Cousins, Cousins and More Cousins!

One of the big reasons we camped with the RV in the Seattle area was to catch up with numerous friends and family in the area as we pass through into Canada on our way to Alaska.

MICHAEL SHERER FAMILY

Our first stop was a visit to the home of Michael, Amee, Sam and Juliana Sherer.  Michael is the older brother of David's sister-in-law Risa.  We've gotten to know them over the years while visiting Laird and Risa in Albany - especially for family occasions such as weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, and family Passover Seders.  Michael is an especially favorite outlaw because he has a gentle but quick sense of humor.  He's easy to be around.

We had a chance to see Michael and Amee's house in northeast Seattle.  After a great chat with them and their son Sam, we took off on a madcap tour of Seattle with Michael and Sam, who showed us all the sights on our way down to Seattle Mariners Stadium to enjoy the Seattle High School Baseball Classic.  The team from Sam's high school was competing and Sam knows most of the team members.  It was extraordinary to visit the stadium and have all of the normal stadium functions operating for high school baseball teams.

We caught this photo of Michael and Sam walking down to our seats behind home plate:

We could even order popcorn and beer, and we partook in both.  David tried his hand at a group selfie:

CAROL OLSEN

A few days later, we embarked on a trek to Bainbridge Island to visit with David's cousin Carol Olsen.  We decided to try the train down into Seattle, where we arrived at King Street Station:

It was a short walk over to Pike Place Market, giving us a chance to browse the foods, crafts and tourist chachkas:

We boarded a ferry to cross Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island, and were rewarded with an impressive view of the Seattle skyline:

A short half hour later, and we were approaching the harbor, with the majestic Olympic Mountains in the background:

We enjoyed a very pleasant lunch with Carol, and then returned to her house to look at her latest artistic creations.  Here, Carol and Kathy are looking over one of Carol's recent felt applique projects:

JOHN OLSEN FAMILTY

The next weekend, we drove out to Snohomish in our truck to visit John and Kathy Olsen and their kids:

John is the nephew of David's uncle, Howard Olsen.  We got to know each other at a memorial service for Howard held near Carol Olsen's home on Bainbridge Island in 2014.

John and Kathy own and run a winery known as ALIA Wines, which produces red and white wines from locally sourced grapes:

We really enjoyed our visit with John and Kathy.  Before we knew it, nearly 6 hours had passed. We'd tasted several of their wines and we came home to the RV with a case of all sorts of goodies.  Now, if we can just figure out how to convince the Canadian customs officers to let us bring those bottles into Canada without paying the astronomical Canadian taxes and duties.  Oh, well, it will be well worth it in any event!

This Tuesday was our last visit with cousins.  We caught up with David's cousin Sandy Stroble and her husband Ray.  Again, we trained down to Seattle and hopped a ferry for the passage to Bremerton.  As we steamed across Puget Sound, Kathy caught this view of Seattle under a fantasy of puffy clouds:

We enjoyed a sociable lunch catching up on events and family, and then returned to Ray and Sandy's home.  They have a beautiful split level ranch house overlooking Dyes Inlet in Silverdale, north of Bremerton.  With huge picture windows providing an expansive view of a beautiful beach, their house is very cozy and welcoming.  We wandered out to the deck and took this group selfie to memorialize the visit:

Sandy has two very special rememberances of David's dad:  a brown, tan and cream colored table with a tiled top that David's dad crafted himself; and a striking, blue oil painting of a sailing ship that David hadn't seen for years!  Both brought back lots of memories for David, and Sandy had a few more stories to flavor the occasion.

As we left, Sandy gave us parting gifts which are very precious:  two cross-stitch bookmarks we're using to hold our place in our tour books for this Alaska trip, and a 1942 photo of David's mother, on vacation with Sandy and another aunt and uncle:

In these modern times, family are so often separated by great distances.  One of the benefits of travelling in an RV is that we have the opportunity to catch up with family and friends where they live.  The Pacific Northwest - and Northwestern Washington in particular - are breathtakingly beautiful.  We've had a chance to discover why our relatives enjoy their lives here, and we envy them the beautiful scenery that surrounds them.

But all good things must end, and so tomorrow we head north across the border into British Columbia.  As we look forward to that, we're glad we have these new memories of wonderful family in this gorgeous corner of our country.