WAndering

Finally, finally I am getting around to my last post about my trip with Barb to WAshington state for a visit with my Sister Tami. Maybe it was my subconscious not WAnting the trip to ever end, so I just kept putting it off...anyWAy here we go!!!

This WAs the first view we had of Mt. Rainier poking above the clouds. In the days that followed it seemed to peek its head around every unexpected corner.

On the WAy up we stopped at an over look, I actually think Tami stopped to just give Barb and I a taste, we were wild with excitement! We had much more than a taste here, we had many deep deep inhales. The smell was something you just could not get enough of, we decide that this is where fragrance makers for anything marketed under the banner of "mountain fresh" come with jars in hand trying to capture the scent...and if you were not already aWAre, there isn't a laundry soap, fabric softener,or sachet that can even hold a scented candle to that fresh mountain air!

You can hardly see the mountain stream that WAs running threw this valley, it looks small compared to the rest of the riverbed that Tami pointed out becomes a ragging torrent when the spring snows melt.

The Happy WAnderers!
The General, Tami, Bubby, The Princess, and Barb...and our new best friend...Mt Rainier

I love to go a-WAndering along the mountain track...
and use the sticks along the way to mount my sneak attack!

The hills are alive...with the sounds, the sights, and even the love! Do you see it on the far hill?

I love to WAnder by the stream that dances in the sun...

So joyously it calls to me...
Jody, come again this place to see!!!

I WAve my hat to all I meet...

...and they WAve back to me...
or we find a bench...

It was so nice just to WAlk abit, sit abit, and just let your all senses WAke up.

Goodness, I felt like I had WAlked into the middle of a painting!

I actually took this picture! Can you believe it!?! I know, it looks like a post card! The beauty just surrounded us, it WAs seriously hard to take a bad picture.

Oh, may I go a-WAndering until the day I die!
Oh, may I always laugh and sing, beneath God's clear blue sky!!!

My heart still WAnders back there every now and then.

WAter WAy

My WA trip continued.
We went to Seattle across Puget Sound by WAy of WAter.

Crossing a pretty impressive bridge along the WAy.
This was our greeter while WAiting to drive onto the ferry. It is a Rhodesian Ridgeback, they are used by Homeland Security, he WAs very excited to do his job.

All aboard!!

WAter WAtching.

A passing ferry.

There's Seattle! Its good to see the Space Needle from afar because once your up close its hard first of all to crane your neck to see it(said the lady with a titanium plate in her's) and second to really appreciate it compared to its surroundings.

And here we are at Pike Place Market! We had front row parking(I don't know about you but to me thats a little blessing) we just got out of Tami's Taxi and walked right in. Tami does a very impressive job at getting around, she was also determined not to wear us out so she did alot of the drop and go method...she would drop us off and go find a go find a parking spot.

We could hear music as soon as we got out of the vehicle. This guy was warming up as we left. The musicians take turns playing throughout the day. Our arrival serenader was James Coates, Barb and I both bought his cd.

I took this picture for my boys that love to bike, I thought they'd like the "bike stand".

So much to see.

The fish throwers!! How cool is that I got a picture of them throwing fish...yup, I WAs impressed.

Besides the fish throwers this guy is a main attraction, you have to WAit your turn to take pictures with him.

Then we crossed the street to the original Starbucks, where I bought my husband one of his favorite things...coffee and a mug to put it in...yup, he WAs happy.

Our last stop WAs at the Space Needle. These carvers impressed me as much as the Needle. My next and last post on my trip is, besides getting to spend time with Tami & family and Barb, one of my favorite things about the trip...it will be well worth the WAit!!

WAlk with me...

...around Olympia WA(my trip to see my sister continued) there is alot of fun stuff to see and do. The Farmers Market is really fun, it's big enough to have a good variety of things but not so big that it wears you out. Most of it is covered so even when it rains the buying and selling continues.

The food court has alot of fun choices from German to Oriental to Mexican and local. Tami had Curry in a Hurry, the name just made me laugh...and she did get her curry lickety-split!

So many seeds.

Flowers...
...and more flowers. This just amazed me that the beginning of October and flowers were blooming, not just the ones for sale at the farmers market but in back yards, front yards, along boulevards and in turn abouts.

Barb & I shared a crab cake with a side of coleslaw, it was so good and fresh. Then it was time for dessert.
Horn of Marzipan as big as my hand!

Bubby went for the brownie on a stick!
Tami the phoodie introduced us to "phoo" (like fa as in fa la la la). I'm going to make it for my family, I think I can come pretty close to duplicating it.

The proprietress of this retro little shop, isn't she fun!?!

The inside of the little place was just as fun for the Princess and I.
A stop off at this little place for a cup of joe-lt.

I love details like this. I'd stop for a cappuccino just to get to use that door pull.

Details:) Don't let the love on the top of my latte fool you this stuff was high on the jolt-o-meter! I'm a serious caffeine wienie, so about 1/4 the way threw it my hair was standing on end and I was starting to talk alot...the Princess finished it off for me...we dropped her off at dance so she had a place to utilize the caffeine:)

Playing at Puget Sound during low tide.

Such a creative WAy to WAlk on the beach.
My sweet sister Tami and I.
Shadow WAlking
Wood WAlking, Barb and I loved-loved the tree's they are just plain huge and tall...very very tall. It felt like the Hundred Acre Wood.

And after the little WAlks here and there...my heart WAs WArmed:)

WAahoo!!!

WAaaahoooo!!!
I was blessed with a trip to WAshington state to visit my sister and her little's!!

My friend Barb and I went, she was kind and let me have the window seat. I was like a 5 year old with my nose to the window on the flight out, I was also probably as annoying as a 5 year old can be with my play by play of what we were flying over. All the lakes of MN was so neat to see. Across ND and MT it was pretty much alot of uninhabited land, it had a stark beauty to it. The closer we were to the Rocky mountains the land looked like a velvet quilt made in hues of dark greens and browns, so pretty. Then mountains with silver streams and then clouds.

The first day there Tami took Barb and I to Steilacoom for a Thai shrimp salad(Tami is a serious foodie) and oddly enough as I type this out I am really hungry for that salad. We then did a bit of sight seeing, and then for desert to this quaint little place that was once a general store, pharmacy, and post office all in one...so that's where Target and Walmart got the idea:)

The middle white building is the Steilacoom city hall, it was so picturesque. And just look at the view of Puget sound.

Another day we visited the state capital in Olympia WA.

Statue of Mother Joseph, she was a huge part of the settling of the Northwest. She not only designed 11 hospitals, 7 academies, 5 Indian schools, and 2 orphanages, she also raised money to build them, oversaw, took part, and inspected the buildings, clearly she could bring home the bacon, build the kitchen to fry it in and then fry it up in the pan.

All of the lights in the capital were purchased from Tiffany's long before Tiffany was famous so they were purchased at a bargain price.

Two of these really pretty chandeliers hang in the State Reception room. The me that dabbles in a bit of jewelry making would love to just touch those crystals, or at least be around when they clean the thing, can you imagine!?!

In the Rotunda hangs the largest chandelier ever created by Tiffany, its chain alone weighs 1&1/2 tons, the chandelier weighs 5 tons. During one of the 3 earthquakes to really shake the place it swung for 3 days(it might have been more, I can't recall and so for the sake of not exaggerating I'll stick with 3 days until Tami sets me straight or I get curious enough to just call the number on my capital brochure and ask...I may suggest that they put this kind of information in the brochure so that inquiring minds like mine can know these things. I did try to google it but apparently its a state secret that only the tour guide knows and the rest of us can't remember long enough to get it on the web!)

The capital over looks this little man made lake that over looks Pudget sound. The rest of the trip is soon to follow. I have to do it in a few posts, there is just so much to share.