Friday morning saw us heading east and south to the US Border crossing at Aldergrove. After satisfying the US Customs Service that we were neither terrorists nor wetbacks, we traveled to Lynden, WA, about 5 miles south of the border. Lynden was founded as a Dutch community, and many unusual rules established by the founders are still in effect. For example, no business can be conducted on Sunday, not even mowing the lawn or hanging out the laundry. Also, no dancing is allowed, except for the traditional Dutch clogging. Surprisingly, there is a liquor store next to the post office, but we’re told that the State requires it because of the size of the town (12,000). We walked the downtown and had a very good ‘comfort food’ dinner at Dutch Mothers.
Saturday morning we packed up and traveled about 15 miles west, to a farm where we met our friends, Pam and Karl. They spend several months each year at Karl’s Aunt Myrne’s farm, cleaning, repairing, mowing and other farm chores for his 96 year-old aunt. They took time off to show us around the area, including the Peace Arch Park at the Canadian border in Blaine, WA. The border runs right through the large arch, and there is a beautiful park on both sides of the border. In this area, a ‘secure border’ is a joke, since there is a community of homes on the Canadian side with no physical restriction to an adjacent park on the US side. We just walked across and back. Hmmm!
They also took us to Bellingham for lunch, then back that evening for dinner. Sometimes it seems like all we do is eat! The next day we picked a large bucket of wild blackberries on the farm and quickly froze them for cobblers & stuff at a later time. We’ve motorhomed with Pam and Karl, and also cruised with them. We last visited them at their new home near Albuquerque last fall and it was great to get together again.
On Labor Day we packed up and headed back to the Seattle area. We stayed at Lake Pleasant RV Park in Bothell, just north of Seattle. We’d stayed there for three days on the way north in May. Friends from Santa Rosa, Ron & Sue, came by just after we’d arrived and traveled with us (or more appropriately, we traveled with them) to Seven Cedars (Indian) Casino in Sequim, on the Olympic Peninsula.
Longtime friends, Mike and Carol, were playing in a band at the casino that afternoon, and we thoroughly enjoyed their music, as did a large contingent of other folks who obviously love to dance to a live band. Their music covered the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s and was great to listen and dance to. The band’s schedule didn’t allow much time for visiting, so we’ll come back one of these days to catch up with Mike and Carol.
Monday morning we drove over to Ron & Sue’s new home in Sammamish, a suburb just east of Seattle. After Ron retired from the City of Santa Rosa, they decided to move closer to their two daughters and their families who live in the Sammamish area. They also motorhome, so now that school is back in session, they’re about to head for their other home in Indiana so they can spend time with Sue’s mother and catch up on the second home’s chores. They’ll leave their motorhome in New Mexico and return to spend time in that area when winter arrives in Washington. Tom and Ron worked together at the City, so we really had a good time catching up with them. We had lunch at the beautiful Newcastle Golf Club near their home. 
We then went to Snoqualmie Falls, a gorgeous spot that Tom had visited about 45 years ago, but that Debbie has never seen. There are two power plants at the falls, one built in 1898, and the other in 1910. Snoqualmie River drops 270 feet, 100 feet higher than Niagara. We finished the day with dinner at a Japanese restaurant and enjoyed some sushi as we usually do when dining with Ron and Sue.
From Seattle, we headed to Deer Park, WA, near Spokane where we’ll spend about 10 days with Debbie’s Aunt Alice and Uncle Charles, AKA Skeet. We’ll tell you about our adventures with them the next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment