Sunday, May 26, 2013

Our Visit to WA Comes to an End

Our week was filled with spending time with wonderful friends and family !  We are so thankful for them all!  How did we get so lucky? You know who you are and we love you!!

But we did manage to help our hosts/friends, Lesley & Mike Anderson finish the siding on their beautiful shop!  3 days of working, but not grueling hours at all, and it was finished. We were all happy campers to see that accomplishment. 



 
On Friday, we said our farewells to the Anderson's and went to visit the Krohn's for the night. Along the way, we booked our Peru tour, which includes Lima, Cuzco, the Sacred Valley, and of course, Machu Picchu.  That tour begins October 3, at the end of our Ecuador journey. It'll be here before we know it!

On Saturday, after saying our goodbyes to the Krohn's, off we went to Sandpoint, ID to visit with our good friend, Tina Cummings.  A lovely evening dinner overlooking the lake with her and her friend, Gary, with a nightcap at Coldwater Creek wine bar.



We woke to a beautiful sunny day that followed us down the Pend Oreille River on our way to Randy & Donna's, our friends who have a home in Costa Rica and who we spent time with there this winter.  They live on the river and we were invited to spend a few nights with them in their guest cottage. So great to catch up and talk about Costa Rica without boring them - LOL!! 




And, then it was time to make our way to Spokane for one last evening of visiting with friends - Jeannette and Ken, at The Elk Public House, one of our favorite Spokane hangouts.  One last nightcap with our daughter, Ara, and her friends, Jon & Heather.

The time has gone by so fast since being back and we were saying our goodbyes when we felt we just had said hello. With some we had to say hello and goodbye in the same visit. Hard, very hard to do!!  Of the many emotions we both felt upon coming back to the US and to "home" was a true realization that our actual home and animals were being loved by a warm, wonderful family. That it was no longer "ours" but "theirs". That we have no regrets for doing what we're doing and we can now truly in our minds move forward with this journey.

Wednesday morning we made our way to the airport with Ara for our flight to Sacramento. We had no issue whatsoever renting our car in Sacramento, thank goodness, even though I was more prepared than ever with proof of insurance. We then made our way to Modesto, CA for our grandson, Azuriah's, high school graduation on Thursday evening.  Spending time with all the family for such a joyous occasion is priceless!! We are so proud of Azi and his accomplishments!





While there, we did get an opportunity on Friday to explore the old revitalized downtown of Modesto. Walking in the beautiful warm sunshine, we discovered many interesting and beautiful sites.  We even were able to catch a movie at the Brenden Theater and saw Star Trek in 3D.  Fabulous movie!!  Highly recommend it.







Since Ara had an early flight out on Saturday morning, we drove back to Sacramento that evening to spend the night close by.  After seeing her off in the morning, Mike and I headed to Alexander Valley Winery in Sonoma County where we met up with our good friend Bret LeRolland who operates a fabulous wine & buggy tour. This was our 4th time partaking of this great adventure and we love it more each time!  Thank you, Bret!!






Our evening was spent catching up with Lily, Bret's lovely wife and friend, and Bret about our travels and all other things that have happened in our lives since we saw them last year on our US cross country journey.  They are always so gracious to have us in their guest cottage. We ended the evening by going to a local brew pub where there was live music.  Fun, fun, fun!!




We will be in the northern part of CA for the next week and then we will make our way south to Carlsbad, CA by next Sunday.  Have a GREAT Memorial Weekend Everyone!!!



 

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