Serving and Seeking: 2013

Day 31 -
Sunday, Sept 22 - Clouds and some rain from Tacoma to Medford, OR

We left Tacoma about 9am. Our first stop was...coffee! Joe tried the coffee house called Batdorf & Bronson. It failed the test! Since I am not as particular as he is, I took that cup of coffee and Joe got his Starbucks! We were both happy.

Washington State Capitol Building

We stopped at the Woodburn Outlet Stores. We have stopped there many time before. I found some nice shirts and jacket for running and hiking in cool weather. It was raining quite a bit. We didn't stay long.

Found some deals

Rain!

The rain cleared away!

Beautiful Oregon!

We spent the night in a nice Hilton in Medford, Oregon. We checked in about 6pm, so we were able to enjoy the room. It was a one room suite! It was the nicest room that we stayed in. It was a great way to end our trip. While I got caught up writing and going through the photos, Joe went out to get us some dinner. We had a relaxing evening.

Our lovely suite!

Day 32 –

Monday, Sept 23 – Last day on the road. Home again home again jiggity jig

We got up early and had a good continental breakfast at the hotel. We drove a short ways and stopped at a coffee house in Ashland. Ashland is a small town just north of the Oregon/CA border. It is known for their Shakespeare Festival. Joe said that his coffee was the best cup of coffee that he has had on the trip. Again, a great way to end our trip. We shared a couple of muffins and I enjoyed my cup of tea.

I was cool outside but the clouds were beginning to clear. The landscape was beautiful.

We drove south on the 5 Freeway to the 89 and started heading southeast. We stopped in the town of McCloud. This is our fourth stop in McCloud. McCloud is my maiden name, so it is fun to go there. There is a candy store that we used to always take the girls to. We went again this time and bought some candy for ourselves. I also bought a shirt that says McCloud on it. We walked around their little main street and got a Post Office cancellation stamp. The air was crisp and the sun was warm. So nice.

McCloud Candy Store

We continued to drive southeast on the 89 to the 44. We drove past beautiful Mt. Shasta and Mt. Lassen. The landscape continued to be beautiful for many miles.

Mt. Shasta

We didn’t stop for lunch until we got to Reno, NV. We found a restaurant on Yelp; the same way we found many of the restaurants that we ate at on this trip. The restaurant was Zpie. We had gourmet pot pies. I had a southwestern one and Joe had a beef one. They were delicious. Part of the profit in the company goes to a home to help kids that have aged out of the foster care system and need help with life and carrier skills. We were impressed at how clean Reno was.

We drove on to Carson City and visited the state capitol building. It looked like one the oldest capitols that we have been in and definitely one of the smallest. There wasn’t even any security when we went in, but it was very nice.

Nevada Capitol Building

We drove on from there looking for ice cream. I regret to say that we never found any. We reentered California and started our southwest trek home on the 295. The landscape changed as we drove. It was the prettiest when we got close to Yosemite. As Joe drove, we just enjoyed the landscape, listened to Family Life programs and ate snacks that we had in the car. We bought some kettle corn way back at the popcorn festival in Beavercreek, OH and finally finished it. I must say, it was a BIG bag.

We stopped for Starbucks in Bishop and I got my second pumpkin spice latte on the trip and Joe got a coffee. We only had three more hours to go. We arrived home about 11pm and were greeted by our 2 dogs, Abby and Lance and Spice our wonderful cat. We were so thankful to be home. We were so blessed by God on this entire trip!

Day 28 –

Thursday, Sept 19 – Our first day in Tacoma

We arrived last night to Joe's mom's (Martha) house. It was a slow morning; so nice. Joe and I went to Costco and bought some warm clothes and socks. Then we drove around a really nice residential area that has nice old houses and a view of the Puget Sound. We also did some shopping in a really fancy market, Metropolitan Market.

For lunch, Matt (our nephew), Connie (Joe’s sister), and John (our brother-in-law) came over. We had lunch and lots of talking, teasing and laughing. One reason we came to Washington to attend Matt's wedding on Saturday.

Then Joe and I sat outside while he enjoyed a cigar. The weather was very nice today. Then we watched television while I work wrote and worked on pictures.

Day 29 –

Friday, Sept 20 – Second day in Tacoma

We had coffee at a nice coffee house in Tacoma called Anthem. Joe and Martha had coffee and I had a pumpkin tea. The location is next the old train station and glass museum.

Then we walked around the older area of Proctor in Tacoma. I found some shoes, skirt suit and something for Madalyn at a nice consignment store. Nice area.

Sparky the fish in front of the fire station

Beautiful day in Tacoma!

In the evening we attended the rehearsal dinner for our nephew, Matt and his fiancee, Holly. It was at the Watershed Cafe in Olympia. We had a great time getting to know other family members of Matt and Holly. Ate great food and laughed a lot.

Joe, his mom, niece Alex and sister Connie

Matt, Holly, Alex, Connie
Me, Joe and Martha

Day 30 –

Saturday, Sept 21 – Wedding Day

We just had a quiet morning at Martha’s house. John spent the night too. We all had breakfast together and then Joe and John went out to get coffee. I stayed at the house to work on my blog.

We did drive around the area and saw some beautiful homes with great views of the Puget Sound.

The wedding was at 2 o’clock, but we got there at 1 for pictures. Rain was forecast all day, but God graciously provided party cloudy beautiful weather. The facility, ceremony and reception were enjoyable and beautiful.