Stuck in Washington!

Yup, what started as a short visit to Phil and Danette's home in Pasco, Washington, has turned into 45 days and counting - a marathon. Oh my!

We really are trying to get back to Maz and Moondance, but are spinning our wheels waiting for our refinance on the tri-plex to go through. It has been painfully slow...

But, if we had to be stuck, we couldn't have picked a better place. Phil and Danette have just been wonderful to us. Besides sharing their beautiful home and providing us with a car, they have made sure we have kept busy and entertained.

Plus, we got to spend lots of time with our nephews - Conner and Ethen.

They look wonderful and have grown so much. How did that happen?

Below are some of the people and places we have seen during our visit -lots of good times...

More family visits - Josh (another nephew) and Rachel brought their wonderful family over to spend the day with us.

Keyan, Rylan, and beautiful Niyah spent the whole day splashing between the pool and hot tub and only took a break when hot dogs were served. They were sure fun to watch and energetic!

David and Lynette (in-laws from Nevada) joined us a for a quick visit - they were on their way to British Columbia with their new RV.

We had a great time showing them around the Washington wineries and enjoyed a boat ride up the Columbia river. Just wish we could have had more time!

Big surprise! Ken, my brother from New Hampshire, flew in just to see us - how fun!

He didn't get to stay long, but long enough for us to do a lot of visiting, fishing, and we attended the Sausage Festival (which had the only MALE belly dancer we had ever seen - interesting). Thanks for the visit, Ken!

We dressed up like cowboys (not) and joined in on the festivities of the 100th Pendleton Round-Up.

It was very exciting - my first rodeo and a great time to hang out with old friends.

Plus, those cowboys and cowgirls put on quite a show for us.

Of course, we had to check out the Let'er Buck Room, which is famous for wild times and wilder women.

Things have mellowed a bit though - they even have warning signs and we weren't supposed to take photos. What's up with that?

To top off the event, we spent the night at the Wild Horse Casino - I had my best Craps roll ever. Lots of people made money on me - just not me.

Oh well, it was still lots of fun, plus we got to do some cowboy dancing. Thanks Fred and Wanda - Yeehaw!

We have had beautiful fall weather, which allowed us to do a lot of fishing.

We have been on the Columbia and the Snake rivers and have had good fishing days and good days just to hang out on the boat (translation: not good fishing days). But, we enjoyed all of it.

Doug's salmon won the "Biggest Fish Contest", but my Steelhead tasted much better.

Plus, Doug cheated. We let him get away with it though - just cause he was the Birthday Boy (#57)!

We have also been busy touring the Washington wineries - from Prosser to Walla Walla to Paterson - with a lot of stops in between.

None of these wineries were here when we moved 28 years ago - now Washington is famous for their wines. Who knew?

We also spent a wonderful weekend at Phil and Danette's cabin in Sunriver, Oregon. We forget how beautiful the lakes, rivers, and mountains are. Love it there!

So, as you can see, we have made the most out of being stuck in Washington! Hopefully, we will be heading back to Mexico soon - we miss Moondance.

Thanks Phil and Danette - we owe you big time!