We arrived at the home of Kaetlyn Spivey, the most beautiful baby in the world, and her parents Kelly and Steve, and big sister Megan, about 6 PM. We spend the next three days and nights kissing, hugging, holding, and squeezing Kaetlyn for all of her aunts, uncles,Byet had the privilege of doing so.
She and her family accompanied us on a few excursions, also. Saturday we enjoyed a trip to nearby Mt. Rainier. We drove up a very curvy road to Sunrise Point, an area that looked a lot like Candor after a late March snowfall. There were patches and piles of snow dotting a geen hillside.
Young and old alike were sliding down the snowbanks, cross country skiing, and throwing snowballs in shorts and T-shirts in the summer sunshine. Standing guard over all of this fun was beautiful, snow and glacier clad Mt. Rainier. At over 14,000 feet it looked close enough to become the local sledding hill, but it was several miles away.
On Sunday we visited the Ballard Locks which are used to get boats from the Pacific to Lake Washington. Several sizes and kinds of pleasure boats went through the locks while we were there. We also saw salmon doing their yearly ritual by navigating up the fish ladder to get to fresh water. Some of the salmon, maybe on their way back to the Pacific, and maybe not, were caught in the water pouring out of large tubes, like rushing waterfalls, back into the salt water from the fresh. We thought some of the fish must have woken up dazed from this mad dash and wondered where they were!
When Kelly and Steve got married two years ago, we had taken the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island, enjoyed the local fish and farmer's market, etc., so we didn't do any of those things this time, but we enjoyed watching the ferries go on their routes while we ate at a great seafood restaurant on Alki Beach.
Monday afternoon we bid our family reluctant farewells, buoyed by the knowledge that we would see them all in early September for our annual Wardapalooza family reunion.
We took the scenic route from Washington to Oregon through the Cascade Mountains. For much of the way we were accompanied by the sight of Mt. Rainier, and then Mt. Adams, both with white gleaming tops. We went up and down mountains and around switchbacks so often that my ears couldn't decide what the pressure should be and stayed plugged for the remainder of the afternoon. The narrow road was lined with straight, tall cedar and pine tree, some over 120 feet tall. Near the bottom of the mountain their massive trunks were mostly covered in soft, green moss. Along the way we saw Mt. Saint Helen's with the forest close to it still showing signs of the wrath of destruction the eruption caused 30 years ago. We also saw many lumber mills as this appears to be prime logging country.
When we finally got down the mountain, we were at the beautiful Columbia River which divides Washington and Oregon. Crossing the river at the Bridge of the Gods, we found a nearby campground and settled in for the night.