April 27th, Good Grief, Aren't They Home Yet?

Did I tell you about the magnifying glass? It has to do with these Washington road maps. I was trying desperately to read road names, but between the car slightly jiggling and the 4-pt font, I couldn't read anything. And did I mention Washington's clever way of naming streets? North-South streets are 1st St. SE, 204th St.SE, and East-West streets are 1st Ave. SE, 204th Ave. SE (or is that vice-versa?). Couple that with one who has an aversion to numbers to begin with (that would be me) and those itty, bitty numbers on the map, and you've got trouble. The cheapo magnifying glass has helped the map reading (David says I'm getting much better at that skill — really), and certainly saved the marriage.

Yet, in spite of vengeful people who designed this naming convention, we have continued to have a glorious visit. April 21st., we left the Bancrofts on Snoqualmie Ridge having celebrated my birthday (first day of full, unadulterated sunshine), complete with beautiful tulips sent by Christine. Wrapping the tulips in wet towels, the "3" of us drove to Redmond to visit Evette and Bart Norton, former MPPC members.

Bart and Evette should be recruiters for somebody because they sure know how to woo a couple. They're great at asking questions to figure out what's really important to the visitor and then make it all just happen. We spent only one day in downtown Seattle (our choice), but what a great time. We goggled and ate our way through Pike Place Market and Pioneer Square ending with a visit to Boeing's Museum of Flight.

Thursday evening I attended the Bellvue Presbyterian Church choir reheasal with Bart, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Choirs are the same the world over (and so are the directors, Doug). Their director gets on them for talking during reheasals, keeping their tone focused, and watching him. The choir members asked if we wore robes (only for special occasions), how frequently we sing (no body sings more than MPPC), etc. And there's the general concern of music styles etc. Lordy, how much we're alike!

The Nortons included us with their usual activities with a Bible study in their home on Friday evening and a Welcome Wagon-type party on Saturday. Other than that we abused our friends by driving through every neighborhood we thought we might like. Bart is such a good sport, listening to 3 different sets of driving instructions. Somehow both marriages survived. A bonus to the Norton visit was reconnecting with Evette. WAY back, when our daughters were in Jr. High, Evette was an incredible support and friend. But mostly, I had forgotten how much we howl with laughter when we're together. Mercy, that felt good. I'm gonna do more of that.

Our drive back to Ann's took us over Snoqualmie Pass east of the Cascades, dropping south through Yakima, and back into the Columbia Gorge. Although cloudy to the pass, once over the pass the weather was bright and beautiful. It was a "4-mountain" day. We viewed Mt. Rainier, Mt. Scott, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Saint Helens, each covered with snow and shiningly bright. As Martha would say, "It was a good thing."

All Good Things Must Come to and End
Which brings this vacation almost to its close. We have visited beautiful sights, have relaxed, eaten great food, and visited neighborhoods from Camas to North Bend to Snohomish, but the best part of this trip has been our friends. We are forever indebted to Ann, Ed & Jean, and Evette & Bart. They have fed us, listened to us, carted us around, shown us the sights — all with a great sense of humor and patience. Whatever we decide we are forever in debted to these folks and the time, love, and guidance they have so freely given.

And, lastly, we own much to Christine's insistence that, of course, we could blog our way through this journey. Keeping this diary going has forced me to detail my thoughts and feelings along the way. Hey, all you guys need to retire!
It's definitely a good thing.

Snoqualmie, WA--Now These are Mountains!

Dave here:
We're now at Ed & Jean Bancrofts' home near the top of the hill around Snoqualmie, WA. Spectacular views of huge mountains abound here when you can see them; so far it's been mostly socked-in with rain. We put on our waterproofs and went out for a walk anyway. They have a beautiful new home in PUD near the top on a cul-de-sac; a former model with upscale amenities, but a bit out of our desired price range. The neighborhoods do have a lot of geenbelts, sidewalks, small parks, and miles of trails to walk on, which softens the suburban smoosh somewhat.

Drinking coffee seems to be the mainstream activity in this state; must have something to do with the weather. Snoqualmie has a microbrewery with superb ales, located in a small warehouse; went there yesterday to do tasteing and made some purchases. Most of their take-out product is in 22oz bottles; I'll be sure to set one aside for you, Blaine!

MaryLou's Turn:
I see David was swayed with the microbrewery find, but we also drove to LaConner on Friday to see the tulip fields. Oh, my, even in rain, the colors were glorious!

Today, using our friend, the internet, we've looked up several homes in the neighborhood and will probably do a drive by. This is exciting and scary all at the same time.

Tuesday, April 12 — What Rain?

Did I mention rain? Oh, sure, they say they had a dought this year...until Dave and MaryLou arrived. Yep. Thanks to yours truly, the drought appears broken. By watching the natives I see that unless it's a downpour (not really that common) you just get out there and do your thing.

Saturday, the 9th, we took a hike in the gorge to see wild flowers. It was an easy walk and the flowers were spectacular, the SUN was SHINING, and though breezy, a beautiful walk. Anne had a friend join us who was part of the team that prepared her for her Mt. Kilimanjaro climb. These folks are serious hikers, as opposed to me who just likes to get out and see the sights. Marlea was a great guide, not just because she really knows her flowers, but because she has a great attitude about hiking for enjoyment, not as a competition.

Sunday, one of those rainy days, we went to a "walk-in" movie. Saw Sahara, which was great fun. Sort of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid meet Indiana Jones.

Monday we actually visited a realtor's office just to get a sense of what you get for your dollars here. Personally, I like the gorge area, Washington side of Columbia River. While the winter weather can get very windy etc., it's about 1/2 hour drive to Portland airport. That's a biggie for me. Whatever view you get is spectacular. And the people we've met in the local stores, even the local Burgerville (yes, that's a real eating place), have been friendly and helpful. But wait! Thursday we head to Ed and Jean Bancrofts in Snoqualimie (north of Seattle). Who knows what we'll discover there.

Saturday, April 9th, The Adventure Continues

On Friday, the 8th, David and I drove to Mount St. Helens. Well, not exactly to it as you can only get as close as the Cold Lake viewing station, but short of being a high-level geologist, that's as close as you can get right now. It's a massive, beautiful sight. Can you believe it erupted almost 25 years ago? It seemed to me that it was about 10 years ago, but I digress. It may be spring time in California, but Mount St. Helens has much snow. The new crater is slightly visible from this viewing angle. Although she lost about 1,000 feet of top when she blew, this is still one impressive mountain. The displays at the visitor's centers are outstanding, if a bit scary to contemplate how mercurial volcanoes tend to be. It's just a spectacular site. Ya gotta see it.

Today, Saturday, with our hosts, we took a beautiful, low-key hike to see wildflowers in the Columbia Gorge. They were beautiful, and bravely clinging to this very windy hill top. Tomorrow we don't plan on driving anywhere. We've been gone just 7 days and have already logged ~1,400 miles. If it's not dumping rain tomorrow, we'll take a walk right around here. And if it's dumping, we'll play with the 3 kitties.

Friday, April 8th--Catch Up Time

At last, I'm back on track. Today is Friday, April 8th and we've been in Brush Prairie, WA since Monday. When last we "spoke," we hadn't even left California.

As planned, we took off from Fremont relatively early Sunday morning. All to avoid heavy traffic headed north on 880. This turned out to be a very good move. Never got through the Oakland area any easier than that. But wait, there's more. South of Mt. Shasta the spit in the air became serious rain. And the trucks! Does nothing ship by rail anymore? Good grief, there were humongous trucks--many, many trucks. Sigh. We continued on to Roseburg, OR, which is northh of Grant's Pass and south of, well, Portland. That made a long travel day of 409 miles.

Monday: Since we were in a state with no sales tax, I asked about any outlet mall. Sure enough, corporate America did not let me down. Woodburn (just south of Portland) has a lovely outlet mall, just to the north side of I-5. We made a "depoit" by finding 2 pairs of shoes for David and a belt and a pair of shoes for me too. Would have done more damage, but, hey, I figured David had been patient enough. Brush Prairie is just east of Vancouver, WA, and we arrived at Anne's late in the afternoon.

Anne has 3 cats: great animals and extremely laid back. Shaque, the large (did I say 18 lbs?) is black and white and quite the hunter. In one morning we carted out 2 of his offerings. He brings them right into the dining room

Tuesday — The hunt begins: Armed with detailed street maps of the greater Vancouver area, we begin. So far, we feel more certain about where we won't live: Yacolt, LaCenter, probably not Battle Ground either. But wherever we stopped for lunch etc. people were so friendly and helpful. Like they actually cared that you were there. A nice change from the Bay area.

Wednesday: We investigated Camas and Washougel. These are communities directy east of Vancouver right on the Columbia River. They're right next to one another, small and friendly. Camas has a small town center with a few shops, restaurants, a movie theater (with current movie). What was a little tough to discern is where the actual views are as we drove (and drove, and drove) around. The weather was closing in and we couldn't always see just where Mt. Hood (which is in Oregon, but at 14,000+ feet quite an eyeful) can be sighted. We'd love to find a community we feel a part of, with folks as great as all my friends reading this, and a view. Camas is on our "hmmm" list.

Thursday: Serious rain today. At first a gentle, steady rain, and then pour! But the northwest has not had enough rain this year and the locals were thrilled. How could we deny them their happiness? But, hey, we still had to get out there. So back to the Camas area, where we continued driving east along the WA side of the Columbia River. Incredibly beautiful, even in the rain. We purused numerous communities, but Stevenson and White Salmon were the most interesting (but perhaps a bit too far from Portland airport). Translated that means we'd have to find an incredible view with a great house, etc. Not very likely. We drove across the river and had a quick revisit with Hood River, OR. This is a great community, about Palo Alto population, but I'm not sure this is right either. I'm beginning to sound like Goldilocks.

As you can see, we're still totally undecided about any particular place, but I suspect we'll have to see everything we can, return home, and let it "rest" a while.

Today's Friday, and we're headed to Mt. St. Helen's to see, well, to see it. More later.

And They're Off!

Sunday's drive started out great. Leaving early on Sun. morning is the way to exit the Bay area. But by the time we got to Mt Shasta area, lots of rain, some wind, and 10,000 large trucks, honest...at least 10,000. Rain did let up and became sporadic and we got to Roseburg, OR (north of Ashland and south of Eugene). Nice burg.

Monday we made a stop just south of Portland in Woodburn, (large outlet mall) and took advantage of OR having no sales tax. David actually bought 2 pairs of shoes--one casual and a grown up dress shoes, and a black belt to go with new shoes! I even found some new sandals. Back on the road we made it to Anne Taylor's in the late afternoon. So far (it's Wed) we've cruised 5 different communities. One's kind of interesting, 2 were definite NOs. This is an emtionally draining task, but we're thorougly enjoying Anne and her brother, Mike, who's temporarily staying here.

Anne has 3 cats. Shaque is a large black & white (18 lbs, at least) who's quite the hunter. So far today, David's removed 2 "kills" from the dining room (at least he knows where we eat). Anne says she's literal death on the bunny rabbits in the neighborhood too. No wonder he weighs 18 lbs!

T-Day Minus 3

Well, I'm starting to loose sleep as the travel excitement grows. Today was my last work day and I can now really revel in my angst. The newspapers have been stopped, mail will be held, neighbor Shelly is onboard to water some plants, and the clothes washing has begun. I expect we'll be eating some strange combinations as we empty the fridge. How did folks ever travel in those conestoga wagons? No maps, no nice motels, no CDs, no cell phones and always the threat of getting really lost. A pioneer I am not. But David and I are ready for our own little, modern=day adventure. We'll be in touch.