This month's calendar                         Archives                            Our Google Calendar                   

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

So much is going on this week so I will try to start at the beginning. Last Friday, we headed up to Montesano, Washington to stay with some steamer friends, Harv and Kim Lillegard who had invited us to be on their steamboat for the Seattle Opening Day Boat parade. We spent Friday night at their house and then we all got up early the next morning and left for Seattle. After that we launched their steamboat and headed to Lake Union where the rest of the steamboats were gathering for the parade. We steamed together along the Montlake Cut to Lake Washington along with a variety of other boats. After the parade, we rafted together alongside the sailboat Pendragon (which belongs to some other steamers) which was anchored out in the lake and had a party. It was a beautiful sunny day and we came back later that evening with a sun burn from being out in the water all day. We decided to spend another night at the Lillegard's before we headed for home on Sunday morning.

On Sunday after we arrived home, I spent the rest of the day getting ready for our east coast trip. There was a little yard work I wanted to get done, some laundry to do and bills to pay before we left. We got our bags down from the attic and got everything organized and packed so that we could be ready to go the next morning.

We had made plans to meet our daughter and two granddaughters for lunch at the Oregon Garden in Silverton on Monday. Paige had turned 11 the second week of April and Leslie was going to be celebrating her birthday later this month while we are gone on our trip so it was a "birthday" lunch for those two. We had a nice lunch with Leslie, Ashtin and Paige and then it was over we drove to our other daughter's house in West Linn. Lara was going to drive us to the airport later that evening and keep our car while we were away on vacation. She dropped us off at the airport in plenty of time so we could catch the "red-eye" to Chicago around 11:00 p.m.

It was a long 4 hour flight and neither Dave nor I could get very much sleep on the plane. So by the time we arrived in Chicago at 5:00 a.m. Central Time, we were really dragging. We had a three-hour layover before our next flight to Baltimore so we grabbed an Egg McMuffin and a hot cup of coffee and that seemed to refresh us for the next leg of the journey. I also took a long walk around the airport terminal to stretch my legs after sitting for so long.

By the time we arrived in Baltimore it was raining hard. What is wrong with this picture? When we left Portland for our vacation it was 85 degrees and sunny and when we arrived in Baltimore it was 60 degrees and raining! But the weather didn't dampen our spirits any and our good friends Stan and Laura Mushaw met us at the airport and took us to their place in Woodbridge, Virginia. We had a nice meal and visited for awhile but by 9:00 p.m. East Coast time, I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. Isn't that 6:00 p.m. Pacific time? Never mind. After a solid night's sleep, I woke up refreshed and ready to go the next day.

Since rain was still in the forecast, we planned on an indoor activity for Wednesday. First, a little history. Our friend Stan is a retired Air Force Colonel who was involved in space and satellite intelligence kinds of things. So, it was only natural that the first day, we went to the Udvar-Hazy Center at the National Air and Space Museum which is part of the Smithsonian. It was fascinating to say the least. We spent all day looking at various airplanes which included the Enola Gay (the B-29 that dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima), the Concord, the Space Shuttle Discovery, the Pam Am Flying Clipper and many, many more. We even saw an IMAX movie on the Hubble Space Telescope. Speaking of the Enola Gay, the docent on our tour pointed out the man who was responsible for the plane's renovation. It turns out it was a friend of Stan's who was at the Pentagon with him. Long story short, we may get another tour of the museum with him later in our trip. How cool is that? Anyway, we left the museum just in time to miss a big-time thunder and lightning storm along with a drenching downpour of rain.

The next day, the agenda included a trip to Arlington National Cemetery. We had a beautiful day and the weather was perfect. The cemetery was very emotional as we looked upon rows and rows of grave markers. We took a tour bus around and it would stop at various interest points. Our first stop was the Kennedy grave site with the eternal flame, and then it was on to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where we watched the changing of the guard and the laying of the wreath. That meant a lot because Ashtin was part of the group that got to lay the wreath in that ceremony a year ago. We saw the Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial too. Then, we were dropped off at the Robert E. Lee House where the view of Washington, D.C. was spectacular. We toured the inside of the Lee House and the slave quarters before we headed back to our car. We stopped for a late lunch near the Pentagon and then headed back to our friend's home in Virginia. What a great day.

Our friends, Stan and Laura have truly been the perfect hosts. They are quite familiar with the area and Laura has planned each day of sightseeing. They have opened their home to give us a room in which to spend our time. They are super people and we are ever to grateful for their generosity. We wouldn't know what we would do without them. Now if we can only get them back to Oregon to return the favor.