Washington Trip March 2008
Trip Report We have returned from our trip to visit our son and his family. We had a really great time. It was so good to see them all. We had not seen them since before Christmas, 2006. I think they were glad to see us as well. They certainly made us feel welcome. A special thanks to the grandchildren who were kind enough to let me win all those chess games. They were not as generous when it came to Stratego and Trivial Pursuit, but I suppose they did not want me to get a big head.
| That is the Mt. Ranier the background. More and better pictures below. About forty of them. |  |
THURSDAY
March 20 Sometime shortly before the sun came up, our oldest daughter came and gave us a ride to the airport. They loaded us on the airplane more or less on time, and then things started to go wrong. They announced that the auxiliary power unit was broken. They said we did not need it, but that they had to fill out some paperwork before they could take off. They said it would take about five minutes. If they do not need it, why does the airplane have one? Does American Airlines really pay the fuel costs for their airplanes to haul a piece of equipment around, that is not needed? I could just imagine the conversation between the pilot and the maintenance man.
Maintenance man: You are crazy, man, you can't go to Dallas without it.
Pilot: I'll only need it if the main power goes out.
Maintenance man: How do you know that won't happen?
Pilot: I have an appointment with my psychologist in Dallas, and I really need to see him. I've been having panic attacks again.
Maintenance man: What's the problem?
Pilot: My fear of flying and of heights.
Maintenance man: If you want to fly without your auxiliary power unit, you will need to sign a waiver. I'll not be responsible.
Pilot: Ok.
They announced several more times that it would only be five more minutes of paperwork. After about twenty minutes we began to taxi.
Then they announced that we needed to have our wings de-iced. The pilot complained that the Nashville airport only had one de-icer. After another twenty minutes we finally took off. The flight to Dallas was pleasant and uneventful. When we landed they announced that our gate was occupied by another airplane. We had to wait another ten minutes until they pulled out. I can just imagine the conversation between the pilot and the control tower.
Tower: What are you doing here? We heard you had an auxiliary power unit out, and were not coming.
Pilot: We came without it.
Tower: You are crazy, man. You'll have to wait while we try to find a gate for you.
Pilot: Have you been talking to maintenance in Nashville? How did you know I was crazy? That is private information. I'm going to sue somebody.
We only had thirty minutes to get to our gate which turned out to be about twenty-five gates away. That is not bad in Dallas. I walked to it. Trisha told me later she had to run to keep up with me. Oops. Sorry. The four hour flight to Seattle/Tacoma was pleasant and without noteworthy event, and only a few minutes late. We arrived in early afternoon, their time.
Our son was waiting for us at the airport. It was really good to see him. We collected our baggage and drove to his house. It is a really pretty area of the country. We arrived and saw the rest of the family. It was so good to see them all. The children had grown considerably. We were just in time to go watch the middle son play in a soccer game. His team won two to one. He scored one of the points. He was one of the better players on the field. He settled and controlled the ball before kicking it. Most of the rest of them just flailed away while it was still in motion, and then wondered why the ball did not go in the expected direction. The rest of the day we relaxed. The two grand-daughters gave up their beds, so we could have comfort and privacy. The older one slept on the couch and the younger in various places.
FRIDAY
March 21 Our son had to work, and the children had to go to school. We were just hanging out and talking about nutrition and her migraines with my daughter-in-law, when my son called, and invited us to tour Fort Lewis, where he is stationed. We loaded up with the youngest child, who is not in school yet, and drove out to the base. Did I mention already that it is a pretty area of the country? We spent a lot of time driving on roads with huge trees hanging over head. Ft. Lewis has been there a while, and there was some interesting architecture. We got to see some of the Stryker vehicles my son's unit uses. My grandson got to see a long train roar by while we were there. He loves trains.
That is a little part of Puget Sound behind us. We were not far from Ft. Lewis. | We also got to meet some of the men in his unit. We drove out to a couple of neighborhoods where my son is hoping to move his family this summer. If they make the move, it will save him an hour a day of driving time. We stopped by a rocky beach on Puget sound. |
We had lunch at a local Quiznos and got some desert at Forza Coffee. (frozen fruit drinks etc.) We stopped back by my son's unit and his boss told him to go home. My daughter-in-law, grand son, and I returned in the van, and my wife and son returned in his jeep. They went four-wheeling someplace on base, so we beat them home by a good bit. The children were coming home from school as we arrived. We spent the rest of the day just relaxing and visiting. I do not know when it was, but my son and a couple of the grand children showed us several card tricks while we were there. Some of them were really quite good. We watched two or three movies while we were there as well.
SATURDAY
March 22 We went to see Mt. Rainier. The youngest was not feeling well, so my daughter-in-law stayed behind to care for him. That gave the rest of the children a choice of coming with us or not. The girls opted out (although we were later informed in no uncertain terms that the youngest girl had changed her mind, and was rudely left behind). We stopped by Forza Coffee for hot drinks before making the drive up. I had some really good coffee and a cinnamon roll. The rest of the day was visually over whelming. I can not begin to describe all the vistas and beautiful nature scenes we saw.
| The first place we went was a temperate rain forest at the foot of the mountain. We took a half mile walk on a walking trail. It was beautiful. To the right is the boys in the temperate rain forest at the foot of Mt. Ranier. |  |
 | Walking trail in rain forest. Trish is having the time of her life. |
| Us on a bridge. It is about 200 feet down to that river behind us. |  |
 | Every time there was a break in the trees this is what we saw. |
Then we drove around to a place in the park called Paradise. It was about a two hour drive so we stopped for lunch at a pizza place in a little town near the park. It was called Route 66 and was decorated with old license plates from all over the country. The boys played a game where they tried to find all the numbers from 1 to a hundred in the license plates and signs. The food was really good. We also stopped by an old grave yard and looked at tombstones. As we approached Paradise, there began to be snow on the ground. We had seen a patch or two in the rain forest, but this covered the ground. As we got closer and closer the snow got deeper and deeper. By the time we got there, the snow beside the road was twenty feet deep. My eyes got full of beauty that day.
 | In a winter wonderland |
| I was right next to breath taking beauty. The scenery was nice as well. |  |
 | We went inside the buried building. It really was a whole building under there. |
| Yes, that is a buried road sign. I hope it did not say anything important. |  |
 | The falls are called Christine |
 | It is not snow piled by snow plows. It really is that deep. |
EASTER SUNDAY
He is risen! He is risen, indeed!
March 23 We went to church with the family. My daughter-in-law stayed behind with the youngest because he still was not feeling up to par. It was a good worship service. The music was a mix of contemporary and traditional. The sermon was great. He preached on the evidence for the resurrection. I have studied that a good bit, but he was able to come up with a couple of new angles for me, and held my interest. We stopped and got chicken for lunch. Later, my daughter-in-law cooked an awesome spread for Easter dinner. My son hid almost a hundred and fifty Easter eggs in the house for the kids to find. My son hid some eggs on us. One was in my pocket, another in Trisha's sock, and another in her hand. They filled their baskets except for the youngest. He would stop and open his whenever he found one. While he was eating the candy the others continued their search and got ahead of him. Trish and I just sat and watched. It was fun. One of the eggs was not found until two days later.
| All dressed up and ready for church. |  |
 | Notice the Easter egg hidden in my pocket |
| He fell behind in his egg hunt because he stopped to sample his find |  |
MONDAY
March 24 Again it was a day of overwhelming visual pleasure. My son was off work. The kids were only in school half a day, so they decided to keep them out to go with us. We drove over to the state capital and looked at the pretty buildings. We had lunch at a Jack-in-Box in Olympia. A crazy guy tried to start a fight with one of the other customers, while we were there. Just about every man in the place surrounded him and invited him to leave. He left.
| Taking the tour of the capital |  |
 | Trish and Totem Pole |
| The building behind him had "Temple of Justice" engraved on it in letters two feet high. |  |
We drove over to the Pacific coast and visited some beaches around a town named Westport. The kids built sand castles and everyone collected sea shells, mostly sand dollars. The final count of sand dollars was over two hundred, I think. My son and the two boys climbed out on a rock jetty several hundred yards. I was too tired to go very far with them. We stayed at the beach long enough to get pictures of sunset over the pacific. On the way home we stopped in Aberdeen and did not have dinner. We could not find a restaurant. It was a great day.
| The Pacific |  |
 | Shell in the black sand |
| This footprint will last almost as long as our lives. |  |
 | Child on beach |
| Children on beach |  |
 | More of the same |
| Ditto |  |
 | Daughter in law perched on some driftwood |
| Me on the beach with two youngest |  |
 | Oldest grand daughter with sand castle |
| Youngest grand daughter with sand castle |  |
 | My son and my wife |
| Oldest boy and sand castle |  |
 | Lighthouse near the beach. The tallest in Washington. |
| We're rich! in sand dollars that is |  |
| Tired Boy |  |
 | My daughter-in-law with the youngest |
| My son with his youngest |  |
 | Thor and Trish watch the kids on the beach |
| My son on the jetty |  |
 | Looking out on the jetty. I decided not to try it. My son and his two oldest boys went out on it two or three hundred yards. |
| Boys on the Jetty |  |
 | Surf hitting the jetty |
| Can she see much in the sky you think? |  |
 | Pretty sunset |
| More pretty sunset |  |
TUESDAY
March 25 We stayed at home, relaxed and visited most of the day. My son had the day off again. The grand kids kept asking me questions like, "Why are you so sad?" Pictures show me as very old. I was simply very tired. I was actually quite happy. I explained this, and they were satisfied with the explanation, I think. My daughter-in-law met with a couple of the kids teacher's and was informed that they are geniuses who never misbehave, or something like that. In the evening we went to a local Applebee's and had a nice dinner. I was a wonderful trip. I am very proud of all of them. I now have enough recent information to match any grand parent in a bragging match.
WEDNESDAY
March 26 My son took off from work for a couple hours to give us a ride to the airport. The flights home were without unpleasant event or significant delay. We got in conversations with our seat mates on both legs of the trip. The first was a young man from Augusta, Georgia. He is planning to start a car repair business when he gets out of college, and is determined to let God direct his life. The second was a lady on her way to escort a "client" from Nashville to a drug re-hab place in California. Her brother is in prison, and she is going to offer him a chance to sign up for our Bible correspondence courses. We did get into Nashville about twenty minutes late at 11:20 PM. My oldest daughter met us at the airport and gave us a ride home. It was Thursday morning before we got in the bed.
My daughter in law took almost 600 pictures with her digital camera. I hope to add more pictures here later, but projects being what they are do not be surprised if it never happens.