Friends and Family Tour, Week 2

In my last blog I promised some pictures of Chief Miwaleta Campground. Here is one. Mike and Joann's RV is on the left, ours is on the right.

We left that blog with Joyce and I at Ginger's in Salem. Monday I rebuilt her closet so it is a little more user friendly. The old clothes bar was mounted so close to the shelf that she had to turn coat hangers on their sides to get them on or off. On the left one third of the closet, I cut the shelf out and installed two bars, one high and one low. In the rest of the closet, I put in a new bar with a larger space between it and the shelf. There were a few other "daddy projects" like changing the furnace filter, fixing her door bell (new batteries), and securing the cat perches so they won't fall off. Joyce did some weeding outside and being my go-fer.

We had a good MEG Board meeting Tuesday taking care of some routine business and interviewing a man about becoming a minister in our conference. That evening we went to the home of my niece, Kandy for a delicious crock pot stew dinner. It was very special to be in her new-to-her home and we had a great time visiting. Wednesday we had breakfast with our friend JoAnn at Neufelds in Sublimity and then it was off to Washington (the state, that is). Do you have your map handy? You'll want to look at the Olympic Peninsula, the Seattle area, and north.

We arrived at Ron and Joan's house near Hoodsport on the Hood Canal in a light drizzle. I guess that is to be expected since this IS the northwest and this IS autumn. I new Joan when we were both in the same church as kids in Eugene. Her mom was our junior boys Sunday school teacher and her little sister was my girl friend for awhile. I was a candle lighter in Ron and Joan's wedding but through the years we had mostly lost track of each other. There were a few contacts, especially after her sister (not the girl friend -- another sister!) moved to St. Helens to partner with a local chiropractor. Her mom showed up in church one day to say hi. I was shocked but delighted to see her after so many years. Anyway, a couple years ago Ron and Joan were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and trying to find all the people who had been in their wedding party. We simply reconnected and once again enjoy our friendship. They live on a hill overlooking Lake Kokanee -- well, trees block most of view but you can see it from their deck. Thursday morning Joan and I hiked down to the lake in a light rain. It isn't far horizontally but is about 600 feet vertically. Wow! The hike was worth the view. Beautiful! You can tell which picture that one is!

From Hoodsport we drove to Gig Harbor -- a little over an hour away. We parked ourselves at the Gig Harbor RV Resort (nice place but it is interesting what is referred to as a "resort"). Our friends from college and seminary, John and Jan, live in Gig Harbor. He and I were room mates for 2 years at Seattle Pacific College, and he, Jan, and a bunch of us all attended Rainier Avenue Free Methodist Church. He and Jan graduated a year ahead of me and they married the same summer as Joyce and I -- 1966 for the record. Then we were at Asbury Seminary at the same time. John is a United Methodist minister and retired last year. Through the years we kept in touch with each other -- mostly via Christmas letters and a few visits. We enjoyed a nice lunch together and visited for a few hours.

Friday we drove to Auburn and parked in front of Bess and Rick's house. They live in a mobile home estate and can get permission for an RV to park on the street in front of their house for a day or so. Joyce and Bess were best friends in high school. I think Joyce sort of tolerated Rick as he courted Bess. Well, they married; Joyce and I married; and eventually we ended up in Seattle at the same time. Joyce and I lived in Seattle during my senior year of college. For my birthday that year, Joyce decided to have a party for me -- Rick and Bess, Joyce and I. She directed me to their house where we had a great
meal, cake, balloons, etc. and then we went to my all-time favorite movie, "Dr. Zhivago." Anyway, we got to their house about 2:00, talked a lot, then they took us to Anthony's, a really nice seafood place on the Des Moines marina. It was a beautiful warm evening with a beautiful dappled sky. Rick and Bess both retired from Boeing and are now into photography. They do very nice work and are trying to teach Joyce and me. I'm not sure you'll ever see the results of their efforts in our work but we can always try and hope. This is one of the products.

We left their place at noon on Saturday to meet Milt and Patty at an Allenby's in Kent. They were part of the group that attended Rainier Avenue and they sang at our wedding. One Christmas a couple years earlier I stayed at college during the break in order to work. They closed the dorms during that 2-3 week period. Milt and 3 friends lived in an old, yellow two story house near campus and invited me to stay with them. I slept on the couch. Everyone had their own schedules going and coming and everyone did their own meals. The kitchen table was piled high with dirty dishes and utensils. When you wanted to eat, you dug through the pile until you found what you wanted, washed it, used it, and left it for the next person. Simple plan. Milt and Patty are educators in the public school system and are looking forward to retirement. We enjoyed a few hours of visiting and then it was onward north.

We camped at Lake Goodwin RV Park near Smokey Point Saturday evening. We didn't get a lakeside site (too expensive) but walked down to the dock and took lots of pictures. It was a lovely, warm evening. By the way, the rain stopped Friday and we've had beautiful weather since. Tomorrow is also supposed to be nice also, then... typical Washington again. Sunday morning we attended worship at Arlington Free Methodist Church. The pastor, Verlin Elmore, and I have known each other for many years through our meetings at various pastor's conventions. After church we met a group of Joyce's relatives and then traveled on to her sister's in Bellingham. More about that next week when I can post some pictures. So ends week two. Friends and family are precious. memories are cherished. Create them; relive them.