From Sea to Shining Sea

WE MADE IT TO THE COAST!  ALL THE WAY!

We're really growing into this RV lifestyle.  We've adjusted to the hiccups that it brings.  I have quit fighting the differences, and have chosen to embrace all of it.  On suggestion from a friend, we regularly play a game called "God's Hands".  We each take a turn naming how or where we saw God's hands that day.  If we give ourselves a moment to consider Him, no matter what our circumstances, we'll find Him everywhere.  Whether it's in the fact that we woke up breathing, that the sun actually rose once again, or that our needs are provided for.  Maybe somebody smiled at us, or my favorite, when I feel the hand of a small child sliding into my own.  In any of those things, I find our loving Creator -- He's waiting for us to notice him, all day long. 

We've traveled roughly 6,000 miles.  We began with our toes in the Atlantic, and for the first time in months we again smell the salty air - only of the Pacific.  Our drive to Seattle was one long haul.  We drove from western Montana to western Washington in one day.  We stopped for gas and to let the kids stretch their legs at a little community park in Ritzville, WA.  This town of 1,600 residents is a tiny oasis in a midst of wheat fields.  The kids began playing with a little boy at the park.  I began conversing with the boy's father, who was holding a very newborn baby girl.  At first we exchanged pleasantries like, "how old is your baby?" and "is that your motor home over there?"  However, as the conversation advanced, I learned that they were visiting family in Ritzville, but they live in Seattle.  Before long, he was offering lots of inside tips on places to go & things to do in Seattle and surrounding areas.  He even recommended a church in the area we'd be staying.  I thanked him, and we were soon back on the road.

Because it was Labor Day weekend combined with rush hour traffic, our drive into Seattle stretched on and on and on and on.  In fact, it was the first time we'd driven in the dark.  Our coach was climbing serious altitude and winding through the Snoqualmie Pass.  Our engine was chugging as fast as it could, but it's no sports car, so we knew we were holding people up.  At some point, a car zoomed past us, instantly swerved in front of us and tapped his brakes enough times that we knew he was signaling something to us.  We exited at our next chance, just to do a "once over" check of the coach and make sure everything on the exterior was operating.  As Mr. Fix-It inspected the coach, we saw God's hands.  That random act of kindness from the anonymous motorist alerted us that we were traveling without ANY exterior lights.  From behind, there was absolutely no indication that our huge rig was on the road until you were right upon us.  We sat on a deserted exit ramp in total darkness, and swallowed hard.  By now, Mr. Fix-It has really honed his electrical skills, and within a matter of 15 minutes had located the source of the power issue.  What would I do without him?  Not this, I know that.

By the time we arrived in Seattle, my poor personal driver was so wiped out from twelve hours of intense driving that we crashed in a Wal-Mart parking lot for the night.  When I say crashed, I almost mean that literally.  Poor guy was running stop signs and red-lights, and driving over curbs.  We were a mess.

The next morning, totally exhausted, we drove to the RV Park where we'd made reservations.  We're always anxious to get settled, then get out to explore our new destination.  This place, just outside of Seattle, advertised "Big Rigs Welcome."

I beg to differ.  

This place was so cramped there was barely enough room for the exhaust fumes to escape.

We really wanted to keep driving & arrange a better spot to plant ourselves, but being that it was Labor Day, every other place was booked.  Our neighbor, the Roadrunner, could not even open his door without hitting the side of our RV.  Poor guy was squeezing himself in and out of his own RV for his holiday weekend.  It was a ridiculous display of false advertisement -- we'd been duped.  In the future, I'd suggest they hang a sign that reads "Hey Big Rigs . . . Gotcha!"

This was our view from our couch.  It was so awkward, because if I looked left, I could see EVERYTHING inside the Roadrunner's coach.  I couldn't sit there without feeling like I was spying on them.  I didn't want to look, but you just couldn't help it.  After a while, it began to feel weird if you didn't smile, nod, or wave to them every few minutes.  We were nearly eye to eye.  We kept our blinds shut for three days and nights.  I'm a "shades open" kind of person, so by the end of our stay I was experiencing acute suffocation.

Thankfully, we spent very little time at the park.  Seattle is a fantastic city, and offered plenty to do!  Naturally, we started with the obvious "must-sees".

Pike Place Market.

These guys at the fish market are part salesmen, part entertainment.  They put on quite a show tossing fish all over the place.

This place was a zoo!

The original Starbucks.  It had a line wrapped around the corner.

We went down to Elliott Bay, walked along the waterfront, and enjoyed the entertainment from all the street performers.  My kids are SO TIRED of having their picture made everywhere.

CBR is at that great age where he's easily fooled.  One popular act by the street performers was painting yourself to look like a statue.  They'd stand very still, and then suddenly reach for you, or talk to you.  Funny to watch from a distance.  Now, CBR thinks all statues are real people just pretending.  When he sees a statue, it's hilarious to watch his approach.  He tries to outsmart them and sneaks up on them.  Then he'll just stand there smiling, and staring.  Eventually he'll reach out to touch.  Joke's always on him though . . . it really was a statue.  We've also convinced him that you have to duck down while driving under tunnels.  One day he'll be too big to mess with, so I'm going to live it up while I can.

Of course, we went to the top of the Space Needle.

Here we are in front of the extremely fake computer generated background.  This lovely picture was included with admission.

This is our view of Lake Union from atop the Space Needle.  This sparkling lake is home to Seattle's houseboat community where the movie "Sleepless in Seattle" was filmed.  You can watch float planes landing on the water from above.  You can see a plane landing in the bottom right corner of the lake.  It was so beautiful.

The Space Needle offers great panoramic views of Seattle.  As we rounded the top, we saw gorgeous views of the Puget Sound, downtown Seattle, and even Mt. Rainier.

You can see Mt. Rainier hovering above the clouds in the upper left corner.  It was breathtaking.

On Sunday, we weren't able to make it to the church recommended to us by the nice man from the Ritzville park.  Instead, we visited a congregation just down the street from where we were staying.  The people at this Seattle church were some of the friendliest we've encountered.  Visiting churches is strange.  It's not like we're looking for a place to become members.  We're just looking to connect with God and other believers for an hour and a half one morning a week.  It's difficult to put your finger on what's missing.  I know a large part of what makes church the experience God intends, is when you're connecting and building relationships with other believers, and then loving and serving your community together.  We're not able to do that.  We're incapable of enjoying the completeness of the church experience because we're just passing through.  While we're plugged into God and each other, we're lacking the blessing that comes from being able to love others well.

Later that day, we took the Mukilteo Ferry to Whidbey Island.  I knew nothing about this place, other than it was supposed to be pretty.

Crossing the Puget Sound, headed for Whidbey Island.

Man, do I love Whidbey Island.  I expected it to be a cluster of cottage style homes overlooking the water.  Nope.  It's a little of that, but more farm communities.  You'd see the most gorgeous farm acreage with livestock grazing the greenest grasses, and all of it overlooking the bluest waters with sailboats decorating the backdrop.  It was so peaceful and quaint.

We found the most picturesque little town of Coupeville on Whidbey Island.  It's an historical frontier seaport town from when the Puget Sound was being settled.  Today, it's colorfully decorated with fresh flowers, and boutiques of every kind along a narrow strip of road in front of the Coupeville Wharf.  It's a mecca for artists of every kind:  visual, performing, and culinary. 

Coupeville Wharf on Whidbey Island, Puget Sound.

He always gets more ice cream on his nose than inside his mouth.

After Coupeville, we drove on to a place called Deception Pass.  This narrow bridge connects Whidbey Island and Fidalgo Island.  Fidalgo Island is home to the seaport where fishermen from the TV series "Deadliest Catch" live in their off season.

Deception Pass, Washington.  Snow capped Cascade mountain range in the distance.

Beneath the narrow bridge of Deception Pass with my beloved.

Billie Jean normally walks across bridges with us with no problem, but she wouldn't have anything to do with Deception Pass.  Not sure if it was just too narrow, or the rattling of the passing cars alarmed her.  Either way, she nearly pushed a Chinese family over the edge in her dramatic frenzy to get off the bridge.

CER hiking down to the water.  She LOVES hiking.

On recommendation from the nice man from the Ritzville park, we spent Labor Day at the Ballard Locks.  The Ballard area is an eclectic stretch of the hippest shops sandwiched between Lake Washington, and the Shilshole Bay of the Puget Sound.  The locks join the two waterways in the most clever of ways.  The engineering of this water elevator allows boats to pass through while separating the salt from the fresh water, so as to protect the salmon and other wildlife of the waters.  Apparently salt water is more dense, and sinks.  The underwater pipes and valves allow the salt water to flow through to the bottom, thus allowing only the fresh water to fill in the locks.  The US Army Corps of Engineers also runs a fish ladder here so that the salmon can get around the locks and complete their life cycle.  We enjoyed Seattle's (near record-breaking) 42nd straight day of sunny weather on the beautiful lawn of the botanical garden beside the locks, with a live band performing a concert.  It was a perfect Labor Day.

The kids ran up and down this hill 833,000 times.  Boats coming through the locks in the background.

We'd watch the boats load into the lock.  The huge yachts would tie off to the sides, then all the smaller boats would tether themselves to the bigger boats.  Then, they'd flood the place.  We'd cringe for the owners of these massive yachts who's boats were getting scratched to pieces against the concrete walls of the locks.  The locks were so impressive.  Aside from being able to keep salt water separated from the fresh water, we learned that the gate system was invented by Leonardo Da Vinci.  They lock together at an angle to better support against the weight of the rising water.

Chinook Salmon going home.

As the boats are loading, you can walk across the locks, and get an up close view of the fish ladder.  Salmon were everywhere!  Sea lions were everywhere trying to eat the salmon!  They were jumping through the air and barking.  You couldn't have paid for a better show at Sea World.

When we returned to the RV that evening, we noticed a note on our door.  Would you believe that nice father from the park at Ritzville found us?  While visiting family in the area, his family left a note on our motor home inviting us over for a meal.  BAM!  God's hands.

You can't imagine what it feels like to have people reach out to you in this way.  We've bumped along through 14 states anonymously (with the exception of the nicest people in Minnesota).  Please understand that this man was holding his two week old baby at the park.  His wife had never even met us.  They have two other very young children.  Like all of us, there are many other things this young family could have been doing to fill their time.  But, that's where this family is different.  In the midst of their own hustle, and transition with a brand new baby, they made time for us.  Strangers.  That's what made their invitation so special.  This trip is an amazing opportunity, but we do miss our community of friends and family.  When we began this journey, I knew we'd see cool places.  But, I never could've imagined that God would meet our need for friends along the way.  I don't know why I'm surprised . . . our God loves to AMAZE.  

Playing at the home of our new friends in Seattle.

We count our time with the "W" family as a highlight of our trip.  Beautiful places are great, but it's God's people that impress us the most.

We're learning the difference between an RV Park, and an RV Park Resort.  The latter is nicer, cleaner, has more amenities, and is more expensive.  After our crowded stay in Seattle, we splurged on a super nice RV Park Resort.  This place was awesome.  We went from barely having enough space to exhale, to having an acre lot.

Huge Pool with views of snow capped Mount Baker.

Playing baseball on the "back 40".

We stayed at the base of Mt. Rainier and couldn't wait to get a close up view of the giant.  Washington's 49th straight day of sunny weather ended on the day we visited Mt. Rainier National Park.

Our view of Mt. Rainier from the Visitor's Center.

We waited all day for the fog to burn off, but we never caught one glimpse of the mountain.  It's a strange feeling to know that you're standing at the base of a 14,000 foot mountain, but you can't see it anywhere.

Oh well, we braved the freezing air and had a nice hike.

A meadow in front of Mt. Rainier.  I guess?

My sweet LAR sipping hot chocolate and finishing her math.

After Mt. Rainier's disappointing no-show, we headed on to Mount St. Helens.  At first, she too, was covered in fog, but after a while we were able to see 3/4 of what's left of the volcano since the huge eruption of 1980.  We happened to be staring at the mountain at the same time as another gentlemen who was living in the area on the day of the eruption.  He shared his first-hand account with me and the kids.  What a cool way to learn about the destruction of volcanoes -- while you're standing in front of one, and the person who experienced it is telling you to your face.  It really was an incredible story.  Basically, in less than 10 minutes, the mountain fell nearly 1300 feet and wiped out all living things for miles. 

Mount St. Helens.  You can see all the paths from the lava flow.

As they jumped, the seismograph recorded their vibration.  Oh, what a scene we caused.

Setting off a mock volcano with a Park Ranger.

Washington was the culmination of a cross-country drive.  We explored and learned plenty, and had some time to take a breather and soak in the past several months.  It's been a whirlwind of beautiful  places, new friends, and experiencing God's hand at work from sea to shining sea.