Making it to Alex's 48th

Have you ever done something that was really BIG? to you? Not everyone appreciates it, not everyone can relate, because everyone's dreams are different, but, in your world, it's BIG? That is how I felt as I drove over a bridge into Washington State - from South Florida. Corner to Corner. The long way. But, even better, was knowing that Alex had just entered his 48th state - at 14, because I was willing to log the miles, because I wanted us to go to 49 and 50 together, because I am ALWAYS down for a challenge - and believe me, it was a challenge, and because there was NO WAY I was flying during a Pandemic, and there was no way COVID-19 was stopping us. This was a big deal, to me and to Alex.

I love Washington State. It was a privilege to travel there as a teenager and spend time with my sister (Monica) and her family many times. I even went out after high school and spent 7 months in Puyallup. I brought my daughter when she was 7 months old, and she went back and visited other family as an adult with her friend, but I never got to share my stomping grounds, my memories, in person with her. Now is my chance to share this place I love with my son - such a cool chance., and really meaningful to me!

Yep, Washington, The Evergreen State, was NOT so green. As a matter of fact, !this was right before the bad fires hit the coast, and there was a statewide fire ban - which I was unaware of. But, we were there, in Washington, we did it We traveled a lot of miles in a short amount of time to get here.

I planned some things that I wanted to see, but also left wiggle room for adventure. We found a little road side stand and tried choke cherry chocolate bars for the 1st time - YUM! Got some honey for home, and headed toward the Cascades, and our KOA in Ellensburg. This is where I found out about the fire ban, with a bunch of food to cook and nowhere to cook it, I had a bit of a meltdown, and called Steve. He, and Meghan, and Wolf calmly talked me down, found a local place (thank God for Google) that had GF meals, and curbside pickup, and dinner turned out better than expected. We sat at our picnic table by the river and ate dinner and then breakfast. Tried a different restaurant for breakfast that was as good as they claimed!

The only thing that bothered me and made this place not so fantastic, is the campsite was very small, and the campground was very busy. The playground was in full use by more kids than we could count, masks were not being worn by anyone, and I had taken great efforts to travel safely. We stayed for 1 night, the sound of the river like music lulling us to sleep.

This was by the restaurant - Trump Rally on the right, BLM Rally on the left. Ellensburg is a small college town.

We went for a drive after dinner.

Found this cute little town in the mountains with all old historic buildings.

A beautiful sunset through a filthy windshield on the east side of the Cascades, heading out of Wenatchee Forest.

I love discovering new places, seeing things that are so different from where we live, and finding adventure around every corner. New memories thousands of miles from home through dirty windshields, down dirt roads, up steep mountainsides, and across famous and not so famous bridges.