Friday, part II

Just a quick reminder that the blog below this one was written this morning.  I really have two blogs today.

I am writing to you from Seattle, Washington.  We made it to Martha and Corky's around 3:00.  All in all it was a good day.  As you know, we left ID around 6:30 this morning.  We ate breakfast in the hotel cafe'.  You will never guess what happened.  The young man that was in charge of the cafe graduated from Mt. Vernon, MO' in 1998.  Talk about a small world.  He knew several people we knew.  His name was Adam Human.  I did not know him when he was at MVHS.

The drive was not bad.  ID was pretty boring the rest of the way.  OR was the best.  We went into the mountains and went up and down the coolest mountain pass.  The scenery was beautiful.  It was a pine forest.  Now, Koleen will probably disagree with me.  Steve's driving and the hills and turns made her car sick.  Luckily, she did not get sick, but it was touch and go for a while.  After the beautiful mountains, we hit the boring part of OR and then WA.  The first few hours in WA was very brown and boring.  After that, we entered wine country.  I'll bet I saw at least 20 different winery signs.  You could make a vacation just out of visiting those wineries.  We did not stop since I was the only one awake.  The ship was mine, and I was the captain.  I controlled it all! The vines on the hillsides were so pretty.  I have no pictures since I am not talented enough to drive and take pictures.  The problem is with the eyes.  I need glasses to use my digital camera and those glasses make everything else blurry.  Not a good thing when you are driving strange roads at 80 mph.  So, sorry no wine country pictures.    I thought WA got exciting when we hit the mountains again.  If you haven't guessed, I am a mountain freak.  I know a few of you are also.  Isn't that so JJ, SJ, and BJ  :)  ?   Love the altitude.  Oh, we drove over the 45th parallel and were exactly half way between the North Pole and Equator.  Pretty exciting stuff.  I believe we were in either the last part of ID or the first part of OR.  After 2200 miles, some of the landscapes look the same and I am confused about what state we were in at certain times.

I must say that Seattle was exciting.  Boy, let me tell you the traffic was terrible.  If my butt was not puckering from coming down those mountain passes at 75mph, it was sure puckered after driving in Seattle.  We got stuck in a traffic jam.  It was backed up for miles.  Good thing we had over 3 in our vehicle and got to ride in the commuter lane.  We flew by the traffic.  I did such a nice job driving because I had 4 other co-pilots.  Let me tell you, this was a group effort.  Steve has already said that he would not drive in that traffic at all. It is amazing how close some people cut in front of you.  Needless to say, my blood pressure was sky high the whole time.  We drove past the University of WA stadium.  We could see it as we crossed Lake Washington on this two mile long traffic jammed bridge.

We are staying at Martha's house.  It is beautiful.   I love the house and the gardens.  All the trees and flowers are blooming and they are so pretty.  Steve says it is chilly and is resting by me under our snuggie.   We are the only ones here and everyone is either resting, texting, or working on their computers.  It is a very relaxing afternoon.  We really need it.  Everyone is coming for dinner tonight.  We are having Linda's famous sloppy joes.  Can't wait.  Those of you that are unfamiliar with the relationships, let me explain.  Martha is Steve's first cousin...her father, Uncle Al is Grace's older brother.  Martha has two brothers:  Tom and George.  Tom lives near Seattle and will be here tonight for supper and visiting.  I will post more about it after everyone leaves tonight.  It should not be late.  Oh, I know we are in Pacific Time  and most of you are in Central so you might read this tomorrow unless you are a late stayer upper.

It is now 9:15 here so that means 11:15 at  home.  We sat on the porch outside for a long time this evening just visiting.  Martha and Steve were sharing stories of Tom's wedding.  We all laughed so hard.  It was getting chilly outside so we ate supper indoors.  We are finished with dinner and getting ready for bed.  Our evening was perfect.  We had such a good time with Martha, Corky, John and Corky.  You would not be able to tell that it had been 2 years since we saw them last.  Their boys are so personable and funny.  I know the girls enjoyed them being here to welcome them to Seattle.  The sloppy joes were wonderful and the laughing and memories flowed.  The kids are now touring Seattle.  They are going to the Hard Rock and who knows where else.  They are visiting some places that we will visit when we return from the trip.  Tom and his wife were unable to make it tonight because of the heavy traffic.  We missed them but know we will be able to see them when we are back next Saturday.  Martha, Corky and the boys are sure taking good care of us.  We are so thankful for them.  It has made this end of the trip so much nicer and relaxing.