Our vacation for 2015 was to go visit my daughter in Western Washington from our area in eastern Washington about 350 miles.
We had a few days for vacation as my son-in-law and daughter both got off work for a week December 24 through the 29th. They both had to work Dec 30.
There were five of us, so we decided to rent a minivan, so we would have a reliable car. As we are going to be driving in snow, ice, altitude, rain and not too many stops.
The five included myself, my daughter Suzanne, her husband George, their three daughters Mae 20, Kat 18, and Hannah 14.
We got a really nice minivan with three rows of seats.
I sat in the front seat which had a heating element. This was a lovely feature, especially since we are driving through freezing cold and snow. It was great to get back in the warm seat after the pit stops.
George drove the entire trip. Suzanne and Hannah sat in the 2nd row of seats. Mae and Kat sat in the third row of seats. There was room for all of our gear and gifts.
I took a couple hundred pictures, my granddaughter was saying "Grandma, you must have taken 1000 pictures!"
When you are moving in the car, you never know how the pictures will come out so you need to take a lot of pictures, I told her.
We left on Christmas Eve morning at 8 AM and it took us nine and half hours to get to my daughter's home in Bremerton. Of course we had to stop in Port Orchard to drop off Mae and Kat.
The Route
We could not go over the Snoqualmie Pass because it was closed due to snow and avalanche danger.
We drove to Ellensburg and from there we found that Snoqualmie was still closed so we went south to Yakima.
Then headed west to Highway five north to Bremerton.
I stayed at my daughter's house in Bremerton. Her house only has two bedrooms for the three of them. So only one of us could stay with her. One granddaughter Hannah and my daughter Suzanne and George stayed in a motel. The other two granddaughters stayed at George's in-laws home.
So here are some of the pictures that seem to come out the best.
We started out from my house in Spokane Valley.
My house in Spokane Valley, WA.
On the road on Dec 24 outside of Spokane
The flat area before Moses Lake going southwest.
The top of the hill, first pit stop.
The bridge over the gorge at the Columbia River
The mountain areas near the Gorge
Out of focus but here are some of the people in our car. Left front is granddaughter Hannah, right front is my daughter Suzanne, back behind Suzanne is my granddaughter Mae and to the left pink pants is Kat whom you cannot see.
More of the mountains before the pass.
The windmill farm where we made our first stop.
More of the Columbia River Gorge.
The Gorge.
Then we got to Yakima as Snoqualmie was closed so we had to go south from Ellensburg to Yakima.
There are a ton of apple boxes for the apple orchards in Yakima.
Finally into White's pass over the mountain range.
White's Pass
White's Pass
Silver Beach Ski Resort at White's Pass
Lake in the pass
More of the lake at the pass.
Tunnel ahead!
Icicles hanging in the tunnel!
Lovely trees in the pass.
There was a lot of traffic so we slowed down and I got some close ups of the icicles.
More close ups of the icicles.
Finally out of the pass and with in a few miles no snow on the way to Hwy 5!
Getting there!
I stayed with my daughter Justine, center in photo below, from Christmas eve night until Sunday Dec 27.
Christmas morning photo of my Grandson Vince who got a lot of How to Train your Dragon items such as sheets, backpack and comforter. He also got a head set with mic for his XBox.
Vince and his new backpack
Vince and his headset and xbox
Me with the Kitty Calendar my daughter Melissa made for me for Christmas
My granddaughter Hannan left, and daughter Suzanne right
Kat and Hannah my granddaughters, George and his sister Pat at the family reunion at his sister in law's house.
On Sunday after church we drove to Sequim so I could stay with my best friend Linda. I used to live in Sequim from 2004 to 2011. When I had been released from the Hospital and rehab after 5 months I moved in with Linda for 6 months to recover. Linda helped me a lot. Linda's husband passed away in February 2015. It was a difficult time for her to be without him for the Holidays.
Sequim where I use to live and the Olympic mountain range.
The hill above Sequim
The hills above Sequim
After I stayed in Sequim we went back over to Port Orchard to get the other Granddaughters and then home on Dec 29th. Hood Canal floating bridge.
The bridge was opened so we had a bit of a wait to cross the bridge.
The canal or the "sound" as they call the waters in and around Seattle bay.
After we picked up the granddaughters we were going home.
Still no snow in this area. It did snow on Sunday in Bremerton.
The mountains going to Snoqualmie pass.
Just beautiful!
Breathtaking beauty!
We could not believe how blue the sky was!
So blue!
Just so pretty!
In the Snoqualmie pass.
The snow banks were pretty high!
I love the way the snow looked on this guard rail.
There are some lakes up at the pass.
More of the lake.
Out of the pass on the way back to Ellensburg then Spokane to home!
Home and our tree was still green and pretty. We still have it up as of January 4th!
When we got back it was extremely cold. Some icicles hanging off our back porch.
New Years eve forecast and for the next 10 days.
The coldest it got was 3 one night.
Happy New Year 2016!
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