Trip to visit Debbie and Joe

We headed out at 1:45 pm Friday to pick up Nathan before heading north.  We decided to detour to Rainier National Park on our way.  Because we decided to do that we left on Friday with the idea of spending the night close to the park.  That way we could see some of the highlights of the park and still get to Debbie and Joe's at a reasonable time.  

Riffe Lake Overlook was very scenic.

View of the Mt Rainier (or Mt Tacoma) from the motel in Packwood

In front of our room at the motel.  After checking in we drove on up the the park to get at least one walk in before dinner.

We headed to the Ohanapecosh Area Trails.

Sure is pretty

Silver Falls

After checking out the falls we walked the trail a ways. 

We found an overlook view point

We checked out the Ohanapecosh campgrounds.  Looks a lot like Honeyman State Park in Oregon.  

"Gosh, they have wifi here!" "No, mom, that's the direction to the amphitheater."

Kids swimming in the stream!! Brrrr! It is glacier water.

Then we drove back to Packwood for dinner.  Not a lot of choices.  In fact, there were only 2 choices.

We ate at the Blue Spruce Saloon.  Food was ok.  Not necessarily one I would hurry to go back to.

I had a patty melt.

I wonder if there was a fancy car gathering near by.

We headed back to the motel.   We hope to get an early start in the morning.  

Full moon just coming over the mountain.

Three Time Zones

We left Dorothy & Ed's AirBnB at 8 am EDT with Robbie.  He had rented a car to come for the weekend.  George and Nathan took turns driving. So we left Ohio and arrived in rainy Chicago (actually it was raining in Ohio when left)

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We stopped at Robbie's apartment and unloaded our stuff. Then Robbie took the car back to the rental place.  We order lunch to be delivered.  

Ann Sather Restaurant .  Jeanne arrived just as we were eating.  

Jeanne brought left-over doughnuts from her grandkid's birthday celebration.  2 grandkids were having birthdays.  Jeanne and family were in Chicago for a niece's wedding.

Jeanne and I took a walk while the guys played a game.  Robbie lives right next to a cemetary so we walked aroundn the cemetary.  

The front of Robbie's apartment.  

Robbie's friend, Ice had gotten back from work.  She joined Robbie, Nathan and George with a game while Jeanne and I talked.

We left about 4 pm to meet Jay, Laura and her kids at Giordano's pizza place.  It was in Rosemont area.

The watertower is painted like a rose.

We had a vegetarian deep dish Chicago styled pizza.

One piece was plenty.

Nathan, Laura, Tristan, Jeanne, Emmet, Jay, Liam, and George

The kids were mostly watching the TV screens.  After dinner Jeanne and Jay drove us to the airport.  We got there in plenty of time.

Both Nathan and George had a little trouble going through security.  But they made it.

Nathan was checking out the books.

We took off 7:55 pm CDT.  

Nathan took this cool shot.

It was an uneventful flight to Portland. We landed a little after 10 pm PDT. One wierd thing happened as we were getting off the plane, all the lights went out. People pulled out their phones to light the way. I've never had that happen before.

We just missed a MAX but got on the next one. Home at midnight PST.

Saturday in Defiance

Dorothy, George, Nathan and I went on our usual morning walk with Guinness.  It is not a very fast walk.  Guinness is 14 years old.  We drove to a Farmer's Market to buy corn for dinner.  Nathan also bought a raspberry pie. Then we waited for George S and Amelia to show up before starting the pancakes. 

Dorothy was making cottage cheese pancakes with blueberries.  They were yummy. We had a multitude of choices of toppings.  We also had bacon, sausage and OJ.  What a feast!

Waiting patiently for the pancakes to be ready.

After brunch Nathan and Robbie helped Ed to put up some decorative stained glass fake  windows.

These stained glass pieces make it look like they have windows. They were made by the same neighbor woman.

Then it was game time.  We played a round of 10, 9, 8.  Then we headed over to George's place to see the unvieling of the new cement retaining wall that he made. On the way we  passed this cute bird house display.  I got Dorothy to stop long enough for me to get some pictures.

New cement retaining wall with rocks.

4 guys analyzing the construction.

Dorothy got Amelia down for a nap and then the guys stayed to play Settlers.  I left with Dorothy.  I relaxed for the afternoon.

Nathan, George and Robbie returned.  Dorothy made veggie burgers for dinner.  The plan was to have those and for the people who wanted meat we would order burgers and go pick them up. Unfortunately, the burger place was closed because they were open at the Jazz festival.  I was glad to have the veggie burgers but Robbie and George S wanted pizza instead. The veggie burgers were delicious.  The corn was tasty as well.  I am eating way to much on this vacation. 

Amelia is just learning how to do stairs. She is adorable.  

We went on our usual evening stroll.

Robbie, Dorothy, Guinness, Ed, George, Nathan, Amelia and George S

Unusual front door. I think I would find this scary.

We played another round of 10, 9, 8.   Then we headed back to our apartment.  Through much of this time George W, Robbie, Nathan and Martin were playing a computer game.  George had not played before, but got talked into it.  It was a way to connect with Martin who could not join us physically.

Today was another perfect weather day.