Bringing Back Memories

It was our day to revisit Issaquah yesterday. That was the very first location in WA where we lived on our move from the CA Bay area in 1980. We purchased a home in Mirrormont, a hillside development of custom homes, for $190K, which was pretty high for homes in 1980.

We drove into Mirrormont and were surprised to see some newer homes built on such steep hills. Some of the driveways looked like 45 degrees, and it must be a real challenge on cold, winter mornings to drive up and down these slopes. We were also shocked when we reached our old home to see that it was on the market:

The home has been painted and some nice modifications - including a conversion of our workshop into a media room - have been made, but the home is still as we remembered with the separate shed/carport that we used to keep our toys - boat and RV - that also had a workshop. The home is now available for an asking price of $619K which is now typical for homes in this development. Here are a couple more shots:

This was our home for our first 5 years in WA state.

We then drove through Issaquah and saw the many changes in town and went on to Redmond to locate Bear Creek Floral where Josie started her floral career:

It not only was in the same location but also had the same manager that hired Josie for her first job as a Designer. It was a happy reunion for both she and Linda who talked for quite awhile about changes  (she asked Josie if she were looking for a job) and also about Redmond Floral that had relocated and had new ownership. That was the biggest shock for us. We discovered that the owners we sold to have been gone for nearly 5 years, and the new owner was a Designer from Bear Creek Floral. We left Bear Creek Floral to see the "new" Redmond Floral:

Although still a player in the floral business in Redmond, the people we sold to did not work the business like we did and as a result has fallen out of the FTD Top 500 list to the Top 1000. Those folks did not know the business and were absentee owners. It is a good thing they sold to the current owner who is trying to bring the business back to where it was. The new facility is also not as convenient for walk-in customers, and is a home - of a former Mayor of Redmond - converted to the flower shop. We talked for some time about the business and the changes and it was a pleasant visit for us.

What a day of rekindling old memories. We hardly recognize the towns today as the growth has been substantial. New roads and buildings have confused us somewhat, but the area is pretty much as we remember - and still pretty. We have been fortunate to have beautiful weather the last two days to visit these places of mostly fond memories...