Week with the Folks

My parents have been visiting for the past week or so and we've enjoyed having them here. We spent part of Labor Day weekend driving up to Palouse Falls. Interestingly enough, it's in the middle of pretty much nowhere. About 2 hours from anything (we doubled back and got gas once we realized just how far out we needed to go -- and how limited the services became). We hit a tumble weed patch in the road that rivaled out car. As we attempted to go around it, another car pulled up, stopped, and a woman got out (mind you she and her car were literally in the middle of the road) and starting taking pictures.

As we got closer to the park, I became more and more skeptical that wall actually feel over the "falls." We were in the desert, with nary a sight of any water in any direction. Nor had we driven by any rivers, lakes, or streams in the last few hours (lets not talk about how the GPS steered us wrong on our first attempt to find the park). To our immense to surprise, ES shouted out "wow -- there is actually WATER going over the falls." I've seen my share of waterfalls – including Niagara – but for here it’s pretty spectacular. Unfortunately, the only way to the bottom was along a steep switchback carved into the side of the hill. For those of us not liking heights (I didn't even want to get close to the edge to take a photo of the falls), this was a deal-breaker. I did however, enjoy the falls from the vantage of the very lovely picnic table about 10 feet in from the edge.

 

After a day at Palouse, we headed to Walla Walla on our final day of the weekend to visited a few museums. The first was the Walla Walla Mission (National Park Site) where we walked about the grounds and even ran into friends there. We also visited the Fort Walla Walla Museum as well. As it was a holiday, the town had pretty much rolled up the sidewalks for the day, but we managed to find a place open near the college.

It was nice to have my folks here, as my mom made dinner all week. Each night it smelled so good coming in the door -- chili, chicken, butternut squash soup, spinach salad, and gingerbread to name a few of the goodies she made. We had a little birthday celebration for the boys -- ES and my dad both share August birthdays, so we had a cake and exchanged presents, one of which was a fishing trip on the Columbia.

ES and my dad headed out on the crack of dawn on Friday and headed up the Columbia River with a guide. I'll let him put in the details of his trip, but needless to say, but dad said ES looked a little worried there (like the sturgeon was going to pull him in) when he was reeling in the big fish. Take a look at the photo and you'll see why. Those are some really big fish.

All in all a great weekend with my parents.