Family Time Road Trip!

This past week, I had the pleasure of traveling with my sister, Pattie, to celebrate our mother's 95th birthday. Mom recently moved to a nursing facility in Grangeville, Idaho (a very nice place, I might add).  It was our first ever road trip together! Here are few pics of our travels:

Mom's church put on a potluck party for her. Here we are with our brothers who traveled up from California to attend the festivities - from left to right: Myself, Mom, Hugh, Pattie, and Tom.  (since this time, Tom has passed away)

*photo courtesy of Pastor Bob

A rainy view of downtown Grangeville

The sidewalks were lined with these hearts - it was a friendly place.

On the way home, we stopped to visit this still working monastery of the Benedictine sisters. Religion has always been of interest to me - in the past as an very active participant; more lately, as an observer and armchair learner of the history and its effects on our world (thanks to the studies of my besties). 

There were several birdhouses placed in the gardens - this one occupied.

A scale-down castle replica drew my attention...

... as did this church. They were maybe 2 x 3 ft.

The canola fields in bloom

The back highways have frequent historical markers.

Pattie and I have always liked trains and trestles as Grampa worked for the Union Pacific.

A Little Bit of Newport

I was privileged to spend a few days in Newport, Oregon with my dear friends, Liz and Chuck, over the holiday week. We had a good time driving between raindrops, poking around shops, and just hanging out.

Little seabird (no idea what it is!)

Surf scoters bobbing in front of the condo.

Looking down the street at Nye Beach

A Trip to Mom's

Just last week, my friends, Liz and Chuck, and I traveled to Lewiston, Idaho. Driving the southern route through Walla Walla, we enjoyed the wheat fields - what is it about miles and miles of wheat that fascinates us so? 

We stopped at the Whitman Mission Nat'l Historic Site as we all enjoy checking out historical stuff, especially when it's about religion. We found the visitor center display to be pretty neutral in the view presented of the massacre of Dr. Whitman and several others by the local Cayuse tribe that took place back in the 1840s. I was surprised to read that the government was responsible for encouraging missionaries to go out and save those 'heathens'. The view that the average American seemed to have of the Native tribes was extremely arrogant, in my opinion. 

A very old tree still standing on the original site of the mission.

A view of the original site of the mission from a nearby hill.

We arrived at our hotel, dined and were glad of the air conditioning in the hotter-than-we-are-used-to weather. The next day, I rented a car and went to visit my 94 year old mother in nearby Kamiah while Liz and Chuck explored Lewiston in the 100* weather (I cannot even begin to say how grateful I am they accompanied me on this trip!).

The Clearwater River (a tributary of the Snake) on the way to Kamiah

 While they braved the heat, I took Mom to lunch and for a drive onto the high prairie above her little town. Again, miles and miles of beautiful wheat.

We had a great visit - the first time I've ever visited her alone, I might add. We poured over old photos of our family for most of the day. She enjoyed them so much!

I headed back to Lewiston in the evening to meet up with my friends again, debrief our day's activities (they found some cool stuff at an antique store) and sleep in the lovely artificial coolness once again. The next day found us heading up the apparently famous Lewiston grade, a rather steep hill taking us out of the Snake River valley into the wheatfields of Washington's Palouse area on our way home.

We stopped in tiny Uniontown and found more cool antiques for the garden, then in even smaller Colton to look at historical St. Boniface, built in 1904. I found myself intrigued by the life experience and perspective of the three of us as we meandered through the sanctuary - I was raised in Roman Catholicism and spent most of my life in organized religion, Liz as a scholar, and Chuck as one who finds it interesting historically.

Obviously, we arrived home safely and had a successful, enjoyable trip!

Time With Friends

Taken at Red Butte Gardens, Salt Lake City

Activity: Road Trip

Destination: Laramie, Wyoming and Salt Lake City, Utah

Route: Through southern Washington, northeastern Oregon, southern Idaho, northern Utah, and straight across the bottom of Wyoming, then back veering off along the Columbia Gorge.

Goal: To enjoy time with my besties with wonderful conversation, laughter, seeing new sights, and generally enjoying life.

Memories:

~ reading and discussing fascinating books as we traversed miles and miles of highway.
~ learning new life-changing insights
~ poking around antique stores finding cool things to buy
~ finding better than usual restaurants, especially in Salt Lake
~ enjoying then drying up in the heat!
~ exploring beautiful gardens and the beautiful Wasatch mountains
~ walking Temple Square with somber thoughts
~ meeting a Facebook friend for real!
~ snapping dozens of photos and losing some.

End result: Another set of beautiful memories to add to my collection!

Here are the rest of my favorites (click on it to see it bigger!):

Visit With a Friend

Last week Liz, Chuck, and I had the distinct pleasure of a visit with our dear friend, Kev. She hails from Louisiana where we met her on our first road trip back in '08 - you know, that "Biggest Field Trip Ever" when my bestie and I traveled with four kids, three of them teens. Prior to that, we only knew each other through a favorite website, AtlasQuest. Since then, we've continued to enjoy a growing friendship.  

Anyway, she got to fly out here and spend a week with us. Most of our time was spent at the beach house relaxing (it's awesome!), visiting other friends,  along with side trips to Tillicum Village for an awesome salmon dinner and performance, and Mt. St. Helens. So, I gathered my favorite pics from our time together:

View from Johnston Ridge

We could see the tip of Mt Rainier off in the distance! Love the zoom feature!

Headin' North!

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of joining my fellow Jedi on an excursion up north of our abode. We headed to LaConner, a good 2-3 hours away for a glorious day of looking out the window, laughing, talking, and generally enjoying life. It lies along the Swinomish Channel and boasts a number of unique galleries, little cafes (we ate at the Calico Cupboard - it was fabulous!), and a couple of antique shops along its main street.

As always, I took my trusty camera and snapped a few:

Road Trippin'!

So, we were headed out on an almost month long road trip. We had plans to see some really cool places all the way into the midwest. Unfortunately, we arrived home on the fourth day out due to unforeseen circumstances (nothing life-threatening). Even though it was short, I still had fun traveling with my besties!

You can see more pics of our trip HERE!

Southern Idaho - Oregon Trail stuff!

Craters of the Moon! It was really fascinating, very windy, and cold.

Moon walking marmot

moon flowers!

We stopped by the Idaho Falls temple on our way out of town - beautiful as are all the ones we've visited.

View from the falls

splashy!

Butte, Montana

Snow in the Rockies on the way home.

Driving through Montana

The rest of my pics are HERE!