The following day was spent in Seattle exploring the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and Carl S. English, Jr., Botanical Garden, followed by lunch at Pho Than, for Vietnamese soup with Chessa, a friend of Mailea’s. Luckily, we didn’t stay full for long because we had a fantastic salmon dinner with our friends Helene and Timothy that night.

Setting out for Oregon, we stopped several times off of I90 in Washington searching out waterfalls. We took a gentle but lush forested hike along the creek to Denny Falls. It was a lovely cloudy drippy interlude from dry car travel. We also had a car picnic while parked at an old growth forest with heavy drippy mist coming down all around us; typical Washington weather. Any longer and we would have put down roots and become part of the forest ourselves. We drove through the town of Roslyn, Washington, made famous as the location where much of the TV show Northern Exposure was filmed (Yes, Northern Exposure was supposed to be about an Alaskan community.) The camel painting is still on the side of Roslyn Café.

Greg and Trinity, aka Lucy the dog, had the house all ready for us. Oliver and Lela, the cats, tolerate our presence after smelling everything we brought in the house. Lela took full advantage of the extra laps to sit in and soaked up lots of loving attention. We feasted each night of our visit with Mailea; particularly memorable were the excellent salmon sushi, the incredible brined roast turkey from the Neil/Greg chef team, blueberry pie and cobbler made from fresh pints of berries, and Neil’s fresh rhubarb sauce.

Our previous visit in February was just too cold outside for us to explore much beyond La Grande. This time we set off to see some of the wonders of Oregon Mailea and Greg have been treasuring. They love to mountain bike and we went with them to one of their favorite spots where we hiked a bit while they rode. On Saturday, we drove to Wallowa Lake via the town of Joseph. The area is so picturesque that it has become a little resort alpine village in the middle of Oregon. After our lakeside lunch, Greg, Mailea, and Trinity took off for a walk to Lower Adams Creek falls while Neil and I took the gondola ride to the top of Mount Howard. (We had to split up because in their foolishness, the gondola people do not allow people who happen to be in dog bodies to ride in their cars. In solidarity, Neil stuck his head out the window pretty much the whole way up and down. No barking or slobbering, though. He mostly just used his opposable thumbs to operate the camera.) At the top, we walked over the still snow covered trails to the rocky overlook to take in the view of Eagle Cap Wilderness area and its rugged peaks.

Back in the La Grande vicinity, yet another afternoon of exploration took us to the top of Mount Emily which overlooks La Grande and the surrounding valley. Sadly, our trip was finally coming to an end on July Fourth when Mailea and Greg drove us to Pasco Airport to pick up a one-way rental car to drive back to Seattle. We returned for one last evening with Helene, Timothy, Shane, and Talia before our early morning flight to Maui. Thus ended a wonderful event filled three weeks of family, friends, sights, feasting, and laughter.

Photos and commentary by Neil.  [See image gallery at nanharter.com]

In Seattle, we stayed with our friends Helene, Timothy, Shane, and Talia. Hard to believe with all the photos taken, we didn’t get a family photo of them but I have one from a few years ago when they visited us in Hawaii. Shane and Talia were great tour guides for our shopping expedition plus took us on a great hike in Carkeek Park. They also introduced us to a delicious Indian restaurant in Ballard.

We had a lovely visit and excellent dinner with our friends Barbara and William. They have recently added onto their house and we were able to see Mount Rainier from their balcony on the clear Seattle evening.

Mailea came up from Oregon to drive us back. We planned several days touring Washington together before reaching La Grande, Oregon. While still on Maui, Neil had researched hot springs and waterfalls in Washington and printed lots of maps, directions, and descriptions. Helene and Timothy hosted us for several more nights and provided us excellent local knowledge as we headed out for day trips. One trip was to Scenic Hot Springs near Stevens Pass in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. We highly recommend it a as a medium strenuous hike and wonderful soaking spot. We also recommend you carefully read the directions (sent after you pay your reservation fee) that indicate the hike actually starts from the option two parking spot. We hiked several extra miles before figuring out our error. It made for a long day and we were very happy for the soak by the time we arrived at the pools.

Photos and commentary by Neil. [See image gallery at nanharter.com]