This weekend was DH's cousin Mike's party to celebrate 50 years of a life well lived and filled with the childlike wonder of holidays, family celebrations and keeping things fastiduously tidy! Mike has Down's Syndrome, and has been an active member of the family since he arrived on the scene. Of course we wouldn't miss this party! So, we loaded up the truck and headed out Saturday morning, June 19.
I have a thing about old barns, and as I'm still getting to know my new camera, tried some shots from the car at 65 mph. I was pretty pleased with the results.
The weather started out crummy on our side of the Cascade Mountain Range, then got nice around the time we hit Cle Elum for a potty break at my sister's, also delivering birthday loot for her impending 42nd birthday on the 27th of June. But, as we journeyed further eastward, serious looking clouds rolled in...
...and then out again :) Here are the rolling vineyard covered hills of Prosser, wine country of Washington State ~ you can't swing a grape without hitting a winery 'round these parts.
So, we of course had to stop in and try one, Yakima River Winery.
Which, to our delight, was being manned by the winemaker himself. While I sipped and tasted, the winemaker and DH struck up a conversation and discovered they know a lot of the same people in the wine industry. The winemaker has been in the biz for 37 years, and DH was a wine department manager at a local grocery ages ago, worked as a wine salesman for a major WA wine distributor, and is again in the industry working in the IT dept of another beverage distribution company. So, that was fun for both of them :)
We journeyed on after purchasing two fabulous bottles, a 2004 Cabernet Sav and a 2007 Shiraz Port, and eventually arrived at Mike's house in Kennewick -- he was very happy to see us :)
So were Gene, favored dog #1,
and Max, favored dog #2.
The actual party had been cancelled due to Mike developing a sinus infection, so Aunt Joyce put us (DH) to work getting dinner ready.
DH manned the grilling of burgers and hot dogs, while his cousin Tim (Mike's older brother) and I visited.
After a yummy dinner, it was time for cake, which Tim's girls MacKenzie and Taylor were almost as excited about as Mike was!
After dinner and dessert, Tim and the girls headed for home, and DH joined his granny in her room to watch a Seattle Mariners game, which they won. Go M's. (that's me not caring a whit about the M's - not much into baseball...) Granny Jo seems to have recovered from her hospital stay a month ago, and is as feisty as ever. We remain convinced that even at 93, she's going to outlive us all.
After a good night's rest, it was time to hit the road home again. Max was sad to see us go (not really, but I needed an excuse for this very sweet picture - Max & Gene are both rescued dogs, and Max is pretty shy)
On the way home, Mount Raininer was "out" in all its glory, so another attempt at photography at 65mph, which I think, while not the preferred manner to shoot pix, works.
After getting back to our side of the water, followed by a quick stop at Costco and the grocery store, it had started pouring rain again. We got in the door at home by 3pm, unpacked, started laundry, then curled up on the couch to watch the final stage of the Tour de Suisse (Mr. Lance Armstrong came in 2nd), and some serious napping on the couch. For the last full day of spring, it sure felt like October!
No comments:
Post a Comment