Trip to Washington #2

Chris' mom, Alane McKenna, and I left on Thursday morning, July 2nd. We arrived at Aunt Donna and Michael Hawks' home about 11 pm, and pretty much fell into bed. Friday, we drove the "slow way" to the new blue house in the Ravenna area of Seattle. After the washer and dryer were delivered, we made a trip to Home Depot for some supplies, and dashed home to meet the cable/Internet guy.

Alane started painting over the turquoise paint on the bedroom walls, Angela spent time with the handyman, John, as he installed the w & d in the basement. I told him he was a nice substitute for the 2 dads who wanted to help, but were 2 states away. I attacked the bushes outside with a great new pair of pruners. The evergreen is still a bit lopsided, but people can walk past without branches in their hair.

Angela and I went over to the apartment to start packing more things, and Donna joined us for a couple of hours. A. Fay finished out Donna's shift at the temple so she could come help. We loaded the bed of Fay's truck with boxes, unloaded at the house, and Donna went to meet Fay. They got lost in Kirkland, so went on home to Snohomish. After a late dinner, Angela drove me to Donna's while Chris and Alane did more painting.

On Saturday morning, Donna and I took a walk to the lake in their neighborhood, and then went to make sure the 99 yr old friend, Freida, was picked up to attend the flag raising ceremony at their church house. Another friend offered U-Pick cherries, and we filled part of an ice cream bucket to share. After loading up hoagie sandwich supplies and fruit, we took off for Seattle again.

A friend had helped Chris take a truck load of the "big" stuff to the house in the morning. We spent time helping to scrub the kitchen, pack thngs, clear out the storage space and balcony, and load the truck and cars for another delivery. We unpacked everything, and Donna and I headed north for her neighborhood potluck and fireworks.

Kids were already setting things off at 6 pm, while we ate. The food was good and the company congenial; a couple of neighbors took us on tours of their house and yard remodels. The fire chief and his wife were in attendance, which affirmed to me that the extravagant local pyrogenics were lawful. We retired to the Hawks' front yard to watch the displays, and could see things all over the valley.

I gave up about 11, and helped fold up the lawn chairs and return them to the deck. On Sunday morning, Alane and I discovered we had walked through a "mine field" of croquet wickets in a circle on the side yard lawn. Neither of us tripped over, or banged the wickets with chairs. I wonder if Mom was helping our guardian angels move them out of our road?

Alane spent the day with Angela and Chris, while Donna, Fay and I attended church and prepared a stir fry dinner. The Seattle trio brought strawberry shortcake supplies, and we had a great visit.

Monday morning Alane, Donna & I went to Curves; I had to make use of my travel pass, ya know. The future bridal couple and their mothers spent some time over lunch (thanks to Kevin) talking about plans for September 18th. We shopped at Trader Joe's, visited the locks, bought gardening supplies, and planted flowers. Angela made fish tacos and wonderful trimmings in her lovely new kitchen.

Tuesday morning Alane and I headed for home. We drove past Angela's and Chris' former apartment near the arboretum, and over the floating bridge that I remember from my childhood. We listened to the last CDs of a book we had started on the trip up; it made a lot more sense that day. After listening to 3 of the CDs, we discovered the CD player was set to "Random" mode. It explained a lot about why it seemed so "episodic" as it wove several story lines at a time! Our stop for gas in Boise was across the street from a Bajios restaurant--real food for dinner, and leftovers for Jer's lunch the next day. Alane was a real trooper; it's a long drive, and she kept at it the whole way.