Pacific Northwest

What a day.

After battling mosquitos, bees, and dogs that refused to "go potty", we hit the road this morning by 8 a.m. and made good time through Oregon and much of Washington despite the very windy conditions.

While driving throuth Rattlesnake Hills we encountered a Ford Explorer with attached trailer reststing on it's roof in the midst of a dust storm. It was a sobering reminder to be vigilant while driving.

We stopped at around noon for lunch in Sunnyside, Washington (the home of astronaut Bonnie Dunbar). which was a nice little town. We stopped first at a little seafood place called Skippers for Bren's meal, then Rick and I got sandwiches at Subway. It was too warm to leave the dogs in the truck locked up, so we opened all the windows and ate in the truck.

I had forgotten that Yakima valley is wine country and was plesantly surprised by the number of vineyards and fruit tree groves we passed along the interstate (We had a rest stop on Merlot Drive). There's something very wonderful about seeing bunches of ripe purple grapes hanging heavy on the vine ready to be picked and eaten (or squashed, as the case may be). I love seeing the lush green fields contrast the surrounding dry, brown hills. Looking out over the landscape I could see the direction the Yakima River flowed by the bright green plants that were fortunate enough to grow along it's banks.

While driving through Yakima Valley we were listening to the radio and heard a commerical talking about "PT Bruiser". It's a game to play while on the road. If you see a PT Cruiser, you are supposed to hit someone in the arm. Rick bopped me once. Thankfully we didn't see anymore of the the said vehicles.

At around 2 p.m. when we had a rest stop after Yakima, I called my blogging friend, Mel to let her know we would be arriving in the Seattle area earlier than we expected. Since Mel couldn't meet us until 6 p.m., we decided to drive up to Everett, check into our hotel room, then drive south again to meet her. Everything went as planned until I left the map in our hotel room and discovered that I had gotten directions to the wrong restaurant. To make a long story short, it took us an hour, and about ten calls to Mel's cell phone, to find the right restaurant. At one point I was afraid that if I called her one more time she was going to go back home. She did drive 45 mintues to see us, and bless her heart, she was so gracious about the whole screwed-up misunderstanding on my part.
We had a very nice dinner and talk while Rick and Bren when crazy buying cheap dvds at Best Buy.

At 8:30 Rick picked me up, took a pic of Mel and me, then we said goodbye and came back to the hotel completely exhausted. I now sit in a very busy hotel lobby using my laptop because the rooms do not have a wireless connection, only the lobby does. How strange is that?

We do not intend on getting up and rushing out in the morning. Rick has to get the paperwork together to prepare to cross the border into Canada, and I wouldn't mind an extra hour myself.

Aunt Janet, and Joe, I hope you had a nice trip back home. It was great to see you again. Mom, dad, Sandy, and Chester, I love you all very much. I miss you already.

Blessings.