Road trip to Washington state

 

The other night  Carol and Barry had 10 of their friends over for card playing. Randy would have loved it. Everyone brings a dish of food. Carol did baby back ribs which were soooo good. One of her friends Debbie bought a starter of Brie baked in apricot jam with tomato pesto and pecans. I must admit I didn’t fancy that, I think it was the apricot jam that turned me off but I have to say it was very very nice.    Warm and drizzled over bread … you should try it. I’m going to when I get home. Someone bought Tater tots (Which are like potato croquettes) and someone bought salad with gorgeous dressings. Someone else bought dessert which was German chocolate cake. The icing on this cake had coconut in it and the cake itself was delicious. These card games take place every week in each other’s houses and I’ve learnt a great game called Hand & Foot. Can’t wait for next weeks delights. I can feel I’ve gained weight since I arrived here. My jeans are feeling a little snug ! Hey ho… x

So this morning we are up bright and early ..well early at least … and packed the car up for our trip to Washington state. Carol and Barry’s son and his family live there. It’s a 13 hour trip so we wont get there til late tonight and will stay until Monday. Luckily there are Starbucks on the way and we can stop often for refills .

It’s quite warm in Oakley when we leave but they have had snow in Washington the last few days so I’m taking plenty of warm jumpers and my boots. When I said this to Barry he laughed as they don’t call them jumpers and he thought I meant trousers or skirt with a bib…. like dungarees…haha

Driving up to Washington, I can see snow covered mountains ahead of me which are 100 miles away.  We will be going right past them later so will try to take some pictures. We follow Lake Shasta for about 20 miles and it’s absolutely beautiful with gorgeous red beaches in places. All the way Carol is asking Siri interesting facts about Lake Shasta. How long is Lake Shasta? 365 miles. How deep is Lake Shasta? 517 feet deep. What’s the water volume of Lake Shasta ? 198 billion cubic feet. I’m sure at the end of it I heard Siri say. ‘Jeez Carol… what is it with you and this Lake Shasta ?’

We then come to Mount Shasta which is 14,179 feet high. It’s huge.  Not a great photo as it’s up in the clouds today !

When we reach Oregon we stop for fuel and stretch our legs again. A guy comes out of the Chevron garage and serves us our fuel and cleans our windscreen, reminds me of a past life that me and my family grew up into. Barry says that you aren’t allowed to pump your own fuel in the state of Oregon, it’s against the law so all service stations are attendant service….looking around everything seems like 30 years ago and it was funny to see the other attendant smoking a cigarette…. cannot imagine that in the UK.

We drive through Seattle and arrive in Washington at about 11pm to meet Carol and Barry’s family, including baby Miley and their little cute dog Michi (which means ‘Here Kitty Kitty !!!).    The next few days will be spent helping their son with some work he’s doing to his outbuilding… and exploring Washington.  The weather here is just like the UK.  Cold, cloudy and damp, but I’ve heard Washington is beautiful… I’ll let you know….

I face timed Alex and Randy yesterday.  It seems Barney our dog has not been well and they didn’t like to tell me while I was away.    His face swelled up and they had to take him to the vet.  He had an abscess in his mouth and had to have teeth removed and some antibiotics.   Poor Barney…. they say he’s a lot better today…

Dont forget to listen to my update this Saturday Morning 9am -11am   (UK  time) on Martins show CO9.  Here’s the link

http://www.internet-radio.com/station/co9/

Here’s some more pics taken over the last few days

Their fancy game of scrabble !

Carol & Barrys laundry room.  The size of those washers !

 

Until next time ….