So we got on the road from Othello and headed over to Washington. It was, theoretically, a 4 1/2 hour drive. So we took off about 9 or so.
It seemed to take forever to get over into Western Washington, but boy when we did, we knew it. Seattle was horrible to navigate through. It wasn’t even rush hour, it was right around noon time. Oh.my.god! The amount of traffic we encountered was atrocious! That slowed us down by an hour probably.
Once out of the mess of Seattle, we headed out to Dawns in Sedro-Woolley. Before we got there, somewhere around Bellingham, we stopped at a Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch. It was later in the afternoon and we were so hungry. I could have eaten my arm. So we walk in and we stand. Restaurant has a few people eating. I mean it’s late afternoon. Around 2 or so. There were a few different choices for eating in the complex we were in, so we opted for something we knew would be okay. Buffalo Wild Wings has never been a favorite. When we think of them, we think mediocre or less.
So we walk in and we wait. People walk by and then we wait some more. Finally a third person takes us to our table. Then we wait some more. By now I’m about ready to lose it because I just couldn’t take it anymore. So we get an appetizer. No plates. No extra napkins. Takes a while for that to arrive. Then we wait some more. No one says much, they just go about their business. No sense of urgency. Food comes out and we eat. Not impressed, not impressed at all. In fact it was disappointing. I should have taken to Yelp right there, but I didn’t not worth my time.
So then we arrived at my sisters. YAY! Cousins finally got to meet. It was fabulous! The kids took to the video games right away. Aurora showed them the dance game via connect and they tried to show her Call of Duty. Um yeah…no. It was funny because the boys seemed surprised that she hadn’t seen it before. Between the five of them they settled on a Spongebob game.
Ben went right into the kitchen with Auntie. It was SO cute!
We only had a few days with Dawn, so we made the most of it. Dawn whipped up a great breakfast the next morning and we headed out to the lake cabin. Oh.my.gosh! We had no idea how much fun we would have! The place is so beautiful. Truly.
Of course, we had to spend a lot of time packing vehicles and all of that, so we had a bit of a slow start. Worth every bit of effort.
All of the kiddos and adults suited up for a fabulous day on the lake. The cabin is about 30 minutes from Dawn and Rusty’s. Once we drove in, we saw a beautiful lake. We got everyone into their life jackets and swim gear. It didn’t take anyone long to be in the water and to head out to the party barge. Dawn had a great BBQ planned along with sparklers for the kids…the boys had never done those before.
Then we got out the s’mores equipment and the fishing poles. Dawn and I, being the tough Alaska chicks that we are, we did all of the hooking and weighting for all 6 poles. Yes, 6 poles. She secretly told me that she didn’t think there was any fish in the lake, but we kept that between ourselves. Everyone had a great time trying though!
The next day…only one more day in Washington…we treated all of us to a 3D movie! We all donned the glasses and saw “How To Train Your Dragon 2”. Really, really good! Definitely worth seeing in 3D. The kids had so much fun! Mostly because of the massive amount of popcorn and soda they were permitted to ingest. Hahahahaha.
Dawn headed back with the kiddos and Chip and I headed to the Walmart to replace the crappy tent that bit it at the beginning of the trip. So, like smart peeps, we bought 2 smaller tents to replace the 10 man. Then the boys have theirs, we have ours and Gillian could have her own.
That evening we snapped some family pics and did s’mores and of course enjoyed wine. It was such a quick visit, but so happy we could make it happen. So lucky that Dawn has a big house that we could invade for a few days.
I think all of us enjoyed this special time. I know it won’t be another 7 years before we see each other again. Thank you my seester. We had a blast!
So the next morning we packed it up. Chip did an amazing job of getting both vehicles loaded. Buh-bye Washington! Hello Oregon. Oh yeah…I was STILL itching. Only worse.