From Sea to Shining Sea

The beach on the Atlantic side

Yes. We truly did fly from the coast of the Pacific to the coast of the Atlantic in the month of July. Crazy, I know.

But first, we drove to Washington and Seattle! On the way we drove through Olympic National Park and saw Hurricane Ridge.

A view from Hurricane Ridge

Hurricane Ridge is about 17 miles of winding road through forests and snow-capped peaks in Olympic National Park.  It was an 'Oh, look at that! kind of drive.  We call some roads "tree-tunnels" when they are lined with trees that arch over the road and make you feel like you are in a paradise of lush green leaves.

                                      Looks like a good place for a house- right?

Beautiful Ocean Spray along the roads.

My plant identifier app - Plant Snap - calls these wildflowers "Beggar ticks".

We were happy to arrive in Seattle and meet up with Cheryl Hanna-Truscott. She is a midwife who has been a documentary photographer. One of her projects has been photography of mothers in jail with their babies. 

From her website  http://protectivecustody.org:

"Women get pregnant. They give birth. They become mothers. Some women get pregnant and then become incarcerated. And then give birth and become mothers.

Since 2003, I have been spending time at the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW) learning about incarcerated women. Their issues differ from those of incarcerated men: most minimum security women offenders are incarcerated for non-violent offenses related to substance abuse......"  

Read more and see her pictures on her website.

What a gift to give to women who the world has forgotten! She hears their stories and takes photos of them with their babies for them to treasure for years to come. 

Several years ago Cheryl contacted us and offered her services as a photographer for Midwives For Haiti. She has been to Haiti with us many times. She always listens to women and gets their stories and their permission before taking photos. She has developed a long-term relationship with one young mother and photographs her at each visit. Her work has been an incredible gift to Midwives For Haiti because her photos tell our story, explain our work training and supporting Haitian midwives, and make the mothers feel valued and validated as valuable human beings.

Steve and Cheryl at Gig Harbor- probably discussing his lens on his I-phone

Here is one of her photos-

Cheryl at her studio that is attached to her home.

In Gig Harbor, kind of a suburb of Seattle, we walked by this tree. We had never seen a tree like this.

It is called a Monkey Puzzle tree!

We had lunch with Cheryl and her husband, Al and some of their relatives. It was a great welcome to Seattle!. The next day we went downtown to explore. First we rode the Seattle Great Wheel, a large ferris wheel ride that is on the harbor. We walked through the Pike Place Market where fresh food is sold daily. 

The view from the Seattle Great Wheel.
We rode with a honeymooning couple from Atlanta.

Part of the downtown scene near the market.

Seattle's seaside market is a huge hit for locals and for visitors. Fresh fish is sold, wrapped, and tossed to customers in the crowd.

At the end of that week we flew from Seattle to Raleigh, North Carolina and rented a car to drive to Ocean Isle to spend a week with my extended family at the beach. We started this tradition quite a few years ago, going every two years. This year there were 57 of us in 4 houses. Our house had 5 boys under the age of 9! Every night a different family fixes a meal for all 57 people. Since your turn is only once the whole week it is not bad and everyone looks forward to those evening meals together.

This was the week Steve lost his drone for the second time. This time he really lost it. He is not sure what happened. He got a message while flying it that it was coming down because it was in airport air space- which it was not. He and other family used waders to go into the marsh where they estimated it had come down. Due to the heat they could only tolerated the waders for short periods of time. They never found it but they did get some male bonding. Another fun thing in our house was Mike's virtual reality headset. Watching someone play games while wearing it was entertaining. 

Me and my sisters, Shannon and Rosetta

Sisters and their husbands

Moonlit evenings on the beach are special.

Playing Pig Out

At the end of beach week, Steve and I parted ways for a week. He flew back to the RV in Seattle and I took the train to Richmond, Virginia. I was needed to help orient the new Executive Director for Midwives For Haiti and it gave me an opportunity to spend time with Peter's family who had not been at the beach because they had planned a trip to Ecuador. (Ecuador is the home of Peter's wife, Amparo, and the birthplace of her son, Alan. They had not gone as a family since Garvey was a baby.) It was Garvey and Polette's first time to fly - aside from Garvey's trip when he was tiny. I had fun getting them fanny packs and snacks for their trip.

In July in Richmond, Jessica passes the baby (Midwives For Haiti) to the new Executive Director, Jane, on the left.

 Garvey, age 10, plays with my I-pad.

                     Polette, Garvey, and I had a day at the Science Center in Richmond where                                          Curious George was the theme for the summer.

At the end of that week, July 27th, I flew to Bozeman, Montana because Steve had driven the RV from Seattle to Wyoming and then to Montana. He had met up with his daughter's family in Yellowstone  and with his son who moved to Montana about 6 months before. He had done some mountain biking and playing with grandkids while I was in Virginia. 

We were glad to get back to our routine of sleeping late and sightseeing. But it was not to last very long. More flying to the other side of the country was to come. Tune in for the next blog to find out why.