Old Friendships are New Again

On Friday we left Rob & Gwen’s driveway and drove to the North Whidbey RV park across from the Deception Pass State Park.  It is a nice park with very nice staff. We explored the North Island Lavender Farms, one, A Knot in Thyme, even grows Holly trees. They supply most of the Holly in the US around Christmas. 

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We drove up to the small town of Anacortes and down to Oak Harbor. We found the “Best of Whidbey Island” restaurant, Seabolts Smokehouse, http://www.seabolts.com/, in Oak Harbor and almost drove right on by. They cure and smoke their own fish.  I had seafood gumbo in a breadbowl and have never had better. Tom had a seafood stew which was like Chopino.
 

On Monday, we left the Island for Monroe about an hour away. Our friends, Darold & Mary Lobb, moved from Fresno to Washington many years ago, though we would visit when they came to see their folks. Tom and Darold go way back to Sunday School days in Junior High School. Darold saw Tom on Facebook and saw we were traveling in Washington so invited us to his town of Monroe. We checked into the Fairgrounds in Monroe and drove over to the Lobbs’. After catching up on our families we went to dinner at one of our favorites, Golden Coral.  We then had them over to our home. We just couldn’t stop talking and Mary had to insist on leaving as her arthritis was really hurting her and she needed her medication.
  Coincidently, we had another old friend, Bonnie Foss, living in Monroe. We also go way back, almost 47 years, when we all lived in the Los Angeles area. We have been praying for Bonnie for almost 2 years in her battle with cancer and heart problems. It was so good to see Bonnie looking just like her old self… only pretty weak after having heart surgery and part of her lung removed. We thought we would only spend about an hour with Bonnie... that turned into all day. What a great time we had reminiscing. We took Bonnie back to her cute tri-plex after having lunch, a short trip to Albertson’s, and a visit in our RV. Stay strong Bonnie.
We left the Evergreen State Fairground in Monroe WA in the rain today. We traveled along the Skykomish River for a while then continued on the Stevens Pass Greenway, I-2. Everything is so green and clean with many picturesque homes with smoke rising up from their chimneys. It looked very warm and comfy in those cabins.  We were warm and cozy too traveling through small towns with so many enticing eateries. We had just eaten breakfast and were not hungry enough to eat even at the Dutch Cup Breakfast and Bakery. I can’t believe we passed that!
There are towns with names like Start Up, Gold Bar, Index all about 5 miles apart.
We were on our way to Leavenworth, WA, known as Bavaria without a passport. Since this RV won’t float we are taking the opportunity to visit Bavaria in the US. The sharp snow covered peaks of the Cascades were hiding in the clouds this day. We saw glimpses of their beauty as we traveled up the Skykomish River. It is so pretty with rapids, huge rocks in the middle of the river and so many water smoothed river rocks along the bank. We also passed many Espresso shops. One advertized it was ‘A cup above the rest’ and featured White Worthers’ Mocha. We have never seen so many espresso shops; I think espresso must be Washington’s legal drug as so many are addicted to it. This road has more than its share of narrow bridges, but Tom stayed on his side and everyone else did too. This was a time I was glad he was driving and not me.
We climbed up to Stevens Pass and saw lots of dirty snow, but none of the predicted snow flurries. Then we cruzed down the other side at 45 mph with the Engine break on high and Tom never had to step on the brake. We do love this Windsor. We checked into the Leavenworth KOA and took the shuttle into this very European looking town, Leavenworth. We asked our driver what would his choice be for a German dinner. He suggested Café Mozart. This was a real winner. While a bit pricey it was a unique dining experience. The Bavarian Salad Plate was outstanding, German potato, spiced carrots, pickled cucumbers, and pickled cabbage. We each had  Schnitzel Jaegar Style, Tom pork, me chicken, with wild mushroom topping. I had Homemade Spaetzle noodles and Tom had Lyonnaise Potatoes. We shared the Mozart’s seven layer Marzipan Torte for desert. What a dinning experience!
We plan on returning tomorrow and will update our visit tomorrow.  On the Road Again, Caching Places That We’ve Never Been…  Thanks for joining us.