Some Wonders of Washington

We like to be tourists of our state. Washington has so many beautiful places to visit! This weekend, we drove the 3 hours up to my parents’ house in Bellevue. Jeff signed up to take the French Praxis test at Seattle University so he could add an endorsement to his teaching license. Too bad they had technical difficulties so he never got to take the test! But we still made the most of our jaunt to the “west side.”

Our first stop was Snoqualmie Falls. Every time we drive through the mountains to get to the west side of Washington, we see the sign for Snoqualmie Falls. This time we actually stopped to see them! Snoqualmie is a quaint little town and the falls were gushing and misting and frothing like all good waterfalls do. We traded taking group pictures with some nice Asian people. (They were much shorter than us—that’s why the picture is aimed at our stomachs). You can’t really see the falls behind us very well, but at least we have proof that we were there.

Snoqualmie Falls! It was sunny when we got there, but after I fed Rose and we walked to the falls from the parking lot, a dark gray cloud moved in at top speed. Within a few minutes, it was POURING rain and we had to make a run for it. Living in dry central Washington sure makes me appreciate rain a whole lot more.

While I was feeding Rose, Jeff took Jay to play in the woods. I just love how furry and green everything is in western Washington! Green is such a restful color to look at.

Random Rose picture: Rose is at that adorable, plump, smiley, photogenic phase of babyhood. We love taking pictures of our happy little blue-eyed cherub girl.

Nubs! Kyle and Mel (my siblings) and I got in a goofy mood on Friday night. We started playing “nub ball” with a ping pong ball. I wish wish wish we had gotten a picture of us sitting in a circle on the rug trying to pick up a ping pong ball with our elbows and play catch with it! We were laughing so hard! It felt so good and almost healthy to just let all that silliness out and LAUGH. Jeff and Alivia (Kyle’s friend) joined in eventually too. Good, hilarious times. I took this picture today to demonstrate for you what we looked like while playing nub ball. Yes we are kind of weird. But I love it.

I ran twice while we were visiting my family. It was so good to run on a spongy forest trail in the green shade of mossy trees and ferns. I have been feeling my body get into shape bit by bit. Well, the steep LONG hills of Bellevue showed me that I’m only at the very beginning of getting in shape. On the way downhill, my post-par-tummy jiggled like Jell-o, and on the way up, I slowed to a turtle-paced crawl. It was actually rather entertaining. My legs are sore now, though!

Now on to another wonder of Washington. On Saturday afternoon, we left for Mt. Rainier National Park. We planned it so Jay and Rose could nap while we were driving the 2 1/2 hours from Bellevue to the park. It worked out nicely. Can you believe that there was this much snow up there in June? It was a warm day, but the snow cooled off the air and made it feel so fresh and moist. I was in heaven, just drinking in that delicious air. We stopped a few times at viewpoints along the road in the park.

We can see Mt. Rainier from pretty much anywhere in the state, but it’s always a small snowy lump on the horizon. It was awesome to be this close to this enormous mountain! I feel like I got to know good ole Rainier better. He’s a big guy.

This looks like a fake backdrop, but we really were standing right there on the edge of that canyon in front of the mountain.

The Tennessee girl in me won’t let me pass by a chance to make a snowman, (snow was a rarity in my childhood down south!), so while Jeff was taking artistic alpine pictures, Jay and I scooped together a little snowguy. Have you ever made a snowman while wearing flip-flops? I have now! This was a “snow Caesar.” See the faux-olive wreath on his head?

One of the many snow-melt waterfalls along the road. SO cool and FRESH-smelling! Mother nature’s A/C.

At last we made it to the main event—the Grove of the Patriarchs. It’s a grove of 1000+ year old Douglas Fir trees. They were HUGE! I didn’t know that non-Redwoods could get that big! I love it when nature makes me feel tiny.

This tree was like a cave

Looking up—they were TALL!

Jay liked the boardwalk. It was a quiet, pleasant little loop through the aptly named Patriarch trees.

Jay is making an awesome face here. There was an energetic, happy group of friends that we traded taking pictures with. One of the guys was doing big, wild jumping jacks in the background to make Jay smile. Also—we forgot Rose’s baby carrier, so my Mom gave us an old sheet to cut up and create a sling. It was quite effective. But it was also snug, and it squeezed a big barf out of Rose, right down my shirt.

These twin douglas firs are supposed to be more than 1000 years old! Enormous. Pictures just don’t do them justice.

Can you see a Rose blooming anywhere?

To get to the big trees, we had to cross this bouncy suspension bridge over a deep, clear, fast-flowing river. Jay was fearless. I loved looking down in the water—it was so clear that you could see all the rocks in the bottom. I bet it was freezing freshly melted snow! It wasn’t really dark—a switch on Jeff’s camera accidentally got flipped so it looks dark.

The Grove of the Patriarchs was such a peaceful, awe-inspiring place. We like trees! The drive from Mt. Rainier National Park to our home in Grandview was longer than we anticipated. Jay was exhausted, but of course he didn’t fall asleep on the way home. And Rose slept too much. Needless to say, we now have two travel-worn children. Wait, make that one travel-worn family. And we’ll be driving BACK to Bellevue in a few days for my brother Kyle’s graduation!

I think I’ll finish up with another random Rose picture. I adore this dress. And this baby.

We had a fun long weekend as a family. It was nice to take a break from the deadly countdown to who-knows-what. I’m glad we have gorgeous scenery. It’s therapeutic.

Even though Virginia has my heart, Washington is wonderful.