Day 11: Casper, WY to Amarillo, TX

Bright eyed and bushy tailed we left our modest slumber arrangements and started our day.

Casper's Family Restaurant -where bikers are welcome, I might add- was a stone's throw from where we stayed and the food was tolerable. The service was friendly as ever and we even got to sit in a booth next to a couple crusty state troopers and eavesdrop on the hot news that side of Wyoming.

More wonderful flat land spotted with cows.

The terrain did jazz up a bit with a brief stretch of rocky formations.

We crossed into Colorado with little ceremony but soon found ourselves passing an Air Force base decorated in true military fashion.

Oh, Boy! The Colorado Budweiser Brewery! Only the finest watered down beer made in the U.S.A.

Denver was very city-like, as you'd expect, but we didn't have an opportunity to spend much time there -just however long we were stuck in traffic.

This sign was also posted in a field passed Limon, Colorado. Only the field was filled with pathetic looking cows roasting in the heat standing next to this picture of tender, charbroiled steak. Not very appetizing to see your meal staring back at you. Poor cows.

Our late lunch break had us stop in Kit Carson, CO. The cafe employees were very friendly and attentive, seeing as how we were the only people there besides one lone truck driver. The salad bar was one of the strangest I've ever come across. Salad -check. Dressing -check. Green olives, mandarin oranges, peach slices, beets, black olives, cottage cheese, hot peppers, pickled cucumber salad -check. And that's it. I wasn't about to mix hot peppers and mandarin oranges, so I loaded my lettuce with beets, black olives and shredded cheese and called it acceptable. The burgers were good and we received mondo glasses of iced tea. Protecting our food and our persons from the swarm of flies was a challenge, but we ate and got out of there in good time.

Getting back on the road we noticed the temperature was 101 degrees at 4pm. Mind boggling.

More farms, more empty landscape, and plain old flat land abounded.

Streams of rain emptied in random pockets where clouds could hold their water no longer and sought relief on an obliging field.

We were held up about 1 1/2 hours total with all the construction, though it was hard to see if any real construction was happening. We think folks in Colorado just like making people stop on the highway as they hold up signs. Rather juvenile, but it's a living, I suppose.

Potty break with cool rocks! We took a few photos and were about to get back in the car when a woman jumped out of a semi that had pulled in seconds before and forced us to stand together for a picture. It was nice of her and there was no refusing with her jovial, raspy bark, "No, you two stand together like lovebirds! I'm good at this kind of thing."

We made it to Oklahoma and managed to take a picture of yet again more fields before we blinked and we found ourselves in Texas. I'd show the picture if I could find it but it seems to have blended in with everything else...

Following our lesson as before, I booked a room online after we left Denver so we had accommodations at our favorite cheap hotel -yep, you guessed it: Motel 6. We lost another hour once we crossed the OK border and pulled into Amarillo, TX at 10:30pm. The road took us through downtown, quiet at that late hour on a Friday, and pulled us into a spaghetti swirl of highways. It was a good thing I wrote down directions from Mapquest to our hotel or we would have been unimaginably lost.

A note on roadtrips. I've got three words for you -and listen close: Books on Tape/CD. Driving down long stretches of uncomplicated highway it's a breeze to focus on fiction and non-fiction alike. My favorite has been "The Millionaire Next Door," a guide to learning what makes a person/family wealthy. The main secrets are frugality, living within your means, and investing wisely. Shunning the consumption lifestyle obsessed with status purchases is the best way to keep your earnings and make them work for you. Having been unmotivated to cook the past few months, we've been spending a significant amount on meals out. Hearing this tape spurred me to implement meal planning as my mother used to -a technique that saves money and refrigerator space. I can't wait for our new house in which we can put into practice these lessons and be free of keeping up with the Jones next door.

We've also listened to Sci-Fi stories by Phillip K. Dick, author of "The Minority Report," the Guy Noir skits from Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion, "What it Means to be a Libertarian" by Charles Murray, comedy recordings of the late Mitch Hedburg, and The Bob and Tom Show (featuring the hilarious song you've probably heard, "He's the Man!")

It's been great getting in such a wide variety of education and entertainment. Traveling with children I highly suggest any of the Chronicles of Narnia on tape, Harry Potter, or classics such as Peter Pan, Wind in the Willows, etc. -but the best are the dramatized versions. They'll be (relatively) quiet and riveted while practicing the lost art of listening. Enjoy!

Day 10: Spokane Valley, WA to Casper, WY

The day started out right with breakfast at Perkins. Great service, fine food, and full bellies!

Off to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

This small section of Idaho we traveled through was rich in forests, mountains and lakes; the perfect place for camping trips and summer getaways. I'm pretty sure my Dad's folks took us around the area when they lived in Spokane and surely we caught a trout or two. Camping with the Cameron's was always fun and fishing was guaranteed.

Montana quickly appeared with, of course, similar landscape for awhile. We missed the great views of the Rockies which were covered by the smoke of recent forest fires. We stopped for gas in Missoula and could distinctly smell the charred trees in the air. AND it was the first time gas broke over $3.00 on our trip, though not the last.

We ate lunch at the luxurious (a-hem) Costco in Bozeman where we had to come to a hard decision. Instead of driving through Yellowstone to see Old Faithful, etc. we chose to continue on with the goal of reaching Casper, WY. By the time we had lunch it was nearly 4pm and we were having a heck of a time finding lodging near the south/southeast of the park. Instead of rush through a trip that easily warrants a weekend, if not a week, we decided to play it safe and keep driving to a spot where we knew we'd find lodging.

We drove through Billings, MT where my mother was born. Unfortunately there was nothing to take a picture of. Sorry, Mom.

Near the edge of Montana we got a glimpse of Yellowstone and snapped a few pictures of what we will surely visit extensively someday.

We crossed into Wyoming and drove through Little Big Horn and the Indian reservation. A personal desire of mine was to spend time on a reservation if we had the chance. Driving through was enough of an experience, though it would be amazing to see a Pow-Wow.

The landscape was sparse, the wind blew fiercely and tumble weed tossed about the road.

Darkness descended, as it usually does, and we stopped for gas and a bite to eat in Sheridan, WY. McDonald's was sufficient. We went inside to order and received yet another cultural experience. There was a whole mess of employees working that night. At the front three young ladies tended to the cash registers -well, I believe they were supposed to, but only one was ringing people up. They all spoke Russian to each other. It was the weirdest thing. Behind me stood a line of American Indians and in front of me, aimlessly standing around and working as slow as snails, stood at least 5 Russian or Slavic McDonald's employees....in Wyoming.

Lightning made regular appearances in the distance surrounding us and the stars above slowly appeared out of the black sky. The roads were double laned and the night traffic, mainly consisting of other long distance drivers like us and truckers, moved along without delay. There is something absolutely fabulous about singing along to CCR in the dead of night, lighting flashing around you, and driving along a barren highway. It was a definite road trip experience.

Thankfully we learned our lesson, made reservations ahead of time and were able to check into our Motel 6 with no problem...well, except that five police cars where already there dealing with a "situation." It was nearly 11:30pm when we got settled into our room and were too tired to care what the big deal was about. Thankfully we were on the opposite sideof the building and had a very peaceful night.

A note about Montana and Wyoming. This inland route came highly recommended and I'd been told it was some of the most beautiful country ever. Now maybe we drove through the crappy section and others who said the route was a MUST drove elsewhere, but we couldn't tell the difference between one raggedy hill and another. It was a terribly boring drive broken up by, well, it wasn't broken up by anything -just field upon field upon field of dry, yellow grass. If we ever do have to drive through these states we'll definitely take a more western route. The only cool part was the sagebrush getting caught in the front bumper. That and the lightning, but you can see that nearly anywhere in the midwest and south.

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.

Day 8: Wenatchee to Whidbey Island

We left Wenatchee mid-morning but made sure to hit up my favorite bakery before leaving town.

The Anjou Bakery is an artsy redecorated farmhouse that features original art on it's walls along with a superb selection of freshly made pastries, French sandwiches and homemade soups. We both got coffees to go and I selected an all-time favorite: a chocolatine, known in France as pain au chocolate (chocolate bread.)
Ah, the rustic farmhouse beams combined with a European flair! And lots of flour in the air..
This stone farmhouse is just across from the bakery surrounded by pear orchards. I've always found this house to be absolutely picturesque. Honey, can we buy it?

Stopping for gas in Leavenworth we saw Smoke and Savannah's stunt doubles.

The little black dog is actually a Shelty and the white dog a French breed it's owner couldn't remember. Reminds me of the scene in "Spaceballs" where John Candy and Bill Pullman see their goofy looking stunt doubles. It was a riot!

Just outside of Monroe, WA we stopped for lunch. Dan's looked like as good a place as any -especially since they were a pizza place that served breakfast...

Making it to the Mukilteo ferry, I HAD to snap a photo of the famous Ivar's Chowder house that's been on the pier since dinosaurs roamed. Now you'll find cans of Ivar's Clam Chowder on your grocery shelves and even a satellite chain in the Seattle airport (their breakfast sandwiches are fabulous and a great deal!)

The ferry ride has always been a highlight of my trips to Whidbey Island. The ride which seemed endless as a child went all too fast as an adult. Maybe the boats were slower back in the 80's and 90's, but we barely got up on deck and looked around when it was time to head back to our vehicle.
Brian was not a fan of the ferry experience. Later as we drove on the Island he asked if there wasn't a bridge we could use to get off -which was in the cards, so he was in luck. No more ferries for this guy.

We made it to Grandpa and Sheila's house after an ambling drive inland. The Island is covered in small farms contrasted with dense evergreen forests. After a relaxing chat at the house we all headed down the hill for a walk on the beach.

Several fishermen lined the first few yards hoping to catch one or two for dinner, but it appeared no one was having much luck. The tide was up a good deal so beach treasure hunting wasn't as good as usual, but it was such a pleasure walking along the pebbled bay strewn with driftwood.

Stranded jellyfish, empty crab shells and the odd seashell scattered the beach as we enjoyed the salty sea air, though the abundant seaweed was rather pungent. I have so many memories of walking that beach as a child, teen and adult, collecting oodles of sea treasures and leaving them for Grandma and Grandpa to store for us until our next visit.

Sheila and Grandpa treated us to a marvelous dinner at the Beachfire Grill, a restaurant nestled in a newly developed golfing community. The view of the bay was excellent, as was the food, company and conversation. Afterwards, they took us on a driving tour of several neighborhoods which featured some excellent (and some not so excellent) real estate -all priced astronomically high as the market has skyrocketed, particularly for ocean side residence.
The evening was rounded out with visiting in the living room sharing thoughts on family, friends, politics and world events. It was absolutely delightful. I was so happy for a visit with Grandpa and Sheila, to introduce Brian to them, and to spend some time at my grandparents home that is so peaceful and beautiful -and full of wonderful memories. It was precious to add some more of them to my collection.

Day 7: Wenatchee & Leavenworth, WA

Today the majority of the siblings, Mom, Brian and I took a field trip to the greatest attractions in the area: Cashmere's Aplets and Cotlets factory and the Bavarian village of Leavenworth, WA (clarification for those of you confusing it with the federal penitentiary.) We screwed in our sweet teeth, strapped on our leiderhosen, harnessed up a few of Mom's monstrous Bernese Mountain dogs with some bells and a wagon and headed out for a great tourist adventure.
We all piled in to the small factory and took a tour of the 87 year old candy company. Founded in 1920 by two Turkish gentlemen who bought an orchard in Cashmere, Aplets and Cotlets now turns out 40 flavors and types of Turkish delight-based candies. An Aplet contains apple puree and walnuts; a cotlet is apricot puree with walnuts (plus other ingredients such as sugar and cornstarch.) In the above picture a worker places a slab of the gummy material on a conveyor, coats it in powdered sugar and sends it through a chopper which cuts one slab into over 170 pieces. Okay, it was either 170 or 750. I thought the first was more likely but since I'm terrible at math I'll let you estimate.
The pieces get hand picked and placed in their appropriate boxes by this line of employees. Now who wouldn't want to re-enact the "I Love Lucy" episode in the chocolate factory with all these glorious delights passing your way? I'm in!
Ah, little Bavaria! Leavenworth didn't always look this way. During a slump in the last quarter of the 20th century Leavenworthians decided to make the most of their alps-like setting and draw the tourist crowd in by recreating their town in to a quaint, Bavarian village. Every business -even the recently added Cold Stone- MUST have Bavarian signage and maintain the cutesy Swiss decor. It's a riot seeing McDonalds and Safeway done up with painted blue birds and faux wood beams crossing their exterior.
This toyshop -mainly boasting a wonderful collection of locally handmade decorative wooden puzzles- was the big event. We spent near two hours visiting and revisiting all the treasures and fun junk.
Brian was in heaven. He bought a tiny, child size guitar, a little key chain that has 6 direct quotes from "The Princess Bride", a Frisbee for Savannah and I got some souvenir postcards and a T-Rex wood puzzle for Wilder. So, what did you get?
After looking around we ate lunch at Los Camperos -a Mexican restaurant with a Swiss exterior. Hey, we're forward thinking, multiculturalists -we're open for anything! I mean, why feel confined to the 912 German restaurants there. We were bold, we were daring, and at the end of the meal...we were full. Yet, still some of the family still had room for ice cream afterwards. We ate too much chips and salsa to join in, but it sure looked tasty.
To round off the tour Mom took us up and around the hills of East and Western Wenatchee. The valley is certainly growing as more businesses such as Google and Yahoo move branches out here. Houses are going up faster than, well, just pretty darn fast and the commercial side of town continues to diversify, though Mom still doesn't have her Olive Garden yet.

In the evening we spent some time with the grown ups when Mom and Mark took a break, joining us in the guesthouse. After everyone left and the big house headed for bed, Brian shared how glad he was that both sides of our family are so easy to get along with. We are so lucky to have such wonderful family and, boy, are we glad that visiting relatives will never be an ugly chore but always a delight. We've enjoyed just being with the family in Wentachee for the past few days and I am so glad Brian was finally able to meet everyone. Tomorrow we head out to Whidbey Island for a visit with Grandpa and Sheila. I am thrilled for Brian to meet them and see where I've spent so many happy vacations!