Day 9: Whidbey Island to Spokane Valley

After a leisurely breakfast together at Grandpa and Sheila's we left to tour the Island and make our way to Mount Vernon for a lunch date with the Adelines. Driving through Oak Harbor I had to stop at Grandma and Grandpa's church, Whidbey Presbyterian.

I have always loved the stately building surrounded by oak trees, lovingly placed on it's grassy hill. The scent of the hymnals and wooden pews, the lovely stain glass windows, and most of all the arching ceiling and reverent choir loft that makes the acoustics so wonderful in the sanctuary hold powerful, precious memories. I can still hear Grandma's vibrato warmly joining in worship next to me on so many Sunday's passed.
Continuing on we came to our sightseeing "main event" of the day: Deception Pass.

We crossed the bridge which connects Whidbey to the mainland in an arch-shape (instead of a straight line across.) Driving on a ways we took a little tour of the area and found a great beach to walk along.

Rosario Beach consists of pebbles which have been tumbled smoother than a baby's bottom by the constant waves. The array of colors was magnificent -blues, oranges, deep red, bright white, etc.

28 weeks pregnant and still spry as a water nymph! (Okay, so I did fall the other day and cried like a 4 year old, but I landed on my rear. Other than that, I'm still feeling great and getting around wonderfully!)
We were poorly shod for traipsing around the pebbles (flip flops aren't particularly ideal) but spent half an hour meandering around, enjoying the various views.

Someone was proud of their catch.

We headed back to the parking lot at the pass and took a mosey around the paths and the bridge.

Oh, really?
Trail along Deception Pass.

Loading back up we head to Mount Vernon. With several minutes to spare we hit the outlet mall in Burlington and found a few treasures. We pulled into the Adeline's nearly right on the dot -pretty impressive for us!

What a wonderful visit! Aunt Judy treated us to a lovely spread for lunch and we had a marvelous time catching up around the dinner table, then retired to the living room. Everyone is doing well and looks great! Joel is busy with his summer job as a building and grounds maintenance man for the school. Rachel is working part time for a catering gal who owns a burger joint. Bob is gearing up as principal and the start of another school year. And Judy is busy running a beautiful household and managing the thrift store she's done so much with the past few years. I can't express how joyful it made my heart to spend those few short hours with them all and to introduce Brian to more of my family.

Trumpets, please! We recommenced our grand journey south with the goal of reaching Spokane by nightfall. Eastern Washington is about as thrilling as a root canal, but we managed to get through it and reach our destination. Bypassing Spokane proper, we opted for Spokane Valley, just east of the city.

We checked in at the economical choice, Motel 6. This is Brian's new favorite. Cheap with all the essentials and not too shabby. The individual who checked us in was extremely helpful and enthusiastic -as was everyone we encountered in Spokane Valley. On top of that it must be noted that they all appeared to be victims of a nuclear meltdown or some form of radioactivity. We had a sense of what Chernobyl's residence must look like after years of exposure. The motel attendee was as androgynous as they come, and wall-eyed to boot. I thought she was a masculine female, but Brian was convinced (probably because of the obvious capability of growing not only a mustache but a full goatee -and being completely flat chested) he was a feminine male. The waitresses at Marie Callander's were all equally pasty and scary looking -but, boy, service was great and very friendly. It seems the government, in an attempt to rectify their mistake of leaking nuclear waste in the area, hands out happy pills to the residents to counter their unfortunate circumstances. We were just nervous that come midnight they turned into something even worse, so we bolted every lock possible after we settled into our modest quarters. So beware, travelers of the I-90, don't drink the water if you find yourselves in Spokane Valley. We've seen the side effects and it ain't pretty.