The Washington Trip 2025
I was able to eavesdrop on Will during a practice session in his basement studio. He put this organ together and it is sampled from several Cathedral organs that he can choose from. The sound is amazing and it is such a pleasure to hear him play.
🗓️ Daily Journal Outline: July 1–16, 2025
Week 1
Tuesday, July 1, 2025
- Darlene Gooch picked me up from home at 5:15 a.m. and drove me to Nashville Airport! Thanks!
- Flight from Nashville to Seattle: Depart 9:00 a.m. CDT, Arrived 12:00 noon PDT.
- Will picked me up from the Airport, and we went to his house to get settled in for the day.
- Took Griswald for a nice walk around the neighborhood.
Wednesday, July 2, 2025
- Went for a 15-minute walk around an island, and Griswald pulled me up a hill! That is one powerful pup!
- Main Event: Met Sharon and Art at the church and went to the Mariners vs Royals game at T-Mobile Field. Mariners won 3-2. Sharon did a great job driving and we had a great time.
Thursday, July 3, 2025
- Will and I drove down to Olympia and went to Amanda and Matt's house for a (3rd) 4th of July celebration.
- They had a beautiful feast set up, and everyone had a great time.
- Nina and John met us there, and I transferred my bags to their car, and after the party, drove to their place to stay.
- Jeannie came with Anna and Soap, but they returned to Seattle before we went sailing.
- Karly, Amelia, and Landon were at the party, too, but returned home as well.
- Will and I, Matt and Amanda, John, Maria, and Jim went out on the Catalina 38 for a couple of hours of glorious sailing on Puget Sound.
- I went back to Nina and John's for the evening and hit the Hot Tub.
Friday, July 4, 2025
- Went to the Independence Day Parade in Littlerock, WA., which was finished at about 6:30 p.m.
- Nina, John, Karly, and Amelia drove back to Joel and Karly's home, and I got into Joel's cruiser to experience a sheriff's car in action till about 10:00 p.m.
- We came upon a Motorcycle wreck and did Code to get there, which was quite the experience. You never know what you will find when you get to a scene. It was a great experience to witness how law enforcement works.
Saturday, July 5, 2025
- Nina, John, Karly, Amelia, Landon, and I drove down Mt. St. Helens. We got an early start, and it is a bit of a drive down. It was amazing to see that huge mountain with the side blown out of it. The main observatory point was not open due to a mudslide last year, I believe. We stayed a couple of hours, maybe, and drove back.
- We stopped at Pizza Place and had some really tasty pizza. The kids played in the arcade for a while and then we headed back to Olympia.
- The rest of the day, we just stayed around the place and got to use the Hot Tub again.
- Amelia had a social event with her Softball team to go to a movie in Olympia, but returned not feeling well. She stayed the night in anticipation of going to practice on Sunday morning, but fell ill during the night. I felt bad for her.
Sunday, July 6, 2025
- Amelia was not feeling well, which led us to just hang out at the house until Jeannie came to pick me up to go to the beach.
- I went with John to pick up some hay and feed for the animals.
- Jeannie, Anna, and Eva, a friend of Anna's, arrived around 11:30, and we took off for the beach. We made a detour to Soap's College, Evergreen State College in Olympia, and we walked around the beautiful campus there for a while.
- Jeannie drove us out to Pacific Beach to the house, and we arrived early, so we couldn't check in right away. But we walked down to the town and were able to check in at 4:00.
- Will arrived with Griswald a bit later, and we all hiked down to the beach in the evening.
- Jeannie brought a lot of great stuff to eat, and she cooked pasta with tomato sauce and Arrabiata sauce, salad, etc. It was filling and delicious.
- We spent the rest of the evening chatting and just hanging out.
Week 2
Monday, July 7, 2025
- We woke up and had pancakes that Jeannie made. They were amazing.
- We all then went for a walk through town and went to a candle shop to make candles.
- Will, Jeannie, and I walked around the town for a bit and returned home in the afternoon.
- Will went back home after the walk. Will drove back to Renton because he had some work to do due to his AGO duties. He was also having issues with migraine headaches, so he needed to get back to his own environment.
- The house Jeannie rented is pictured above. It was very nice and well-appointed with a fire pit, fireplace, and hot tub. The porches were big and roomy. I was surprised that the upstairs bedroom was a king-sized master bedroom, where I figured there would be two bedrooms. But, in the end, there was ample space for everyone. Such vacay rentals are great for family vacations, but it usually means you do a lot of cooking, which could be argued would be an extension of what people do at home. However, it is a lot more comfy than a typical hotel room and honestly, eating at home is much better than any restaurant for many reasons.
- We had a great time.
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
- Drove from Pacific Beach to catch the Ferry to West Seattle to take Eva home.
- We were all happy to get on the Ferry which was a short ride over to West Seattle.
- Drove on to Snohomish and had Pho for dinner and chilled the rest of the evening. It had been a warm day, but the evenings in Wash State are wonderfully self air-conditioned!
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
- Jeannie, Chris, and Anna's in Snohomish
- We went to downtown Snohomish and shopped for candles and just roamed around town a bit.
- Dinner with Chris's brother and wife, and neighbors.
- Chris made an amazing Mexican Chicken dish in the 'Crock Pot', and they chopped up veggies for Tacos.
- Had long conversations. It was a nice dinner for all.
Thursday, July 10, 2025
- Snohomish to Bellevue to Renton
- Jeannie had to work on Thursday, so we left the house at 7:15-ish and she dropped me off at an area called Totem Lake Village, which is just before Kirkland on Highway 405. It was good to leave early and beat the traffic.
- I got some coffee, a scone, and a chocolate croissant and worked on this webpage while killing time for the traffic to break up.
- I hailed an Uber at about 9:30 a.m. and took it to the Bellevue Westin Hotel, where I stayed for a bit.
- I went over to the Bellevue Mall across the street and window shopped for a while until going down to meet Will for Lunch.
- Met Will, who had just done a Funeral Service on Mercer Island, for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and chatted for a bit before going to his place in Renton and an anxiously awaiting Griswald!
Friday, July 11, 2025
- Renton
- Visited the Boeing Flight Museum.
- This is a pretty big museum with some historic aircraft. The Original 747 test aircraft named the Everett, the Concorde, a B 787 (huge plane), Dad's F-86 original, the X-15, many other replicas, and interesting Boeing Aircraft. The museum is a lot for one day.
Saturday, July 12, 2025
- Renton
- Dinner at Thai Place
Sunday, July 13, 2025
- Renton: St. Andrews Lutheran Church 10 - 12 ish.
- Met Jeannie at the Landing, where Eva's folks were returning Anna to Jeannie. We had Korean BBQ, which was both a first for me and was very delicious.
- We returned to Renton, then went to swim at a lake nearby.
Week 3 (partial)
Monday, July 14, 2025
- Will's house in Renton.
- Took the bus to Seattle, walked down to the Ferry Peer, and did a round trip ferry ride to Bremerton and it was very beautiful and relaxing.
- We had hot dogs and tater tots on board and enjoyed the sun and the sea.
- After disembarking the Ferry, we hiked up to 2nd Avenue to catch the bus back out to Issaquah.
- This dude gets on and proceeds to hassle everyone, pees in the bus, and lights a bic lighter into people's faces.
- Will and I got off the bus at the next exit to get away from this nutcase. I wonder what happened after that???
- I'm all for Mass Transit for many reasons, but it can have questionable people sometimes.
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
- Renton: We got up and had coffee, and chatted for a bit.
- Will went to the church to get some work done and I stayed here to try and record this journal.
- We went to get a massage at the local Chinese place.
- Playing it by ear for the rest of the day.
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
- Today is travel day. Will took me to SEATAC Airport at 2:00, to arrive 3:00-ish for my 5:30-ish flight back to Nashville.
- We arrived around 20 minutes past Midnight, Central time. There was a problem with the baggage conveyor belt, but it eventually got fixed.
- Darlene picked me up and took me back to BG, and I was in bed by 2:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time in Bowling Green, KY.