Visiting With Harmony

Our drive to WA from Jackson covered almost 900 miles. While leaving shortly after 5 AM, we arrived at the hotel in Lacey, WA, at almost 8 PM, after gaining an hour passing into the Pacific Time Zone.. The drive was tougher than it should have been as we drove through mostly heavy rain all the way from Jackson to just before Boise, ID. Then, the sun came out and it started to warm up. Our A/C in the Jeep wasn't putting out cool air and we thought something was wrong. We stopped for gas in WA on the way and the A/C suddenly started working again. Go figure. We passed a lot of beautiful countryside on the way and we arrived at the junction of I-82 and I-90 south of Ellensburg, WA, and we saw the fire that has getting all the attention recently in the news:

The fire is very close to the area I hunted in for almost 20 years.

The drive through WA brought back many fond memories of the beauty that is unique to WA state. We took several shots of the drive over the Snoqualmie Pass, one of which is below. There was lots of construction going on through this area but this shot shows a bit of the beauty:

The real joy was in seeing Harmony again following our check-in at the hotel. We came back to the room and had a small party for her while she opened the presents we brought for her birthday. Her real party with all her friends is scheduled for this weekend, but we had a grand time:

She is developing into a beautiful young woman at the age of 9.

We had a lot of fun all evening and then turned-in to bed at around 11 PM local time.

This morning, we went down to the lobby area in the hotel and had breakfast. It was a nice spread that the hotel provides, and we again took some shots before returning to our room:

Today, we will go do a little shopping for some clothes. We didn't bring any since we didn't know her exact size. She also loves wearing my hat, so that will be added to the list of things to buy today.

It is a real joy, and a trip worth the travel time, to see her smiling and enjoying the time with us. We wish we could stay longer, but we will leave tomorrow for the trip home and to get back to work. In the meantime, we will make the most of our valuable time with Harmony...