Our Trip to the Beach in Rain, Snow and Sun

       We managed to book the Worldmark Surfside Inn in Long Beach, WA  from DAE some time ago aas(as usual), an off-season week was available, but that was fine:  Washington State beaches are good to visit all year.  We watched the weather and rain was forecast everyday so we bundled up, taking our “cold weather” clothes. 

After the concert last night

     

We left Seattle Sunday, a day late, in order to see the Evergreen Philharmonic concert last night in which Faith plays.  It was great and Natalie was also there, visiting for the weekend from UCLA.

Unexpectedly, it was partially snowing when we left, which was NOT forecast.  We had received an early snow (never had been so early) on Friday night, which was supposed to be one inch and melt off completely, which it did NOT.  Then, it continued for Sunday.  We were afraid that the coast would be worse, but as it was partially rain, it wasn’t bad – shall we say, it was “normal” for Western Washington.

      We actually stopped for gas at Costco in Lacey (south of Tacoma) since GasBuddy said the one in Tumwater (by Olympia) was more, since we knew there were no cheap gas stations on the narrow Long Beach Peninsula, and we wanted enough gas to get back without stopping.  It was fine until we turned onto State Route 8 (of which I posted pictures of the beautiful tree-lined road when we went to Ocean Shores in the past years), and WHAT????  It was snowing!   And sticking!  It was beautiful, but we wondered what was up ahead.

      We came to US 101 and turned south, and it was not snowing any more.  We decided to eat lunch in Raymond, at Slater’s Diner having checked out the restaurant reviews in Tripadvisor.  It was WONDERFUL, one of the best burgers ever, and a delightful décor .. 50's style diner.  The lady's restroom had photos of Marilyn Monroe while the men's had race cars.

Ron said his parents had this car, which he wrecked.

     Raymond was also a cute riverside town with so many metal sculptures EVERYWHERE!

      As we traveled toward Long Beach, suddenly the sun came out with beautiful river and bay views!  It was quite exciting to see the change.

Suddenly the sun was there

On US 101

gorgeous views while driving to the coast

     

Sunset from our balcony.

We learned on the TV news that the Seattle area was covered in snow and Snoqualmie Pass on I-90 had been closed for a while today , as well as many other mountain passes.  Seattle was expecting a difficult Monday morning commute with black ice.  We can only say, this is not usual here!)

Colors from Our Condo

From the couch

The condo in Renton is only 860 sq feet, but we do have two large windows in the  living area, one in the living room over the balcony and one over the dining window, both of which have large trees in front of them.  So in the spring and summer, we look out on greenery, and in the fall, we have the gorgeous colors, right from our living room!

Closer view, still from inside

Tree from dining room wondow

Right in front of our condo, where we park, this beautiful tree

Then on Nov 3, it snowed!

Seattle Color Walks

After enjoying the wonderful colors of the north Wisconsin woods, we returned to Seattle on the 24^th to find colorful woods here too.  Many parking lots in the city have gorgeous trees which really add to the enjoyment, as well as in parks.  Here are two parks we walked in Renton, Coulon Park on Lake Washington and the Cedar River Park. 

In Coulon Park, about 5 minutes from our condo

along Lake Washington

Leaves on the ground add more color

And even a mountain in the background

Sunset through the trees

Can we pretend this is an ocean beach?

Along the Cedar River, about 10 minutes away from our condo

The Cedar River from the bridge

Oh, should we mention the hills of blackberry vines?

Good place to get berries when they are ripe

As we walked back to the car, we stopped and saw the large  [red] salmon in the river.  We could see them clearly, the river was so clear.

Arriving in GA at Villa Rica

We were so happy to arrive here last night in 70 degree weather (for a change) with 70's forecast all week, so we could sit in the balcony and enjoy the lake view. Usually the weather isn't so good for that when we're here. 

But something happened this morning: once again, a place we visit overflows its gutters with a storm. I guess we have that "little black cloud" (like Pooh) following us ... is it from Seattle?
       It cleared up and we took our 2 mile walk along the earth dam right near our unit - or rather you can see the units across the lake.

Then the sunset was nice.

Traffic Alert Hundreds of Miles Away!

Incredible.  In Springfield, IL,  Joan was awakened at 5:45 am by a clipped female voice saying, "In 294 miles, the road is closed. You are requested to take 41A south."
     "Who/what was that?" she thought. Then she realized, it was the phone's GPS lady talking. Although she puts her phone on silent at night, we had discussed the route south just prior to sleeping and  had (unknowingly) left the navigation map open. So the update was announced. 
     "Where is that happening?" She looked at the phone; the Nashville map was open on the screen. 
      She went to the Waze app.  Road closures were all over the area, and it looked like I-24 had bridge construction, although initially the map's route had us bypass some of I-24. 
      Sure enough, when we got there, I-24 through Nashville was totally CLOSED!  So we were able to plan a good way to go around.

Living Hope Church in Cable, WI

Living Hope Church which we attend up here in Cable, WI has a new pastor, Ken Cluck  ( he's been here five months) but we just met him this month, very terrific.  We look forward to returning next year.

Color from our Balcony

Our lake view with a tree shining!!!!