North To Washington

Bridge of the Gods

The Cascades

Jim Pounder Miniatures

We just made it back to Arizona last weekend. Neither of us had been to Oregon or Washington and since Wade's oldest daughter lives near The Dalles, OR we thought it was time to go exploring. Our trip was too early to enjoy all that Spring allows but not too late for some late winter thunder snow squalls. It has been almost hot down here for a couple of weeks, so our thin bloodiness made even the days without rain seem cold.

We did enjoy seeing Jeanine and Skylor (Wade's grandson). Skylor is kind of a throwback, he is only sixteen and emulates his grandfather in several ways. He is helping to remodel his mother's house doing a perfect job on the redo of the bathroom, he has done the wiring and plumbing and even moved a bearing wall. Very impressed! He also can diagnose and work on his car (which he and grandpa enjoyed together). Wade really enjoyed buying him his first real tool set. Wade said "a guy like that needs some good tools". We hope he looks us up someday after he's done with school.

We picked the first leg of the trip through western Nevada so we could go through Goldfield. We love old mining towns. Our trip home was east to Clarkston and south through Idaho where we encountered the bad snow squalls all the way on and off to Jackpot, NV.

We got in touch with Wade's old Army buddy, Jim Pounder who lives in Clarkston, WA. They served together in Asmara, Ethiopia in the ASA (Army Security Agency). They hadn't seen each other since they left Africa, over thirty years ago. They recognized each other despite the gray in their hair and beards. Jim is a very talented artist creating the most intricate miniatures from metal. I have been into mini's for a long time and I have never seen anything as exquisite.

We also got the take a trip along side the Columbia River and found out why the mountains are called 'The Cascades'. We were there at the perfect time to see the very large waterfalls 'cascading' off the mountains. The moss and ferns along the roadsides were awesome as well. We spent some time at the Maryhill Museum that gave us a history lesson about Sam Hill's life ('where the Sam Hill are we') and collections that were very interesting. The chess sets on display were gorgeous. (Jim's work was even better)

All in all, we had a great time, stopping off to visit some of our dearest friends and cousins along the way.