family,  My books,  trips and sights I see

Family Fun equals Photo Ops

It’s August; the month I must get back on track, which means completing the final touches for Best Kept Secrets, the second book in the Jorja Matthews mystery series, so that I can finally get it out there to everyone who is waiting for it.  I’ll also get back on track with my Blog-posting schedule but today will be somewhat of an exception, since it is my first weekend in three weeks when I’ve been able to spend some quality time with my writing to-do list. 

Because I need to get back to work, I won’t write much today.  Instead, I thought I would share some photographs from the family road trip we took the week before last.  It was a much needed vacation and I was very happy for some new photo ops.  Leaving Western Washington, which is green and lush with trees and color, we drove through Eastern Washington, where the terrain is full of browns and yellows with a smattering of pine and fir trees vying for the limited moisture to be had, before moving on into Idaho.  Regardless of the color, or lack thereof, there are always sights to be found no matter where the road takes us… 

Going over Snoqualmie Pass, I couldn’t resist checking out the cabins…here’s one of my favorites:

Snoqualmie Pass cabin

 On the way we enjoyed the many windmills spread throughout the farms:

Washington windmills
And we stopped to play in the Columbia River, which was much warmer for swimming than any of us had expected: 

Columbia River

While in Idaho, we visited the Silverwood Theme park but on our way we couldn’t resist stopping at this river (I didn’t catch the name of it):

 

We spent a day on Lake Pend Oreille or a portion of it anyway as I’m sure it would take many days to actually explore that whole lake:

Lake Pend Oreille

Clear waters at Lake Pend Oreille

Looking over Lake Pend Oreille
 
Further down from where we swam during the day, we found Scenic Bay complete with a floating bar/restaurant and a house boat that absolutely made my day:
Scenic Bay

A houseboat under construction on Scenic Bay
 
On our way back through Washington we stopped to visit the Grand Coulee Dam:
Grand Coulee Dam
 
 We drove a somewhat scenic route along Banks Lake:
Banks Lake

Over Banks Lake

  
And finally ended up at Lake Chelan:

Lake Chelan
 
On our last day we couldn’t resist checking out Snoqualmie Falls (imagine how much water there must be during the winter months!):
Snoqualmie Falls
 
And we stopped off for a visit at the Point Defiance Zoo:
Can’t resist the tigers!
 

or the bears!

I hope you’re enjoying your weekend and if the sun is out in your neck of the woods, I hope you’re enjoying the weather as well.



Ready for another weekend!