So last we spoke, Luke's block leave was about to start and his mom and brother were coming into town. Well they arrived safely on that Thursday and we spent the next several days hiking and exploring Washington together. That Friday we went to Mount Rainier and hiked the Tipsoo Lake Trail. I have to say, I'd seen pictures so I knew what to expect, but it was even more gorgeous in person. The hike was 3.5 miles around a lake and a little mountain (we'd call it a mountain in Virginia, but here I'm sure it's just considered a hill.) There were wildflower meadows, evergreen trees, streams, snow patches, and rocky trails. So beautiful.
The next daywe made our way to Seattle to see Pike's Place Market. That was quite an experience. Basically Pike's Place is an open market with vendor booths all down the street and under awnings and on street corners and everywhere you look really. My goal was to buy a bouquet of fresh flowers to take home and I was successful! They were so beautiful and lasted a while too. Luke picked out some cider, placemats, and a vase for the flowers and then we headed home. We stopped for a few minutes to stand and look at the water, but after being in such a crowd for a several hours, we were all ready to head out and eat some dinner.
Sunday we went to church and then had lunch with Pastor Ron and his family. It was so nice to have someone else cook a delicious meal for us - it reminded me of home! That afternoon Luke took his mom to a nature walk while his brother and I stayed home to rest. All in all, a great day.
Monday we went to the Quinault Lake and Rainforest. We saw the biggest trees I've ever seen in my life and took a nice pontoon cruise around the lake. After the cruise we walked through the rainforest and made Star Wars jokes (we all thought Yoda was about to come out of the swampy woods and invite us to train with him). By the time it got dark we headed to the restaurant at the resort on the lake to enjoy a nice dinner. The drive back was long and it was late, so I slept most of the way.
Tuesday I had to go back to work and Wednesday Luke took his mom and brother to the airport and said goodbye. It was great having them visit and I know we all had fun. I'm hoping more people will come visit so we can show them around too!
While Luke's family was in town we noticed that one of the units in the duplex next door was up for rent. We called and set up an appointment to view the duplex, assuming even if we liked it, they would probably not want to wait to rent it to us in November. After we viewed it, we found out it would cost us less than some of the smaller apartments we'd been looking at AND they'd rent it to us in October - allowing me to go ahead and move in and live closer to work and next door to Luke! I'm looking forward to having a place of my own for a while before I get married - even if it is only for a few weeks.
After we signed the lease we went furniture shopping. We had a pretty tight budget, but with the help of my mom we found a couch and end tables at the furniture store on post for under our budget and there was no tax! We're going to go pick it up a few days after I move my things into the new place, so at least I will have a place to sit!
Luke's block leave ended the day after Labor Day - the day my sisters went back to school and the day before my mom's birthday. It was a time I wish I could have been home to be with my family, but I know that they had a good time and knew I was thinking about them.
Well that brings us up to last week. More to come in the next post...
I want to visit you so you can show me all these places! It looks amazing out there!
ReplyDelete