(Frank) Eight days! That expression comes from the movie “Defending Your Life” with Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep. We use it whenever we have any period counted in days. Sooooo anyway, this blog will be a recap of the missing week+1. This morning dawned wet and soggy after a full overnight rain. Did you know it rains in Washington!? Me neither! Anyway, I bounced cheerily out of bed and whupped up a nice breakfast of pancakes and fried eggs. Then I flounced stylishly over to the Laundromat and washed, dried, and folded clothes while Cheryl blogged for you our faithful readers. Now it’s time for me to peruse that which she wrote and add insightful and pithy comments.
(Cheryl) Yesterday we took the most amazing hike on the Natchez Loop Trail very near the famous volcano, Mount Rainier. From our vantage point on the hike Rainier’s glacier-covered peak looks like a scoop of vanilla ice cream glinting in the afternoon sunshine. Our daughter, Kimberly brought son Rowan (10) and daughter Hailey (5) from Carnation down to the KOA in Kent where we’re staying. We all rode in KB truck through Enumclaw and nearly 50 miles into the Snoqualmie National Forest to meet son, Michael, wife Shannon and daughters Daalny and Aine, and daughter, Stacie with her daughter Madison, son Kyle and Madison’s boyfriend, Kyle.
(Frank) I promptly tagged son Kyle, “K1” and boyfriend Kyle, “K2”.
(Cheryl) Our group numbered seven, 16 and under, and seven adults and one passing hiker thought we were a hiking club! The two missing from our number were Nathan, Stacie’s husband, and John, Kimberly’s husband. Both were doing something called work on Friday and couldn’t join us. Michael was our hike leader so he snagged a day off of this thing called work!
The little girls, Hailey (5), Daalny (almost 5), and Aine (2) plunged into a shallow mountain lake popping up like little frozen popsicles to run around making muddy footprints along the shore. That’s a memory picture Grams won’t soon forget. The boys, Kyle (K1 almost 13), Kyle (K2 16) and Rowan (10) spent time chasing after salamanders, skipping rocks, and launching water-logged driftwood into the middle of the lake. Pop-Pop got lots of hand holding and secrets from the little girls along the trail as did Grams. All in all, it was a day we’ll relive again and again when we eventually take up our rocking chairs – like possibly tomorrow! We were bushed after the hike, but stopped by Stacie’s house for a good ol’ wiener roast and some burgers and salad. Luckily the kids cooked, so Frank and I could crash. Tomorrow we’re looking forward to another family day as we ride the Norton down to the Ferry dock, (Frank. Weather permitting) and land on Vashon for an antique British motorcycle rally.
Monday will be a day of rest for us before starting out Tuesday morning on homeward bound highways with our first stop at the Spruce Goose in Oregon.
A few tidbits about our Seattle Family Affair:
• Rowan getting turned upside down by “Silver Man” on the Seattle waterfront
• (Frank) This was the day we went to see the Paul Allan collection of WWII fighter planes. Afterwards we went to downtown Seattle to see the Pike Street Market (WOW!) and to visit “Ye Olde Curiosity Shop” in order to press some Sylvester the Mummy pennies. http://www.flickr.com/photos/baggis/2440492786/
• Hailey, Aine, and Daalny running upstairs to play with Madison’s stuffed animals
• Kyle and Rowan wrecking Kyle’s miniature racecar and reconstructing it
• Frank and Rowan fixing “N-Sect” the robot for 5 hours.
• (Frank) This was a kick! We had that thing on its back and in a hundred pieces. It looked like the bug alien autopsy scene from the movie “Alien”. I kept expecting Sigourney Weaver to show up and shoot up the house.
• Hailey and Daalny hiking hand in hand on the Natchez loop trail
• Michael and Shannon serving dinner on their deck overlooking the water with Mount Rainer in the distance at their house on Vashon
• (Frank) I could get used to this.
• Picking flowers, strawberries and green beans at Jubilee Farm with Kim and kids
• Watching Boone (Stacie’s boxer mix) chase Peanut around and around the yard
• (Frank) and watching Peanut cower in abject fear under Cheryl’s seat until he figured out that the huge seven foot monster towering over him just wanted to play rather than eat.
• Watching the moon glow dance on the water while crossing on the ferry from Vashon to Point Defiance
• (Frank) Yeah, yeah, yeah. “Moon glow” fer heaven’s sakes…..
• Taking Rowan to see the WWII fighter planes at Paul Allen Museum in Everett
• (Frank) Yeah. That was fun. Fighter planes! Manly stuff! http://www.flyingheritage.com/
• Riding on the Snoqualmie train with Kim and family and staggering through the old train cars to the back of the train as we rocked along the tracks above the riverbank.
• (Frank) That was cool. The passenger cars got older as you walked from the front of the train to the back. It was like walking back through time.
• Watching an old Bogart movie, Treasure of the Sierra Madre at Stacie’s; groaning at the slow story and laughing at the line about not needing “no stinkin’ badges.”
• (Frank) And giving Kyle (K1) the “Stinkin’ Badge” I bought over in Montana!
• Killing time in beautiful Point Defiance Park among the flowers and Japanese gardens while waiting two hours for the ferry when we misread the schedule.
• (Frank) “WE” misread the schedule! Excuuuuuuuse me!
• Grinding out “Sylvester the Mummy” smashed pennies at Ye Olde Curiosity Shop on the Seattle waterfront and elbowing our way through Pike Street Market.
• Sleeping late while listening to rain on the trailer roof this morning! Sweet peace!
So, until later, yours truly,
Sylvester the Mummy, Silver Woman, and Robo-dog
No comments:
Post a Comment