Saturday Posting, A Little Late

Off a little late on Saturday morning, from Roseburg OR.  Another beautiful day, clear skies and warm, but not as warm as it has been.

Kathy drove all the way to Portland.  We followed Diana’s text directions to meet her at Cascadia Station in Portland, and had a nice lunch with her.  Diana drove over to Portland from White Salmon up the Columbia River, Washington State side, to see us and do some errands.  She and Brian are going to San Diego soon, for a month.  Her parents live four blocks from our house in San Diego, right on the park.  We told her Kelli and Jared walk Darby every night to the park, so she can look for them. 

The days are beginning to blend together.  It was less fun than the two previous days. 

The volcano string along the Cascade Mountains continued today, starting with Mt Hood, then nice views of the jagged top of Mt. St. Helens, then Mt. Adams, next the Queen of the Cascades, Mt. Rainier, and finally, toward Bellingham, Mt. Baker, all of them covered in snow.  I remember seeing Mt. Baker blow steam as I waited for at the bus stop, headed for school, when we lived in Bellingham.  It’s nice to see these all from the freeway.

We took a detour to I-405 at Seattle, along the east side of Lake Washington to Bellevue and Kirkland, having heard from Diana that Seattle traffic is terrible at all times of the day.  This worked out fine.  There are many, many memories for us along this route, from the Safeway in Kirkland were Kathy worked, to Chateau St. Michelle Winery, which we watched being built, to fun times in Bothell.  I did my first stint in volunteer public service while we lived here, getting elected to the Bothell Park Board.  They were ecstatic because I knew the common names and botanical names, and no one else on the Board did, plus there was a rift between the Park Director, and he would not translate the names for them.  Funny. 

We stopped at Molbak’s Garden Center in Woodinville and took pictures.  I had the pleasure of working there way back when.  It’s where I learned my rhododendron colors and names, which are almost as numerous as rose names.  Next we drove to our first home in Washington, 1528 #1, 228^th SE, in Bothell.  It’s still there, despite all of the development nearby, and even another eight apartments built across the street and at the end of the street.  It’s amazing the fourplex units are still there and occupied, these 30 plus years ago.  We had thick forest in our backyard, and it was a very quiet place.  Now there are two shopping centers a stones-throw away. 

We took a little tour through WWU campus, and a drive by Montague Terrace, apparently not a Women’s Residence any longer, but a single family home?  This was our first of three homes in Bellingham.  It was walking distance to campus, and walking distance to downtown, and inexpensive for our one room and shared bathroom, so perfect.  Later we moved to the edge of town, to a converted garage, on the McKinley’s property.  They were an older couple, and good people to be around as we started our family.  Later we moved to a bigger duplex, a bit closer to town. 

Western Washington University was a Normal School when my grandmother Grace Lawson Blair attended, around 1930.  Kathy and I were students there 40 years later, and Brady was born in Bellingham, St Joseph’s Hospital.  Bellingham is a very nice city, small but not too, and not too big, and a university town, right on the Puget Sound, a couple of hours from Seattle, Vancouver, and Mt Baker and the Cascades.    

We had salads for dinner in the Fairhaven District of Bellingham.  This brought back memories of Brady being late, and he great idea we had, to go to a Saturday midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Fairhaven, thinking the contractions Kathy was having meant he was coming any minute.  Instead, we were even more tired, and he didn’t make an appearance until Monday, Memorial Day.   Oh well, it all turned out fine.  We stayed in Bellingham another 15 months or so and then moved back to San Diego.