Author: Derek

For the last couple of weeks, the Ward household traveled to Washington State for two big family events. First, we needed to spread FIL’s ashes where he wanted. Second, The Wife’s nephew and his fiancee decided to get hitched out there. This trip had been in the works since shortly after FIL’s passing. It was almost derailed when COVID blew through the Ward household the week prior to leaving. I was actually recovering from COVID when we left.

The TLDR is both events went off splendidly, if not with some hiccups.

So, one of the things we decided to do was splurge a bit on our rental car. We ended up with a BMW X6 hybrid. It was fun to drive and easy to speed in because you just didn’t realize how fast you were going just by the feel of the car. I also really liked the little HUD for the driver and the fact that it was a bluetooth carplay. The range was amazing, which with a 20 gallon tank is not surprising. What I didn’t like? First and foremost was that it was overly complicated for a short duration trip. It took us far too long to find the important gauges (like the fuel gauge) and functions. I also dislike cars where the environmental controls have to be handled through their touchscreens. I want tactile knobs for those kinds of things so I don’t have to take my eyes off the road. I also don’t like that when its put in gear there’s no idle until you hit the gas.

Days One and Two

Flying while wearing a mask is not fun. I wore one because I was still dealing with COVID symptoms, and I didn’t need to be coughing and sneezing on folks. It didn’t help that TSA pinged FIL’s cremains as possible drugs/explosives. They were surprisingly polite (which is not the normal experience in Tampa), but it was a bit of annoyance.

Fortunately it was a straight flight from Tampa to Seattle, and we sprung for first-class. We picked up the rental car and drove to the AirBnB in the Tri-Cities area. This is where we learned about how easy to speed with the BMW when The Wife was hitting nearly 100 mph without noticing it. Fortunately, we had a spacious place in West Richland, and the Tri-Cities have almost non-existent traffic compared to our area. I spent most of the first couple of days resting and watching anime while the others visited with family.

Days Three and Four

We traveled to Mazama in the Methow area of Washington. FIL’s family have a small cabin in the area that’s been in the family for many decades. It was a special place for him, and this is where he asked for his ashes to be spread.

The Wife and her family met up with folks they hadn’t seen in nearly forty years from her father’s side of the family. There was many reminisces about days spent at the cabin. The original plan was to spread FIL’s ashes along the bank of the Goat Creek. However, in the intervening years, many of the open spaces have been purchased, which limited the number of public parking spaces along the creek. So, the family agreed to spread FIL’s ashes among some trees at the cabin. The Wife did a wonderful job of reading the eulogy.

The only downside were the accommodations we rented in Mazama. The place wasn’t bad, but 1) we were not its expected demographic, and 2) the area was in the midst of a pretty decent heatwave. The rooms did not have A/C and the only fans were oscillating desk fans. It was pretty miserable sleeping there due to lack of airflow. Some of our party ended up sleeping in their cars.

Still, the local shops were pretty neat.

Day 5

The family descended on the city of Leavenworth. This is a former logging town that turned itself into a tourist area by remodeling into a faux Bavarian village. In some ways, it kind of reminds me of the historic district of St. Augustine in that it’s a bunch of little shops hiding behind a facade. Not that I mind in either case.

I found one of those carousels in a store where they have pocketknives with people’s names engraved on the handle. Very touristy. Much to my surprise, they had one with my name spelled correctly. The Wife pushed for me to purchase it, but as I told her, I’m more discerning with my knives. She did find a fake street sign with my name, so we bought that. We also ended up getting this nifty wall thing that has small versions of the first six Star Wars movies along with film cells from each film. The other interest find was a store that sold bubble tea as well as “fish croissants”. These were essentially taiyaki. The Wife and MIL looked on with confusion as I ate a red bean filled one. I just wanted to try one after seeing them so many times in anime. Not bad, but not something I would go out of my way to get another.

There was some interesting drama on the way up to Leavenworth. As we were traveling up to Leavenworth, a beat-up Pontiac Vibe came up on us. Veering all over the road. With its windshield wipers going. Yeah, this dude was clearly intoxicated on something. Then a Washington state trooper came up behind with lights going. Oh good, this was going to be over quickly. Then the guy just kept going. At first, I thought the guy was just so intoxicated he didn’t even notice the big SUV with the flashing lights behind him. Then, the speed increased. We followed them for some fifteen miles before our GPS routed us off the highway. As we joked, we would probably find out what happened on an future episode of “Body Cam” or “High Speed Chase.”

Days 6 to 11

We spent a lot of time in the Tri-Cities visiting with The Wife’s family and relaxed around the AirBnB. We also visited a couple of little shopping districts in the area. I ended up with a CRKT fixed blade knife.

We also spent some time with The Wife’s Childhood BFF and her husband. There was much reminiscing among them while. Plus, Husband and I had long discussions on prepping. Yeah, I get along well with him. We also got to see their new #vanlife Ford Sprinter van. It was kind of neat, and The Wife and I have been discussing if we want something similar. It would be interesting for little trips where we didn’t want to rent hotels. Plus we could make sure we have some of our CBFF’s Husband told us about a dealership in Gainesville that might be able to rent us something similar. We’re going to experiment if we can deal with the small confines of #vanlife.

One thing that kept coming up was The Wife becoming disillusioned with some stores and restaurants she loved as a child. I guess that happens to everyone as they age and their tastes change. We did find a couple of good places to eat and the Indian restaurant that the Wife and I discovered when we were in the Tri-Cities a couple of years ago.

We also traveled up to Lewiston to visit one of The Wife’s aunts. I don’t know if it’s a Washington thing, or a PNW thing, but they do seem to love to make oblong burgers on sandwich rolls.

The last day we had a send off breakfast for some of the family. We found a place in the Tri-Cities called Spudnuts that makes doughnuts out of potato bread. Those were some damned good doughnuts. When we make it back out there, we will definitely need to hit there.

Day 12

We left the Tri-Cities for Seattle. Over breakfast, we decided to return our rental cars a bit early and use Uber to get around Seattle. None of us wanted to deal with Seattle traffic, or deal with Seattle’s bus between the rental car place and the airport. We had a lot of luggage. Let’s just say the ride back to the rental kind of proved our point. Seattle traffic is fucking nuts.

Day 13

Wedding day for the nephew. I spent the day getting as much packed as possible as The Wife and the bride got their hair and makeup done. Then I got into my kilt suit. Much to The Wife’s chagrin, I think the Stetson complimented the suit nicely.

There was a bit of a hiccup at the beginning. When we arrived, the venue was all locked up. And there was no one around. For about twenty minutes we were unsure if we were going to have the wedding in the venue or have it on the lawn outside. Finally, an employee showed up, but since she was from another section, her keys didn’t work. However, this employee was not daunted and did some ninja shit to find a door she could access. Just as the bride was arriving to finish getting ready, we were able to get into the venue.

The wedding went off beautifully. Many happy tears were shed. The Wife did a wonderful job officiating the ceremony. I couldn’t be happier for Nephew and his new wife.

Dinner afterwards was at one of Seattle’s upscale steakhouses. Most of the group were enjoying some exquisite cuts of Fillet Mignon. I am one of those unfortunate souls whose palate cannot distinguish the full richness of the different cuts and preparations of steak. It all kind of tastes the same as long as its cooked medium rare to medium. So, I just got a NY strip which was enough meat for me to enjoy and not over indulge.

Day 14

Travel day home. It was a long day. There was also the specter of the earlier cancellations from that screwy Microsoft update hovering over our travel plans. We figured if worst came to worst we would rent a vehicle and drive home. We manged to get to SeaTac around 0600 local. Checking in went relatively smoothly. Then we went to TSA. Let’s just say that Pre-Check is not well marked and it was only through the intervention of a helpful TSA agent (another surprise) that we were guided to where we needed to be. Fortunately, the small amount of FIL’s cremains didn’t flag another in-depth check.

The flight from Seattle to Detroit went smoothly, but our connector to Tampa was delayed. We didn’t get into Tampa until about 2230 local. Then there was a mix up with our ride as to whether she was in short term parking or economy parking. Hence, we did not arrive home until after midnight. Being us, we did our unpacking and crashed around 1am.