Drive, Dad's, Drive

Here's a few pictures from the drive from Concord, CA to Kennewick, WA, and our time at Dad's.

 Breakfast in Shasta City, CA.

 Some of these pictures are going to look a little funny because they are taken in the car through the window and the flash tends to make them look odd, almost fake. They're not, I'm just not great with the camera. Anyhow, that's Mt. Shasta.

 And the above picture is what 99% of the drive looks like going up Eastern OR to get to Dad's in Kennewick. It was almost all covered in snow, and farm land. We did see 2 herds of Elk, but I wasn't able to find the camera fast enough.

 Sophie, Emma, and Brian racing, although Sophie looks like she's headed to the store for some shopping.

 Emma got my Uncle Stan hooked on Geocaching, he found one on his first attempt.

 Uncle playing some pin-ball while being stalked by a few animals at Ranch and Home.

 We all enjoyed lunch at Famous Daves.

 Some enjoyed more than others, lol.

 More geocaching...

 And some coloring.

 And some hiking.

 See the barn roof below?

 That's where the Snake River and Columbia meet.

 And after 2 days (we really fit a lot into that 2 days!), it was sadly time to head back out on the road. We had a very nice, relaxing time visiting with Dad and my Uncle. I wish we could have spent at least another day, but the time came to head across the state, from Kennewick to Tacoma.  We picked the least treacherous of the passes, opting to cross White Pass.  Here's a few from that journey.

 Above you're seeing a bit of the dashboard reflecting, but this tunnel was really pretty with the snow and snow falling.

 We swung south for a quick detour to my old stomping grounds. We drove through Seaquest State Park, Silver Lake, and then took a quick tour of one of the many Mt. St. Helens visitor centers which was new since I've moved away.  For those who don't know, my I grew up in a town called Castle Rock, with the mountain right out our front window. In my baby pictures, if you catch the mt in the background, it's a nice, pointy mt. In later pictures the top and half the side was gone. We would often watch it steam and blow out air while swinging on our swing set, where we could see it really well. Anyhow, watching the movie of the weeks leading up to the eruption, and the aftermath...it always makes me cry, even though I was so young at the time.  I do remember things, like the bridge being gone, the ash, the houses floating down the river and the ones that were buried...So I really wanted the kids to watch the movie and understand better what I'm talking about when I talk about it.

And then there wasn't much to see on the drive up to Tacoma from there...just Interstate 5 and gray, dark, rainy skies.