I didn't blog yesterday, because there didn't really seem to be anything to blog about. We took our time driving from Mt. Ranier to Portland. We did go to Olympia to check out the capitol...
We had lunch there too. They have an awesome downtown area that reminded me of the Rockwall square only much, much bigger. Lots of unique restaurants and boutiques!
Scott had to take a conference call in the middle of the fun. I'll work taking in this view anytime!
We picked probably 1/2 a pound of blueberries and cut some sunflowers, gladiolas and lily's. When we went in to pay I figured we were gonna owe a ridiculous amount. The man weighed the berries, counted the number of stems in our flowers and said, "That'll be $5." I was floored. I told him that wasn't near enough and he replied, "I own this place and I can charge whatever I want." He then motioned to the kids and softly said, "Happy kids. That's why we started this place." Love it.
Next up was a place with cookies, fried pies, ice cream, huckleberry shakes....
Then we went to the Lavender Fields. Oh. My. Word. The smell when you got out of the car was heavenly!
This place was precious.
The “Lavender Lady” as the kids called her, has 3 acres of all varieties
of lavender. She’s got a tiny little building in the middle with all manner of
lavender products and seating under an arbor.
For $5 you can cut as much lavender as you can get a zip tie
around. Which is a LOT of lavender, by
the way! The girls both wanted to cut a
bouquet. Thomas opted to just take
pictures!
The Lavender Lady showed them examples of all the different
varieties, taught them how to squeeze the flowers to release the oils. Explained not to be afraid of all the
bees! Showed the girls to just shoo them
away and that they would move on to the next flower. She said they get “drunk” on the pollen and
that they move super slow because they have so much pollen on their legs they
can hardly fly. When we were in the
fields, there were so many bees there was an ever-present loud hum.
This is exactly the kind of thing that I love most about
these road trips. Our girls will forever
remember this experience. Even Thomas
who was grumpy about getting out of the car at this one, ended up really
enjoying all the wildflowers.
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| Love this pic! Note the lavender tucked behind his ear! Such sweet "girl dad" moment. |
Then, we came upon the Alpaca farm. Here we learned how they raise the alpaca’s
and then spin, yes with a spinning wheel like in Sleeping Beauty, the wool into
yarn. Which they sold in their yarn
shop, along with spinning wheels. FYI.. baby alpacas….cutest thing
ever. Pretty sure the girls were ready
to toss him in the back of the car and make a run for it!
This whole experience totally appealed to my inner Granola
Girl. I’m ready to buy a farm, plant an
orchard, lavender fields, can my own veggies and raise some chickens and
alpacas.
As if we hadn’t already had enough excitement, we left the
valley for Portland International Airport where we picked up Caroline and
Kendall!!!!
They flew out to meet us and spend the rest of the road trip
with us. Jane and Andy are headed off on
an Alaskan cruise next week, so we asked if the girls could just come join
us. Huge excitement. You would think they hadn’t seen each
other in a year!
Scott went in to meet them at the gate and the kids and I
parked in “Cell Phone Parking” to wait for them. It happened to be right at the end of the
runway and we actually saw their plane land!
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| Humbled that they sent us such precious cargo halfway across the U.S. |
Scott is an avid lover of donuts.
Bacon Maple Bars, vanilla glazed with Captain Crunch,
chocolate glazed with Cocoa Puffs, Mango Tango:filled with mango jelly topped
with vanilla frosting and TANG!, the Dirt donut:vanilla frosting with Oreos,
Dubble Bubble:vanilla frosting with bubble gum dust, chocolate frosting with
Rice Krispies and peanut butter...on and on it went!
Soooo, Scott told them to give us one of each! Three boxes!
We went back to the hotel and had a donut dinner buffet!!
Or, for $105 we could have just gotten the wooden coffin with 3 dozen in it!
Kids were pinging off the walls, so we did a little swimming
in the hotel pool before turning in for the night.
Feeling incredibly blessed as I sit in our hotel room
tonight. By the people we met today, the
experiences we had and the friends who’ve joined us.
Blessings,
Leslie
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