West – Yakima to Spokane

We received a warm welcome from Uncle Daniel and Aunt Betty and their family.

Uncle Daniel is a master wood carver and his living room is filled with these creations. The colors come from different kinds of wood.

     

Aunt Betty has made quilts and more quilts for her children and grandchildren.

They took us on an outing to Mount Rainer. At a rest stop by the way Emily took advantage of the time for a picture with them.

The cloud over Mount Rainer just wanted to stay put. It looked like a gigantic pancake covering the top peaks.

I’m not sure if Claire Bleu saw this sign or not,  but …

… she kept veering off the path to get the best pictures.

We saw a lot of beautiful creeks, gorges, and waterfalls.

Cousin Doug fixed, smoked, and carved the pork loin for dinner one evening.

Cousin Doug and Sharon and part of their family

Cousin Phil and Colleen. He reminded me a lot of my brother Oren Jr.

Jim with cousin Elaine and Larry

From Yakima we traveled to Leavenworth, WA …

… and enjoyed being a tourist in this mock Bavarian village

Traveling east we enjoyed the sights of Steamboat Rock near the north end of Banks Lake in the Grand Coulee.

We stopped at the Grand Coulee Dam and enjoyed a very informative talk and interesting facts about the dam.

Mother was a trooper and never complained once. She enjoyed the chatter on the bus, read a couple books, and dozed often. It was such a blessing to have her along.

We arrived at Spokane, WA in the evening and couldn’t find a motel because of some basketball tournaments, so they dropped 6 of us off at the airport and the rest traveled on through the night toward Glacier National Park.

I was one that “jumped ship” and came on home, sorry to leave the bus. The sun was setting as we drove on to Spokane for our flight.

West Coast

One of the highlights of San Fransciso for me was walking down the winding Lombard Street. Cars were lined up waiting their turn for the trip to the bottom.

I also enjoyed seeing the fancy Victorian row of houses called “The Painted Ladies.”

We took a bus tour through the city since it was too foggy to have a boat ride around Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge. Chinatown was quite colorful.

Claire Bleu and Polly got a ride in a rickshaw.

The fog was starting to lift as we left SF.

 

We drove up the California coast and through Redwoods National Park. Our bus was just too big to drive through the Chandelier Tree.

We were disappointed that it was so foggy at Crater Lake. Even though the sky was white the water still looked blue.

In Sisters, Oregon we stopped at the wonderful quilt store The Stitching Post. I felt honored to have my picture taken with the owner, Jean Wells who is also a Quilt Artist, Author, and Instructor. She has written 27 quilting books.

 

At Brownsville, Oregon we stopped for soup and homemade bread with raspberry jelly at Mark’s cousin Sharon Yoder Kraybill’s place.

And then Dorcas Smucker, bless her heart, drove to meet us there for lunch too. I was so pleased to meet the author of Life in the Shoe. She has written 4 books and “Tea and Trouble Brewing” is in the top 10 list of World Magazine’s self published authors. Congratulations, Dorcas. I love to read her writings.

We drove on to Portland, OR to visit our 1st cousin Yvonne who graciously served us supper and hosted all 15 of us for the night and breakfast.

Sheila and Polly enjoy the view of Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge.

Paul waves at us from the bridge.

On Labor Day in September 1995, a 400-ton boulder, loosened by erosion, fell 225 feet (69 m) from the face of the waterfall into the upper cascade pool, above Benson Bridge. It caused a 70-foot (21 m) splash of water and gravel to wash over the footbridge, causing minor injuries to twenty members of a wedding party that happened to be on the bridge posing for photos at the time.

And now we are in Yakama, Washington visiting our father’s brother, Uncle Daniel & Aunt Betty and their family.

West

Grand Canyon

Sequoia National Park

Inside a sequoia tree.

Breakfast

Yosemite’s Bridal Veil Falls

Yosemite Falls

Kings Canyon

We have seen so many gigantic, mammoth trees in Sequoia and Kings Canyon that I can’t remember what we saw where.

Elephant Seals on the Pacific Coast

 Glen & my sister Coleen on the beautiful Pacific Coast.

 At McWay Falls …

… Clair Bleu did an en plein air of this scene.

From Here to There

Life … On the Road Again

We had a preview of Grand Canyon at this stop at Little Colorado River.

Coleen is mesmerized by the size of Grand Canyon.

In the tower at Grand Canyon.

Deep and wide, deep and wide, …

Each is trying to take it all in. Emily, Glen, Claire, Mother, Coleen, and Polly

This canyon is massive.

Yes, we got through without scrapping the top.

Our Route 66 Experience

We had a good breakfast here on Route 66.

Dustin and Gabriel, this picture of a teardrop camper is for you all.

The ceiling and part of the walls were covered with dollar bills, and other things.

We stopped at Sileigman for a memory back in time. I remember when we had a 1958 Edsel that was black with red wings, push buttons for the transmission, and how I could hardly wait until we would get a new car so that it could sit out behind the barn so I could “drive” it, push the buttons and turn the steering wheel.

In this large picture, can you find … Glen?

It seems like we stop to get gas way too often!

Hackberry’s General Store on Route 66

Mother remembers the old wringer washer and was telling me how she had to turn the crank to feed the clothes through the wringer into another tub.

Emily

The ceiling inside at Hackberry’s.

Out back was an old shop with more antiques.

These Berma Shave signs were also behind the store.

BIG MISTAKE – MANY MAKE -- RELY ON HORN -- INSTEAD OF BRAKE -- BERMA SHAVE

And just look at this old Corvette. The man inside the store said it’s worth $150,000.00

Hoover Dam

A small scale model showing how the concrete was poured for the dam.

Hoover Dam

Wonderful electricity.

It was hot out there, 110 degrees.

We saw our “ride” from way over across the dam coming to pick us up.

The new bridge over the Colorado River at Hoover Dam.

… as a Quilter

I love the bright colors, lines, and designs …