Time Spent With The Aussies
After 2.5 years, my daughter-in-law (DIL), Haylee, finally got to see her family from Australia! The beginning of August, her mum, dad, sister, brother-in-law, two nephews, an aunt and a family friend flew to Hawaii, where Haylee, Marcus and MJ met them. They stayed there a week before going to California for another week, visiting places like Disney Land and San Francisco. They then flew up to Seattle to stay for a while.
The day they arrived, I drove to the airport to collect all their luggage with Marcus’ SUV. They were going to ride light rail from the airport to a mile from my house, then walk the rest of the way. They only had time to change their clothes before we had to walk back to the light rail station and catch it to T-Mobile Park for a Mariners baseball game.
They had a blast during the game. I, however, was miserable. My bladder seemed to be partially blocked so I couldn’t fully empty, and it felt like it was going to rupture. When we got home, I was really hurting and went to bed. I think the change in position helped, because within an hour I was able to empty my bladder fully. I didn’t have a repeat the next day, saving me a trip to urgent care.
Two days later, we embarked on a road trip along Hwy 20. Only three of them were ready to leave when I arrived at Haylee’s condo (Marcus was on duty). We took off and the rest were going to try and catch up in another car.
Hwy 20 had a lot of construction going on, making repairs from winter damage. This highway is closed during half the year since it’s in a rugged area prone to avalanches and very deep snow.
When we got to Newhalem, we were disappointed that the store/café was closed because we were counting on getting something to eat there. All we had was a little humus and snap peas since the other car was carrying most of the food/drinks. We waited about an hour before the rest showed up.
After they visited the dam and waterfalls in Newhalem, we drove east and made a stop at the Diablo Lake viewpoint and I introduced them to Washington Pass where we took numerous photos.
It was getting late and I was very hungry. I didn’t want to go back the way we came because of the construction, and I knew there was very little in the way of food places along that route. Those in my car wanted to go to Winthrop for dinner with me. The other car headed back on Hwy 20 since they wanted to get to a Wal-Mart and Haylee’s sister was feeling really sick.
Bob, Kae and Vicki were in my car and we had dinner at Three-Fingered Jacks (where I usually eat when I’m in Winthrop). They loved the food and the western vibe of the town.
After walking around town for a bit, we headed south to Wenatchee then west on Hwy 2 through Leavenworth.
Between their drinking booze and cracking jokes, my jaws were hurting from laughing so hard. Sometimes I started coughing from laughing!
We ended up getting back to Everett around 11pm. It was a long, but very fun day in our car.
The next day we learned that Haylee’s sister and one nephew tested positive for Covid. Luckily, my test was negative.
