Desert Blues

After 2 weeks in the Pacific Northwest, I very much wonder how it is that we still live in a desert. I love and miss the green, the lakes, the pine trees and the temperature that drops every night to cool things down. Adam and I always planned to go back to the Northwest when he was done with school, but, alas, there are few film opportunities there. I count it a blessing that I still have a sister who lives there and lets us visit, and that we were able to have our Anderegg reunion there this year.

See what I mean about green and lush!!! I know what you're all thinking - it looks like a location in "Twilight." We actually thought about taking a ferry across the Puget Sound to Forks, but it would have been 4 1/2 hours of driving each way!

Birch Bay, WA - about 10 miles south of the Canandian border, is where we called home for the week of our reunion. We were a 1 minute walk from the beach, and had an ocean view where we could watch the tide come in and out every day. There were lots of clams and crabs and we collected tons of shells.

This spot was behind a dock where we rode the Plover ferry and caught our only glimpse of Canada. We would have gone into Canada because we had passports with us, but the boys were done with being in the car. We'll just have to go there another time!

We found this great old boat and the boys oscillated between playing pirates and "Gilligan's Island."

My sweet nephew, Tucker, was my buddy. He would see me and come right to me, even out of his mother's arms, to give me hugs.

We took a ferry with Dan and Corinne to see the San Juan Islands, spending the afternoon at Friday Harbor where we walked around, did a little shopping and ate fish and chips - YUM!

My sweet boys! Tyson didn't enjoy the cooler temperatures as much as the rest of us and wore his jacket almost constantly. We can pretty much guarantee he'll always live somewhere where it's warm.

After a day around the islands, Dan and Corinne were ready to move there - they were thinking a bed and breakfast would do the trick and we would certainly visit them often! :)

Adam had to leave our reunion early for pre-production work on a big project, so we spent a day in Seattle before taking him to the airport. It brought back a lot of memories being there together. When we were in high school, we took a jazz choir trip to Seattle each spring and we always had time to spend at Pike Street Market. You could say we fell in love there. It was so fun to wander around there with our boys. It really hasn't changed much in all these years.

Because it was one of those rare, sunny days in Seattle, and because we had never done it before, we decided to go to the top of the Space Needle. The view was spectacular! You can even see Mt. Rainier in the background.

With Adam back home working long hours, I decided to stay longer in my beloved Northwest. The boys and I drove through the amazing Cascade mountains, the golden fields of central Washington and just over the Washington border to Post Falls, Idaho, the home of my favorite little sister, Barbara. It was the most relaxing week I've had in a very long time and it was heavenly. I can't tell you one spectacular thing we did - just shopping, reading, playing games, chatting... But the kids played without fighting almost the entire time, some were old enough to babysit for a few hours at a time so we could leave the house kid-less, and there were four hands to make meal prep and clean-up quick and easy. Like I said - HEAVEN!

Since Adam had Pioneer Day off of work, he flew back to help me drive home. We spent one more marvelous day enjoying my most favorite lake in the world, Lake Coeur d'Alene, and then swam in the Spokane River.


We were having a very peaceful drive home - Adam and I took turns napping and driving - and had just passed Idaho Falls, when Jacob started crying and yelled, "It was scary!" We thought he was talking about the movie they were watching, the new Willie Wonka we had borrowed from my sister, so we turned it off and assumed all was well. Being sick of driving, we stopped around Ogden to have dinner. Jacob opened his mouth to take a bite of food when Adam and I both noticed he had a black spot in his mouth. He had lost a tooth and didn't tell us! And that's what had scared him in the car! We both started talking loud and excitedly and he thought we were mad at him. We explained that we weren't, but that we were excited for him and wanted to celebrate with him and that he needs to tell us about cool things, like his tooth falling out! The funny thing is, no one knew he even had a loose tooth. He hasn't even started Kindergarten yet, so we weren't looking for any yet. Jacob calmed down and felt much happier about it after Tyson explained about the Tooth Fairy. Luckily, Jacob had put his tooth in his cup holder, so we all got to see it when we got back to the car. I put it in a ziploc bag and it made it safely under his pillow. Thankfully, Adam mentioned Jacob when we were praying that night and so at the last second before falling into a deep slumber, we remembered to "help" the Tooth Fairy get that dollar under his pillow.

I was resigned to coming home, knowing that I would face unpacking, mounds of laundry and cooking and cleaning by myself again. And much to my surprise, I was met by my garden, which had gone crazy on me while we were gone (three cheers for sprinkler systems!!!).

And I was greeted by...

Desert Blues...

and Oranges...


and Pinks, and Yellows, and Whites, and even Green.

Yes, it's good to be home.