Day 231: 10-30-20 (Friday)
Today we headed out on our little weekend trip. We are calling it our Unconventional Halloween Tour! Since COVID cases are soaring in our area and we can't do our usual Halloween things...parties, trunk-or-treat, and trick-or-treating... we brainstormed what we COULD do that would be sufficiently spooky and fun over Halloween weekend. We decided to go see three live volcanos, a haunted lighthouse, and explore Big Foot country all while social distancing. Our plans had to include not visiting anyone, not eating in restaurants, and trying to find spooky outside locations. Challenge accepted!!
We left Spokane this morning and headed toward the west side of the state. We stopped for lunch in Yakima at the *famous* drive-in Miners. It was too much greasy food. Huge portions. It was good but too much for all of us. Sadly, we ended up throwing most of it away.
After that we did the beautiful White Pass drive through the Cascades. My mom loved this drive but I had never done it. It was such a beautiful Fall day and the colors were amazing!! The pass was gorgeous!
We stopped and hiked around a bit at Clear Creek Falls. It was SO pretty!!
We were the only people there and it was so nice!!
After we left and were driving further up the pass we had a weird thing happen. We saw this guy come stumbling out of the forest and onto the road. It is a two lane road and we had to kind of swerve around him. We were on the phone talking to Reilly when that happened. We were like, "Where did he come from?!" since there aren't any houses around there. We slowed down to look back behind us and he was totally gone. Literally no sign of him. We thought it was super weird but hung up with Reilly and continued on our way. Reilly called us back about 10 minutes later to tell us about the ghost of White's Pass. A missing hiker who has reportedly been *seen* on White Pass. LOL. Well that got our Halloween trip off on a interesting start!
Shortly after that we got our first glimpse of our favorite volcano. Mount Rainier is impressive, majestic, and ominous. Every Washingtonian at one time or another thinks about what could/will happen when that mountain erupts. Spokane was buried under heaps of ash when Mount St. Helen's erupted and longtime residents have crazy stories to tell. Rainier is much closer and the destruction would be more severe. You can't look at that mountain without thinking "what if" but it sure is beautiful!
The mountain was *kind of* out. Rainier is definitely awe-inspiring but unlike the Utah mountains that I love that seem so sure, dependable, and steadfast... Rainier has an unpredictability and unreliability to it and rightly so. I always think "Is today the day?" Hey, it's 2020. Don't count anything out.
After that we continued onto our next stop... Packwood, WA. It is the cutest little town. My friend Karli lives there but she is currently in the hospital in Seattle trying not to have her baby who isn't close to being due. She is in our prayers!! Anyway Karli has talked about several great vintage shops in Packwood and she was absolutely right! I grabbed furniture and vintage Christmas decor (some that I am keeping for myself!) and old books. It was incredible. Even better... at check out the guy gave us several things for free! It was awesome!!
We got back in the car and our next stop was Riffe Lake a place known for its Sasquatch sightings. Add hairy monsters to the Halloween tour!
Riffe Lake was absolutely gorgeous! No other people or Sasquatch were sighted. LOL.
We had fun looking around and then we loaded up because we were trying to get a glimpse of our second volcano before dark. We were headed to Mount St. Helens!! We have never been and it is something that Tyler and I have always wanted to see since we were kids. The eruption of Mount St. Helens was such a memorable and definitive time from our childhoods.
The idea that there were live volcanoes in the United States was exciting and scary to eight year-old Kristin and nine year-old Tyler. I remember teachers talking a lot about it in school. Spokane and North Idaho were covered in ash. My grandparents said that it looked like a blizzard had dumped inches of snow but in May and it was ash. It was a nightmare to get rid of and ruined cars and made life a mess for months. My Aunt Ade and Uncle John have told us stories about what it was like for them. They were living in Spokane at the time. Spokane was covered in over 4 inches of ash. You weren't supposed to run your car it could ruin the engine. They had to walk everywhere and people wore gas masks. I remember my grandparents sending us a pill bottle full of Mount St. Helens ash that I took to school to show my class. When we came up in July and were at my grandparents house in Bonners Ferry; we had gone with my grandma to pick up some fruit and it looked like light snow was falling but it was still sporadic ash that continued to fall. It was crazy.
We weren't sure what to expect as we approached the Mount St. Helen's area. Would we see the crater from miles away? Do you have to drive up the mountain to it? We were trying to at least get a glimpse before dark. To get to Mount St. Helens you leave the nearest small town and start winding up the mountain for about 45 minutes. It was starting to get dark and the weather was not helping. As we started up the mountain it got foggy and cold. There didn't seem to be any other cars on the winding road.
We went to multiple viewpoints and could see nothing! It was like Lake Superior all over again. LOL.
We stopped at this lake that formed when the eruption occurred. We got out and walked around with Beverly who was ready for a break from the car. It was super eerie. No other people anywhere.
Darkness was falling, fog was settling, and we knew that somewhere...VERY NEAR... but out of sight ...Mount St. Helens loomed. The vibe up there was very spine-tingly and very apropos that close to Halloween. So despite not being able to see the mountain and crater we could feel it and it was creepy.
As we headed down the mountain...still the only car on the road...we saw all kinds of animal life. We saw a coyote. Something we couldn't identify slinked out of the woods. We almost hit a deer that jumped in front of us. There were all kinds of night birds in the road too. One hit our window shield. It was weird.
After we got off the mountain, we drove to Longview, WA where our hotel was and checked in. Tyler's boss, Rachel, is from here and recommended that we get take-out from a local Chinese restaurant. She said it was fantastic and that they have to eat there every time they visit. She was RIGHT! Wow! It was amazing! By that time it was about 9 pm and we were exhausted. We ate and crashed.
Day 232: 10-31-20 (Saturday)
Happy Halloween!! To celebrate Tyler and the girls did an early morning donut run to the best little donut shop! They had crullers!! Spokane does not have these. They are my favorite donuts. We stopped in at a few shops to look for Sisters Creed merchandise. We found some cute things. Every trip is a buying trip!
We did the coast drive from Longview to Cape Disappointment. Somehow we found ourselves inadvertently in the middle of a Trump parade on this little winding coastal road. There were all of these cars and trucks with their Trump flags flying and our regular car sandwiched in between for several miles before they all finally turned off.
Once we managed to extricate ourselves from the parade we stopped at several places along the drive to enjoy the absolute beauty that surrounded us.
The weather was so nice! Sunny, warm, and gorgeous!!
Then we were off to Cape Disappointment, WA. It is such a beautiful and yet not well known area. Tyler's mom and step-dad spent two summers here as volunteers. We visited them the last summer they were working there and fell in love with the area. The WA coast is gorgeous.
First up was Waikiki Beach. We needed to get to the water! But as we were getting out of the car and putting on our boots look who popped up. They look so cute but they are MEAN! Ailey and I ran for our lives!! Tyler took the picture while hysterically laughing. There was a family of them... yikes!
Ailey and I, in our run of terror, ran right to this sign which was unsettling too!!
The beach!! I love it so much!!
Cape Disappointment Lighthouse...not the haunted one.
Even Beverly had fun running around on the beach!
We went up onto the bluff to the visitors center. It was closed due to COVID but we've been before and gone on the tour. We didn't mind wandering around and just looking at that gorgeous view!
There were a few people up on top and walking around but it was very easy to social distance.
We saw a bald eagle.
Waikiki Beach is small so we drove on down the road to Benton Beach which is nice and long!! We got our miles in! We played and ran around on the beach most of the day.
After that we went to the North Head Lighthouse...the haunted one...the one where Judie and Joel have been tour guides. It is beautiful!!
On our walk we found a whole bunch of these guys!! Our first fuzzy caterpillar sighting of the year.
We used to call these woolly bears. I'm not sure why. Will the winter harsh and long? The brown band says no. I hope it isn't! Coincidentally my mom also called footie pajamas woolly bears. LOL. As in... "It's going to be cold tonight. You might want to wear your wooly bears." For the record I hated footie pajamas. I had to unzip them every night that I was forced to wear them to free my feet! Ha ha! My kids loved them. Although Kam's little feet used to get so sweaty in them that they would get "pickled" and "pruney" and we would have to cut the feet part off of his pajamas so that his feet could air out. Ha ha!
Gorgeous North Head Lighthouse!
The story goes that the lighthouse keeper's wife was unhappy and lonely and jumped to her death one night from the cliff. Grandpa Joel said that weird things do happen here and we believe him. You can also watch Ghost Adventures. There is an episode about the lighthouse and the caretaker's home that is also haunted. The episode is super cheesy though.
When Judie and Joel were working here we got to go up into the light part of the lighthouse. It was one of the coolest things I have done. It was stunning!!
The trees here are like something out of a Grimms fairytale. I wish I could capture them better!
We actually found the red and white mushrooms that are always pictured in fairytales too!
The haunted caretaker's house. People say that sometimes someone will appear in the upstairs window. You can rent this out for family gatherings... um...no thanks!
This beautiful sight is actually called Deadman's Hollow due to all of the shipwrecks that occurred here.
After that we were starving so we drove to Astoria, Oregon on our way back to Longview. Astoria is so picturesque. We have come here a few times and visited the Goonies house and things like that. Today as we drove through downtown kids were starting to trick-or-treat. People were out walking and it was festive and beautiful. We made a beeline for this place:
Custard King!
They have frozen custard with lemon curd! It is the most fabulous thing EVER!!
As we drove back to Longview we were jamming out to the best Halloween music playlist! We watched this beauty rise in the night sky...the Halloween Full Blue Moon...and it was STUNNING!
We got back to our hotel that night and chowed down on Chinese food and watched a Harry Potter movie marathon until we all crashed. We declared it one of our very best...if unconventional...Halloweens!
Our cute little gnome!
Happy Halloween!!
Day 233: 11-1-20 (Sunday)
Today we woke up to dreaded Daylight Savings time. Can we get rid of it please?!
Try dusk at 3:30pm and dark by 4pm in Spokane. NOT my favorite time of year!
Since those donuts were so good yesterday Tyler and the girls went back for a couple more this morning. Low and behold they had my very favorite donut...the cherry crueller!!
Then we were off on our next adventure! The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and we were headed for Mount St. Helens!!
This time we saw it!!
I couldn't believe how close we could get to the crater. It is quite an amazing sight. I had no idea how cool it would be!!
We just kept getting closer and closer!!
This graphic gives a good perspective of what happened when the mountain erupted!! 2020 was the 40th anniversary of the eruption that killed 57 people. It is the most likely volcano to erupt again in the USA.
The best view was from Johnston Ridge. The visitors center was closed for the season but you could get out and hike all over. We definitely want to come back!! It is such an interesting place. We have friends who camped here last summer. That would be cool!
You can see part of Spirit Lake at the top of the photo.
From here you can see Mt. Adams...our third volcano of the trip...in the distance.
Even closer!
It is unsettling and mesmerizing to stare into that crater while looking at the destruction below that still remains 40 years later!
If you have never been to Mount St. Helens I HIGHLY recommend it! It is worth it!
The area around Mount St. Helen's is also known for its Sasquatch activity. So of course we were into it.
We met a legit Sasquatch researcher! His name is Joe Bongiovanni. He has been on the Animal Planet show Finding Bigfoot and will be on another show set to come out in the spring. He was one of the most interesting people I have ever met...no surprise there! LOL. He was really cool.
He showed us all of his artifacts and some very *interesting* pictures on his phone that were sent to him from all over the USA. He was quite a character with some great stories!! We talked to him for over an hour. He let us tour his tricked out research hummer and mess around with his equipment. It was really fun!
We exchanged information and he offered to take us out Sasquatch hunting the next time we were in town. We just need to give him a call. LOL. Seriously though...how often do you meet a Sasquatch researcher?!
After we were down off the mountain we stopped at a convenience store to get snacks for the drive back to Spokane and from that vantage point we could see all three volcanoes at once...Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and Mt. St. Helens. Did we take a picture? No...we were too busy digging into our Bugles but trust me we marveled and it was quite the spectacular sight.
When we hit White's Pass this time the mountain was MOST DEFINITELY out!! Mt. Rainier was in all of its GLORY!!
On our way home we had the most fantastic take-out mexican food that we snarfed in the car in Yakima. Not much induces us to drive to Yakima...thus far it has only been this trip and twice to attend State for Dance Team... but we just might visit again just to eat there. Ha ha! We got home around 9pm which was great! What a fun trip!!
Day 234: 11-2-20 (Monday)
Today we are home and back in the swing of things!! Ailey found out that she won the Halloween cupcake contest for her Prostart class. She was pretty excited about that! They really were super cute Halloween cupcakes!!
Tonight we video chatted with Kameron. He called us while we were on our trip in a panic because the package that we had sent him had gone missing and they contained his "winter boots" that he had requested for those harsh Minnesota winters. Here's the picture of his alleged winter boots. Insert my eyeroll here.
Yes, those are North Face Vans high tops. We just sent them. Arguing with an almost 20 year old male is fruitless. Enjoy Elder! The good news was that there had been an office snafu at his apartment complex and his package was found. No one stole his winter boots and he was THRILLED!!
The Presidential election is tomorrow and I am DREADING it!
Day 235: 11-3-20 Election Day (Tuesday)
Today I tried to stay away from the news and social media as much as possible. I can't take the intolerance. Vote for who you want and believe what you want and I will do the same thank you very much!!
Ailey had her dental appointment and got her cavity filled. Kirk and I met with our attorney today. Me in person and Kirk via conference call. It went well. Having to deal with siblings who are out of touch with reality concerning our mother's estate is beyond frustrating. The negativity of it all is a drain and I refuse to let my sisters behavior dictate how I live my life and how I interact with people. Let the attorneys hash it out. This has brought both Kirk and I a modicum of peace.
I made my mom's chili and my grandma's cornbread for dinner tonight. We needed some comfort food while we waited for the election results to roll in. Stressful. No president declared yet.
