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.