Traveling East

During the two days that Steve had his meetings, Josh took Joanne and myself traveling.  One day we went toward eastern Washington.  Josh wanted to show Joanne the arid section of Washington State.  He drove us to Ellensburg which is a really nice small town. First, we visited this small museum which was quite interesting.  We walked around some more and decided to have lunch in this little restaurant.  The food was delicious!  After lunch, we headed on east.  Josh took us to this rest stop that had some beautiful views of Mt. Adams, Mt Ranier, & Mt. St. Helens.

What a Bridge!

Josh & Camera

A Volcano

A Desolate Landscape

Another Volcano

This was as far as we got because we were getting tired and had to be back to pick Steve up at the end of his meeting.  It was a fun and educational day seeing the different areas. 

The next day Josh drove us into Seattle.  We stopped by his apartment, went to his bank, and to Art Tech where he works.  That was so much fun.  We got to meet the folks he works with and take a tour of the building. After this, we went on a driving tour of the city.  How fun.  We covered all the areas.  Josh took us by Alki Beach in West Seattle where he used to live.  Then we went to the school where his ceramic class is held. That was neat. Now I can picture where he is some of the time.  Josh also took us on a surprise roller coaster ride!!  Joanne and I were not expecting the hill when he drove over it.  Very much like his father has done to us in Peak in the years past!!  We had a lovely day with Josh as our tour guide.  We covered all the sections of Seattle.   We drove back to Snoqualmie to pick up Steve and cooked supper at the house we were staying in.  The next morning was a massive clean-up time and leaving to drive back to Seattle for our last day there.  Josh took us to Uwagamia this Japanese market that I just love.  We had lunch at Pike's Place Market on the water front.  Joanne got to see the place where they throw the fish that people see on T.V. all the time.  We were down there with what seemed like thousands of other tourists.  Yikes!! We left that place.  We checked into our hotel later. Joanne rested while the three of us took the car back to the airport.  Josh brought us back on the train.  I loved that.  We got to see more of Seattle with Josh giving us a tour as the train went through the different stations.  It was great!

Josh's Apartment Building

 When we returned to our hotel, Josh took us to the rooftop deck, and we could see his apartment building and the windows to his apartment. It is the 3rd roof straight ahead.  How cool!  We rested for a while and then we had supper with Tessa, a friend of Josh's, whom we are very fond of.  We went to the restaurant in Josh's building and had a wonderful time for our last evening there. The food was terrific and the company even better! When we walked back to our hotel, we had to walk up what seemed like a 10% grade.  I have never climbed a hill that steep except in Helen,GA, but that is another story. 

 Josh picked us up the next morning at 6:30a.m. and took us to the airport in one of the zip cars that he uses whenever he needs too.  We were there in time to eat breakfast and catch our plane without rushing around.  Yeh, Josh!! We were off to Houston without any mishaps. We got back to Charlotte about 8:30p.m. and drove home.  It was the end of a glorious, fun filled week with Josh!!!!



Mt. Ranier from the airplane window as we were taking off



Steve was moving fast to get his camera when he realized he could see the top of Mt. Ranier through the clouds.