Meanwhile, Four Years Later...

I am finally making an entry.  I have not made any posts, not because nothing was happening, but because I became a little too complacent and became involved in too many other projects.  What caused me to finally create another post was the visit by some of my immediate family members.  The only immediate family member who had seen the cabin was my mother back in 2012 when the cabin was not finished.  Unfortunately, I never got her back out here to see the finished cabin and she passed in March of this year.  When I heard my nephew's wife Heather, their son Lane, their daughter Savannah and her husband Zach wanted to come visit the PNW, I was hoping there would be time for a visit to The Drunken Bear.  And I was very happy when they said they wanted to spend their last night of their mini-vacation at the cabin.

It was a very warm day again, but being outside made it more comfortable.  We sat around drinking and sharing stories.  One of my favorite drinks is Wild Turkey 101 Proof and 7UP and luckily my grandnephew Lane, likes that drink too.  After a few drinks, Lane went down to the river to check it out.  He said the water was quite refreshing, but that didn't encourage any of the rest of us to join him.  We decided to play the card game of 31.  Every one of us likes playing games so we brought out a table cloth for the picnic table and the games began.  After we played about 3 games, we stopped for burgers, corn on the cob and salads.  It might have been the booze, but those burgers and corn sure hit the spot.  Even Maxx got a burger, sans the trimmings.  Lane barbecued the burgers and I had given him an extra one in case anyone wanted more.  No one did, so Maxx got lucky.  

It was a beautiful night and we were out until almost midnight.  We were all wearing t-shirts or short-sleeved tops and no one got cold.  On top of that we did not need any bug spray.  We were sitting inside the gazebo and had the lights on and that seems like it would be an attractant to the bugs.  Steve had put a bat house high in a tree earlier in the summer.  Maybe the bats were active,  Or, maybe we all had too much alcohol and the bugs were aware of that...ha!

Lane, Heather, Savannah, Zach and myself with Maxx at the bottom

Zach and Lane before Lane decided to check out the water

Maxx listening to the crazy people

Heather, Lane, myself showing I need a visit to the dentist, Zach and Savannah

at the beginning of playing 31.

They were headed back to Montana in the morning but I convinced them they needed to check out the town of Leavenworth.  We got up quite early and headed out with a quick stop for a photo with Big Foot at the Espresso Chalet just up the road from the turnoff to Index.  We stopped at the Squirrel Tree Restaurant at the turnoff for Lake Wenatchee.  We took two vehicles since I was going to go back to the cabin after we checked out Leavenworth.  As we reached the top of Stevens Pass, my beeper went off letting me know I needed gas.  I had not filled up with gas on the way to the cabin to save time and knew that I would have enough gas to make it back to Monroe or one of the other smaller towns.  I had not planned on going to Leavenworth.  When I decided to join them for the trip to Leavenworth I did not even think about having enough gas.  Panic set in, but luckily I was able to make it to the gas station by the Squirrel Tree.  We made it in to Leavenworth just as the stores were opening up and spent about two hours checking the town out.  It was a great weekend with all of them.  I bid them farewell and headed back to the cabin.

Lane, Heather, Zach and Savannah at the Espresso Chalet