There is supposedly going to be a group download site where all the members of the Mt. Olympus climbing team will be able to contribute photos. I am waiting to see if that happens so that I can include some of them in my blog posts for the climb. In the meantime, I will try to capture the flurry of activity that lasted three days after the climb and culminated with a 15 hour drive home (UGH.)

The first order of business was to settle into my new “home” for the next three days – two doors down and 15 steps from Mom’s apartment! Believe it or not, it was cheaper to rent one of the family “suites” from the Gardens than to stay in any hotel in Bellevue right now. Oddly enough, this was one of the apartments we looked at to potentially move Mom to earlier this year and it is still not rented. The miniature kitchen would seem to be the issue. In the photo you can see that the stove is 1/2 the width of the microwave. But aside from being in downtown Bellevue, the apartment was very, very nice and it was sort of fun being there. I had to make sure that I wore my GUEST nametag so that I was not mistaken for the “new kid on the block.” The greyer my hair gets the bigger this challenge will be!

A quick stop to Whole Foods for an early birthday floral arrangement for Mom. It ended up being split into two and then six arrangements!

And a dinner with Karla and her Mom at Duke’s. Just for the halibut. Everyone had halibut.

Brandon and Tarah stopped by and we had lunch at a local Thai restaurant the next day.

The following morning Mom had a 1/2 off coupon for Mercury’s Coffee which was fairly close by. The food and coffee was great and surely is giving Starbuck’s a run for their money. Mom has a $10 gift card so I am sure she will take Bob and Larina when they are next in town!

I had watched some replays of the Seafair Hydroplane races from the prior week and noticed that Mercury’s Coffee has a boat – the team is based out of Cle Elum! I am sure Dad would have been a fan!

A visit to put some fresh flowers at Dad’s memorial and then off to the Coho Cafe for dinner. Notice that I am wearing my down jacket. (Just as soon as I got to WA, the sheer sight of the moss on the rooftops and mailboxes made me shiver.) It was probably 75 degrees that day but certainly not the same as 75 degrees in Utah’s dry climate. I am sure I was probably the only one wearing a down jacket! So strange how one’s body changes to the environment after some time.

The last stop on this post-climb adventure was to visit Ross at the Echolands Winery in Walla Walla. Except for his bum foot, he seemed to be in good spirits as he motored around the site and gave me a quick tour and a couple of interesting bottles of wine – Rocksy Music?