Drive North~

Our first day back in WA state was a typical December day, mid-30's, gray & frost.  We spent it enjoying family time with two of our favorite Grand-kids.  Friday was warmer & still gray.  Borrowing the kids car - we took a drive up north.  We both wanted to see our old Homestead.  Of course with all the trees we'd planted over the years for privacy from the road - there wasn't much to see.

Up our old road~

There were changes, it didn't seem like home anymore.  Strangely enough - we were both happy about that!  The forest looked just fine!  Since the creek runs through & with the on-going water rights issues in the County, I hope that it will never get cut.

Signage still here~

It was nice to see that the signs were still on the fence.  We stopped to see Pat, Donnie & Kayla - so good to reminisce about the old days & hear news about how the on-going development will affect the neighborhood as we used to know it.

Seattle Galvanizing

Arlington too, had changed.  We checked out the last small property that Butch was building when we left.  An attractive little commercial building, now complete & occupied.  There was a new Condo/Apartment building just across from the Safeway & more traffic than we remembered.

Whitehorse Mountain~

We had just enough time to drive to Darrington, where we walked through 4" of fresh powder snow to check out our youngest daughters old property along the Sauk River.  The erosion was continuing, with huge chunks of the bank still falling into the current.

At the Ranch~

Dinner at Rhodes River was the plan & it was as beautiful as ever to see the Christmas lights as we pulled in.  

Gate Decorations~

Our friends were waiting, dinner was as good as ever & we spent the evening catching up on everything that had happened in the year we'd been away.  

Barb, Scott, Linda, Butch & Connie

It wasn't as hard this time - to say good-by.  We're in the planning stages for a horse camping trip next summer & looking forward to saddle time.

The drive back to Duvall seemed long!  We almost didn't recognize our old turn onto SR 92 off SR9!  A new storage building was on the corner - harbinger of future residential construction.