Off to Alaska

After three days of catching up, doing laundry, watering, and repacking we are ready to go to Bellingham to catch the ferry for our next big adventure. Think the weather this morning is just trying to get us ready for cooller days!

On Friday, Alan and I went to Malta after he was done with work. The good news of the day is that his house is sold!! Stayed with niece, Anna and husband Tom. We watched The Three Amigos and little did I know how important that was going to be for the rest of t he weekend. Saturday morning we went to Glasgow to visit John and Mary and their family. John is celebrating a milestone birthday and all of their kids were home. John thought the party was out to dinner on Saturday, but it was really a full blown surprise party on Sunday with The Thee Amigos as the theme. Everytime you turned around two or three were huddled making plans—it is a wonder he didn’t suspect. When they were at church, Alan and I made Mexican Wedding cakes. Later Sunday morning, John and Andy and Marcie and David went to do something in the country. The kitchen became a whirl of activity making tamales, burrito filling, chopping for fajitas and salsas. In the afternoon, we convinced John that I wanted to go to the play. When we returned the yard had been transformed with paper flowers, piñatas,and a painted scene from the movies by Tess. The yard was full of people and he really was surprised. All evening things happened that came from the movie including a random plane overhead that was quickly dubbed the male plane. The girls entertained with some movie lines and singing Little Buttercup. They have so much talent in the family and pulling this off was a team effort.
I’m writing this on the train heading back to Lake Stevens. Will post this when I get home as there is no wireless on the train. I did get home--train ride was long, but uneventful.

On the Highline

That's what they call the part of Montana that is along Highway 2, a highway which from the train looks like a glorified trail. We are visiting our son, Alan who moved to Havre in January and is now the news director at KOJM. They stream their broadcasts so we can listen to him from anywhere as he does the morning news and so can you at KOJM.com.

As I said earlier, Montana is very green for this time of year. There has been rain twice since our arrival. Have heard thunder, but haven't seen the lightning. I'm sure the wheat farmers dread those clouds every afternoon with the threat of hail. They just said on the radio that there was 1/4 of rain over the night and you might as well go the fair as you can't hay.

On Wednesday, Alan's girlfriend, Kodi, came to visit and to meet us. Apparently, she was are little nervous, but all went well. She is an English teacher in Malta so they do a lot of commuting. Believe next weekend is Alan's turn to meet her mother. We went out to dinner and I taught them to play Bananagrams. A game that Don has already opted out of!

Yesterday, Don boarded the train to go home for Aquafest and the Sr. games on Sunday. Sr. games is a rowing event in Olympia and Aquafest is Lake Steven's summer celebration. Alan was at the fairgrounds doing remotes so after I returned the rental car, I went to the fair while he worked. I checked out the 4-H exhibits and was very disappointed. They seem to make posters to represent some aspect of their project. I think of the amazing displays and projects at the Idaho County Fair and this was disappointing. When he was done we found a scone booth and except for not having jam choices for toppings they were as delicious as those at the Idaho County Fair.

Alan made pizza dough so I could watch as he hasn't been happy with is efforts prior. He did an excellent job--he thinks he wasn't kneading it enough. Had pizza last night after his meeting--put in a 13 hour day. He taught me a new card game when the Mariners got behind 5-1. Of course, we were drawn back when they made their comeback. Went to bed on the hope they would pull it off, but alas no go.

Until next time....

Train Ride

True form somehow Amtrak made the train station problem my fault!! Went to dinner with Carol and Dru. In the morning we went to REI and found the smallish travel bag I was looking for then they dropped us off at the "real" train station with several hours to kill. Luckily, it was a pleasant day temperature wise. We walked along the river walk until departure time. Train trip was uneventful except for the not sleeping well part. Photo is sunset on the LaCrosse River in Wisconsin. North Dakota and Montana are very green. Many hay bales in the field means there is going to be plenty of feed this winter for the cattle. Rented a car in Havre--they bring the cars to the train station for you--nice feature--yeah small community. Don and Alan are out getting a few happy hour supplies for the evening.

Things Were going so Well...

Vacation has been going great, flights on time, family fun, great food and then we got to Amtrak. We planned to take the train to see Alan in Montana. There is a station by the airport so took the shuttle over to it and waited and waited. Called to see what was up with the train only to discover that this particular station does not have service to Montana and that the person that I had asked and had been reassured by DIDNOT know what she was talking about. Lucky for us Carol and Dru are in Milwaukee also so they came and got us and will get us to the proper statiion tomorrow--will cut into our Montana visit. Just a wrinkle--all aboard tomorrow--we hope!

Wedding Celebration

Yesterday was the wedding celebration for Mark and Tarah. The actually got married in January, but chose this weekend to bring the families and friends together to celebrate. It was held in a state park. The morning was spent helping set up for all the guests. Tables were moved, decorations hung, food chopped and diced, transported. All to the oft repeated phrase "It's getting warmer." Games for the kids were scattered about. Water balloons helped with the cooling off. As the temps climbed into the 90's people gathered in the pavillion and in the shade of a big old tree to visit and enjoy the day. We wish them much happiness and joy in their life together.
Today, we head to Montana on the train. Stay tuned.

The Fun Begins

The first day of my long vacation was the best kind of Washington day, low 70's, blue skies--made me wonder for a moment if I really wanted to travel away from paradise. But only for a moment. Yesterday we met Pam at the airport for 5am breakfast before we boarded different flights for the Chicago area. Mount Rainier gave us a fabulous sendoff. In fact, at one point we could see all the major peaks down to Mount Hood.
We landed in Milwaukee, rented a car and went to visit Don's 90 year old aunt and uncle. They were happy we stopped in and it was good to see them again and share ice cream. Then it was off to Crystal Lake for the family gathering and wedding celebration taking place on Saturday. Pam was there when we arrived and Kevin, Wendy and the boys followed shortly. Mark and Tarah made ribs and with the yummy salads from his Mom we had a great feast. Good to be surrounded with family.

Almost time

Only one more week of work to go before we begin our 4 month adventure. Keep up with our travels by checking this blog. Will try to be faithful in posting.