A five week journey, Part 3: The Northwest in the Fall

I didn’t realize how much I had missed the fall colors until we arrive in the Northwest and saw the leaves turning. I could have stood there watching them for hours. We spent three, stunningly-beautiful days in Winthrop with John’s folks. We ate all the fresh apples we could get our hands on, went on some lovely walks, and enjoyed spending time with other people who speak English! 

 Breakfast at the Cinnamon Twisp Bakery.                                                                   

Eve :) Aren't those leaves amazing?

 

Isn't my husband handsome?

Making homemade onion rings with onions from a friend's garden. 

 

Beautiful Patterson Lake. This is the same lake that I lost my glasses in the month after we got married. We had at least 10 people diving to the bottom and looking for them, and miraculously, someone found them!

 

Aren't we cute?

Brrrrr! 

                Touring a friend's apple orchard. The best apples you will ever eat!

 

Our first glimpse of snow in a long time. 

After a few days, Carolyn drove us back to Seattle, where we met John Blakeney for dinner at Outback Steak House. We spent the night with some friends, Chuck and Robin Gleicer, who are so kind to open up their home to us every time we need it. They drove us down towards Portland, where another friend picked us up and drove us the rest of the way. It was terrific to hang out with friends all day and catch up with people we hadn't seen in a long time! 

Neil and Cambria: thanks for the drive, lunch, and a great afternoon!

Stephanie Fagerstrom: thanks for the ride, dinner, and great conversation! 

We spent a couple of days with Grandma Larson in Salem and had a great time! She took us to the Oregon Coast for a day, played lots of games, fed us all our favorite food, and even went to see Steal Magnolias at Fox with us. 

What a gorgeous day at the Oregon Coast!

Selecting salt water taffy with Grandma, a must if you're in Depoe Bay.

Back in Woodmar, my old theatre building. 

On Friday, Grandma drove us to Newberg where we had lunch with Steven and Barbara Hardgrove and saw some friends from small group. We are so blessed to have the friends we have!!

 Nicole Hopper (who was about to get married) took us to her apartment for the evening, cooked us dinner, and introduced us to Kevin (her now husband). 

We had an awesome time getting to know him, and we were so impressed that by how calmly he took our grilling (after all, Nicole is one of our closest friends). He is a terrific guy and we are so happy for both us them. The next day, the four of us drove back up to Washington to meet his entire family and go to one of Nicole's bridal showers. Kevin also has a really special family, and we made a lot of new friends. God is so good!

John and the dog from outer space!! 

My beautiful friend.

From there, we drove further up into Washington and worked our way back to Seattle.