Why I Love Washington (The Really Long Version)

Got my photos back from my trip to Washington. Looking through them made me smile all over again. It was such a fun trip. (As you will read about in a minute.) However...my pictures were not so great. I will happily blame the disposable camera, but perhaps I was NOT supposed to use the flash every time. I don't know what to do with those things?? So, you will notice some really washed out people. And yes, I am usually pale, but perhaps not that pale.

I arrived on Friday night and my Mom picked me up at the airport and took me to the house for some home cooked deliciousness. (My mom cooked for me the whole time and I have to admit that I loved it all. She is an excellent cook and I felt royally pampered. Mom, if I didn't say thank you...THANK YOU. You are wonderful.)

Saturday was my day to catch up with friends. Most of the time when I visit WA, I just see family, but I still have some great friends and since Tyler let me have an extra day, I made good use of it.

First: Karen.

I. LOVE. Her. She is fabulous beyond words. We just hung out and talked, and caught up. We went to a Farmer's market where we had Empanadas and Green Smoothies. (Okay, mine was purple.)

We bought more yummy food and brought it home to munch on. Everything was so tasty. Karen introduced me to Spanish Valencian Almonds and goat cheese. Extraordinary.

And her house!!! Everything in it was so perfect. It felt like home the minute I walked in. And do you want to see the coolest thing? Of course you do. Check out her dishes...

They are all pottery. She even has a colander made from pottery. Actually, you can find pottery all over her house, but I especially liked that all her dishes and cups were handmade. It was kinda zen for me. I would love to have a collection like that, but right now I can only imagine my children breaking pieces and small parts of my brain exploding. So, we'll hold off on that for now.

It was so sad to say goodbye. I see her once in a blue moon. I feel my life is better having known her. We go way back. We worked and played together a LOT in high school. She is my pea in a pod. But hopefully it won't be as long before I see her again.

The good news was that I got to go straight from seeing her to seeing another good friend of mine. This is Kara. (And her super cute family.)

Kara is expecting in October and her husband, John, talked her into waiting to find out what gender the baby will be. I am so excited for her. (I never could wait.) I haven't seen her for a while either. Look how young Kylie is here. We simply ate dinner and talked. (Funny how when you are a kid you see adults talking and it looks so boring, but I love catching up now.) Kara and I snapped a photo together also.

And I got the baby a gift (Waldo!) but Kylie said she would be nice enough to find him first so she could show the baby.

(Man, you gotta love Waldo. My Mom gave me several Waldo books to take home from her collection, and my kids have LOVED them.)

Kara lives across the Narrows Bridge. I was very safe and took pictures while I was driving. (Okay, maybe that isn't safe, but I didn't have the option to pull over on the bridge.)

And here is the great Puget Sound. I miss the water and greenery. Oh, and the weather was perfect the entire time I was there.

My parents are downsizing. They have enough stuff to fill a museum. My Mom has an extensive library and she is finally getting rid of a lot of her books. Namely because she has a Nook and can get a lot of them in digital copy. She told me that I could look through and take anything I wanted. I casually glanced at them and said I would take a couple. But after going through, I had four stacks and had to take an extra suitcase home. I really love books. Here is one of the walls of books I looked through.

There were two more walls that I browsed as well. It is probably just as well that I was flying or I would have taken a whole carload with me.

I should note on here that I was very good about keeping to my training schedule for my Half Marathon. Wait, I haven't even blogged about that. Don't you love when I throw you curve balls. Okay, remind me to blog about running sometime. Anyway, I ran on the treadmill while I was there, and then I even ran four miles the morning we went to the fair. Washington is full of hills, so I purposely ran up hill first. I didn't think I was going to make it, but downhill put the wind back in my sails. Phew...

Also, I slept at Miranda's apartment one night. The bed in my parent's guest room does not really agree with my back. They must argue all night because I wake up very sore. Miranda was nice enough to loan me her bed for one evening. And of course we watched some movies and bonded like only sisters can.

The next morning was the FAIR!! One of the main reasons I come out to Washington is to go to the Puyallup fair. I didn't enter any thing this year, but Mom entered SIX things. Go Mom! I was supposed to go out in the morning with my Dad, but he wasn't feeling all too great, so instead Miranda came with me. Best trip to the fair. EVER. We had such a blast.

First, we started at the stitchery section. We were scouting the area for Mom so we could warn her if she didn't get any ribbons. Well, that was hardly the case. Five of her six pieces earned a ribbon. One 1st, one 2nd, one 3rd, and two honorable mentions. I meant to take a picture of her by her crosstitches, but I forgot. But here is my wonderful mother. (No, she is not that pale either.)

From the craft building, Miranda and I browsed the fair, seeing the sights. We stopped by the hobby hall and collected some cool coins. (Impressed that we both found our birth year.) We looked through the collections and both loved the slinky one. Clearly some little girl loves slinkies and our favorite part is that she has a name for each one. You can't see them, but that list in the center is all their names. Sweet.

After a bit, I decided that I wanted some ice cream. There is a dairy there that makes the yummiest ice cream. I decided on a vanilla strawberry soft serve twist. It was huge and looked so delicious. I thought I would offer Miranda a bite before I dug in. I leaned the cone her way and said, "Would you like a bite?" She seemed unsure and I held my stance thinking that I could convince her and then suddenly....

...the entire ice cream leapt off my cone and onto her shirt. I have never seen anything like it. I scooped it off her and put it back on the cone, but I couldn't stop laughing. We must have laughed in a crowd of on-lookers for what seemed like forever. I cried off half my makeup. That is what happens if you don't take a bite. I will just throw it on you. Really, you had to be there. We giggled about it for a long time. I still smile thinking about it. And I'm happy that Miranda was so nice about it. Not everyone laughs when you throw ice cream on them. :)

Mom, Dad, and Tim eventually joined us. We split up to go do different things. Tim and I went on a roller coaster while the rest of them visited a new exhibit called the Rain Forest. Tim and I always have fun.

When we met back up, we were told that the Rain Forest was a must see, so we got back in line for it. We, being the three stooges. (Please pardon my tired eyes...please recall that I cried off half my makeup earlier.)

The Rain Forest was full of exotic and interesting animals. I liked the porcupine the most, although he was sleeping. There were some things you could touch too, like hedgehogs and a scorpion. Yes, you heard me correctly...a scorpion. I did NOT touch it, although it seemed fairly harmless. Still, you can never be too careful. Miranda on the other hand had no fear. Look at her.

She is holding a SCORPION!! I decided to touch the giant tortoise instead. He looked pretty vicious. You know, if he hadn't been sleeping.

We went on a couple more rides after that. The Pirate ride was the worst ride I have EVER been on. Hands down. Miranda said she could have held her breath through the whole ride since it wasn't very long. Most of the automated pirates inside were broken with hanging jaws or droopy heads. And the only scary thing was the loud buzzer noise that threatened to give you a headache. Lame. Two thumbs down.

The Giant Slide was more fun, but I totally lost to Tim. Look how far ahead he was.

I got to the bottom and mumbled something about the slide being really slow, and the lady told me I was in the slow lane. Sheesh, they should have a sign at the top.

The scones were yummy as always. We used the rest of our fair food dollars and stocked up on our way home. Good thing too, because I got lost going home and we might have all perished from famine if not for the scones. It actually wasn't too long of a detour, but once again, it was nice to be with relaxed people who were very nice about the scenic route and added time together. There was a really cool red sun going down on the horizon.

Oddly, there was one in the morning too. Pollution? Smoke? The Apocalypse? Who knows.

And then my trip was over. I did not get a picture with Dad. I should have taken a picture when I thought about it, but I forgot. But he was there, and I love him too. At the airport I wore my hair in a bun and they actually frisked my head. I'm sure it is because I look like a ninja and that is where we keep our throwing stars.

Tyler picked me up. What a sight for sore eyes. It is great to be with family, but oh so great to come back to family too. I am one spoiled girl.