This was our last week in WA with our daughter Valerie and her family. Aside from rearranging all our stuff in the van and the camper which kept us busy in preparing for the next part of our journey, we also got to share in the preparation of the boys for their first day of school and the associated chaos that goes with all that in many American families. They have a new puppy, Luna, and she is beautiful and really sweet, but still learning how to socialize and learn how to be with new people and new dogs (Coco). After a day, things settled down and she was getting a lot of “Good dog” rewards. Hadden, our grandson, is a dog whisperer, and Luna fell in love with Bob too. Two dog whisperers in the same family.
We planned a crab feast at their house to teach the boys how to clean and eat fresh dungeness crab. They had never done this before, and Valerie recalls many crab eating events in her childhood, so she was excited about getting to do this again. Delicious!
We also took a great nature walk in the National Forest near Snoqualmie Pass, and we were stunned at the beauty of this amazing Gold Creek Pond Trail. This used to be an old gravel pit if you can believe it! They used the gravel to build the Interstate 90 across the mountains and returned this scenic area to what you see in the pictures below. This reflects the amazing beauty of this region. It was truly a great and fun day and such a nice last day in the State of Washington. The next day, our day of departure, the rain started and probably won’t stop until June of next year! Karma – timing!
We paid a last visit to Dianne Graham’s home in Snohomish while we were at Val’s home. She has a beautiful piece of property, and raises gorgeous egg hens. Their hen house is the bomb! We also loved her koi pond – it’s a very tranquil home. Lunch afterwards at Andy’s Seafood on Snohomish – great fish and chips and I finally got my fried oysters!
While in our last couple of days in Snoqualmie with the kids, Bob woke up the morning of September 6th with very limited vision in his left eye, and seeing what he described as spider webs and black spots. I immediately got on the internet at 7 am and started doing some research. Concerned about retinal problems, we were able to get an emergency appointment for Bob to see an opthalmalogist – after a very detailed physical of his eyes, they referred Bob to an immediate appointment with a retinal specialist. After an ultrasound, it was determined that he had PVD – posterior vitreous detachment with vitreous hemorrage. Holy cow! We were scheduled to continue our journey within 2 days on 9/8/19. Best news ever was the doctor said he could drive, but should see a retinal specialist as soon as got home. Never a dull moment! Thankfully it wasn’t a detachment retina! So far so good …
It is always bitter sweet leaving Val and the kids, never knowing when we will reunite again. Think I will propose a mother/daughter trip each year at a very minimum, but loved hanging out with the boys – they are smart, sweet and loving, and we miss them already! So happy we had some quality time together.
One to the next leg of our journey down the Oregon coast and into CA…. stay tuned.