The Majesty of God's Works

To Seattle

Visiting Washington is an awesome experience. It was made possible with my niece getting married to Ryan Bean. The challenge before going was enormous but nonetheless a must go. Putting all faith to God, my mom Julie and niece Darlene fresh from Afghanistan embarked on a journey purely on my own faith's perspectives. Everything turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Definitely Washington is a beautiful state. It's like a huge nature reserve. From 30 thousand feet above, Mt. Rainier is enormously humongous topped still with snow and it is summer. The landscape was more conspicuous as the visible view resembles like a painting of circles in different hues of greens and browns. There were enornous spans of rivers and lakes having no ocean front on its own. The vastness was enormous and the mountains were topped with beautiful pine trees and the streets were beautifully sprayed with multi colored blooms of the season. The sun was brilliant but the breeze was cool making the road trip exciting... We got a rental car. It was almost impossible but again by faith we made it and surprisingly removed any hitch or blocks. One story book in itself. We were ready to go to Seattle. The five hour drive was gruelling despite the delightful view both sides of the road. I really have to stop for a ten minute nap as my mind keeps telling my eyes to close. It was scary that I reaslly have to stop and submit to the pleadings of my mind and found a parking by the lake a have a quick nap. A few hours after, the fields was replaced with those majestic pinetrees filling every space along the mountain route. You can smell the freshness of the air enhanced by all those beautiful pine trees. As we near Washington, more lakes, more trees and soon more cars and buildings until we are at the Space Needle by Seattle Center, the Icon of Washington.

Beside the Needle, Chihuly Glass Garden Plaza where dreamworks of blown glass sculpture were on display. The art works were manificient in size and concept. It's mind boggling to even think how they came up with the design and the assembly, display and presentation, the colors and lightings was awesome. The genius of Chihuly is unprecedented. I could just stand in awe in front of such magnificense. The debacle came in as it crept into my mind that there isn't simply enough time to marvel at all those marvelous sights and inspirations made available to us in just a day. It's purely an abundance of beauty everywhere.

Lavenders of Sequimm

We spend a night of restful sleep at Backie's beautiful home, sister of a very good friend Jo Atienza at Lynwood. After a sumptous Filipino breakfast of tocino, longanisa and OE eggs, we proceeded to the City of Edmonds where we boarded a RORO , a ferry boat that will bring us to Sequim and experience a pre Lavender Festival. Sequim(S-quimm) is an island town that looked peaceful and beautiful. It has a laidback feel. Going to the lavender farms was a treat in itself. We went to Graymarsh Berry Farms as was suggested by a lady we chanced upon at one of our stops. The lavender farm was set of a sloping terrain while the berry farms on the other side gave us a chance to pick berries. They have blueberry, strawbery, raspberry, logan berry and black berry farms but we chose blueberries and bought some freshly harvested raspberries. Delightfully, it was fun to harvest blueberries. We chanced upon some strawberries and to my surprise it tasted like sugar water. It tasted so good. There's not much of it to be compared to since there was no tinge of sourness at all. I cut a bunch of lavender stems and enjoyed its refreshing smell. We went to a few farms and the richness of the lavender colors are so enthralling. Lavender is a flower that symbolizes cleansing and true to its name lavar which is to wash. Tired from the whole day of travelling and exploring Sequimm, we are ready to go and eat. This time both Mom and Darlene were craving for rice. There is an Asian restaurant in town and there is also a Filipina staff in this island town. She told us there are at least 5o Filipino families in the area. Well, nice to know, we are in every part of this beautiful world. They suggested us to go Blainbridge going back to Seattle as it is the shortest ferry ride. We are going to meet Ferdie and family. It will be a first meeting of the cousins. Looking at the city of Seattle by the ferry is awesome. It kind of remind me of New York coming from the Statue of Liberty.

We went to a seafood restaurant by the seaside and got ourselves pails and pails of seafood delights. I thought we ordered so much but in the end it was just a little more than enough. Stuffed to the neck. The cousins had a little time getting to know each other as they try to bridge some decades and demographic separation and differences. Then we head back to Spokane as it is getting late and its a 5 hour drive. Smooth drive.

We were billeted at the Red Lion Riverside Hotel courtesy of my sister Edna. Yeah second floor and no elevator and we have to carry the flowers upstairs and be on the water for travelling more than ten hours. The flowers turned out to be still great and straight on to the tub and some shower. The drive was long yet so enjoyable for everywhere you see God's majesty. You see wonderful works only God made possible with the passage of time. Created upon generations of different needs and circumstances yet its beauty was masterfully protected. The infrastracture was so complimenting to the land and seascapes that everywhere offered postcard beauties.

Four days can never be enough but enough to make an impression of how charming the place is.