Third and Final Stop

Hubby and I left George, Wa on Monday and drove to the Tri Cities.  Hubby had training there for the week.  Our hotel was on the Columbia River with an urban trail along the river.  It is a gorgeous trail for walkers, runners, and bikers with parks along the way. 

The first evening we went for a walk and I thought, MY these baby daddies in the Tri Care are a bunch of hands on Dads.  They all had the kids in the strollers and were everywhere. In groups even, which it is more common to see groups of moms out walking with the babies than dads.  Hubby and I soon realized they had ulterior motives.  The baby daddies were all playing Pokemon Go.  Hhhmmm.

 Hubby got up early and went to work every day and I slept in, then enjoyed a hotel breakfast and a walk along the river.

 Cruise ships were in port two of the mornings.

There were swinging benches along the trail and they were hard to resist.

 I went shopping at the mall a day and junking a day.  The Uptown Mall is old and the signs are great.  This is also where Spudnik Donut Shop is located. I would love to have the Tahitian Room sign for in front of our Aloha but they are still in business so they need their sign.

 Of course, I was poolside and happy about it.

 The first two days were cold and wet and then it got hot and dry.

Real hot.

 The park in front of our hotel has a summer music series.  Rock bands on Thursday evenings, 5-9, with a food truck round up. The music was great and we had a lot of fun people watching.

It was a hot summer night to remember.

 Friday morning we checked out after breakfast and went to find the new Country Mercantile in Richland.  Y'all know how much we LOVE the Country Mercantile in Pasco so we decided to check out the new one.  They carry everything that the Pasco store carries so we loaded up.  We had an ice chest along for just this purpose.  When we finally checked out, the checker asked if we were having a party.  Nope, it's all for us.  It's so great to have a freezer full of tamales and enchiladas.  The chocolates are gone, so no need to stop by and visit us.  There is some bread and butter left.

If you haven't been to the Country Mercantile I do not feel sorry for you because I have been bragging about it for years so you HAVE known.  I can't help you if you haven't taken me seriously and gotten in the car with your ice chest and gotten the goods.  That's all.

 Once we got in the car and I started looking at the map I realized we would be within two miles of Bale Breaker Brewery.  We wanted to see their operation.  We played a game of corn hole and then got back on the road.

 Slow down, there is a view point ahead and I am ready to see a pretty view without having to hike to get there.  A short stop.

 Our next stop was Thorp for some junking and peaches.  We bought four boxes of peaches so y'all know what I'm doing this week.  Millions of peaches.  By now the Jeep is getting pretty full.

We took the back roads to Cle Elum and stopped at Twin Pines for a late lunch/early dinner.  We had never stopped there and always wanted to so we did.  And we were glad that we did!

By now we are starting to realize that we still have a long way home and traffic is going to be messy on 405 so we take the goat trail.

Hit the brakes! Neither of us have ever actually seen Snoqualmie Fall.  One more stop!

 And that my friends is how a 5 hour trip home becomes a 10 hour trip.

We took three trips back to back in 8 days.  The first four nights we slept in four different beds, we put a lot of miles on the Jeep, we didn't drive past anything worth stopping at and we had a lot of fun and laughs.

Now, we are home... until Friday.