse farm where Pat’s daughter teaches horseback riding and dressage. We took a tour of downtown Snohomish, a small old town that specializes in antiques.

Our whirlwind visit then took us across the Cascade Mountains on US 2 to Zoe’s daughter, Susan, in Wenatchee, WA. It is always a lovely drive following the winding river. Wenatchee is famous for its apples but there are many other fruits there and we enjoyed them greatly (cherries, melons, tomatoes). Susan gave us a grand tour of her favorite places in town and good places to eat. (Goodbye diet.) We got to admire her beautiful garden. As a Master Gardener, she does design work for gardens as well as interior decorating. Susan’s son, Marshall, was home from college so we got to see him also. He will be a senior next year at Washington State College. Her husband, Gary, was busy every day attending Spanish classes for his teaching work.

We came back over the mountains on another route US 90 that is also a gorgeous drive. Reality hit as we got near Seattle with bumper-to-bumper traffic and dodging highway construction. Our negative view of Seattle traffic has not changed.

SUSAN'S GARDEN

SCALING WAS A MESS

FUN IN THE DELTA

It is good to be back on the water again. We have wonderful neighbors here by our houseboat. For one thing, they are quiet---no wild parties. Hallelujah! Also, they share things with us like fish, garden produce and even wine and berries. One neighbor who fishes every evening brought us three fish including a 20-inch striped bass. He usually does catch-and-release but he knows we like a fish every once in a while.

Barn swallows have built nest on the crossbeams under our houseboat. When we sit on the back deck, we see them swoop under the boat. By some unknown signal (the sun isn’t even up yet), they awake at 4:30 in the morning and start chirping. We don’t mind though, it is kind of pleasant.

We took a ride up to the top of Mt. Diablo, the only mountain we can see well from the boat. 35 counties and 600 miles of the Sierra Nevada Range are visible from the mountain on clear days. You can even see to San Francisco. It is 3,849 feet high and is accessible by a very curvy narrow road.

The mountain is sacred to Native Americans who lived and worshipped there for 5000 years. It became a critical reference point to Spanish explorers in the 18th century and to American trappers and early California settlers in the 19th. It is still used by boaters today. In 1851, Leander Ransome established the crossing of the base and meridian lines there from which California and Nevada are surveyed.

There is a small museum there with interesting geological information and pertinent artifacts. On the way down the mountain, a coyote stopped to check us out.

FOX ON THE WAY TO MT. DIABLE