Layover in Ellensberg, Washington

Six years ago my mother-in-law invited me to join her for the Lilac Bloomsday Run in Spokane, Washington.  I had never run a 12k before, but it sounded like fun and in my naivety my exact thought process was “Hey, I played sports like 13 years ago, it will be like riding a bike, I got this.”

Not even close!!  After running the first two miles, I decided I was more the power walking type.  Not too long after hitting a slight groove I rounded a corner only to see what I now know to be referred to as “Doomsday Hill”.  Doomsday Hill is quite arguably the longest, steepest 1/2 mile on Earth.  Ok. Ok.  Looking back the hill probably wasn’t that extreme, however in those moments of trying to lift my legs and set my feet down on the ground one step at a time, I was cursing myself for not prepping for this race.  I mean really, what was I thinking!?  I could’t stand up or sit down for at least a week afterwards without feeling like I was absolutely going to die.

Susan, my mother-in-law, is a pro at Bloomsday.  She knew that the key to recovery after the run was to keep walking so she took us to Manito Park.  Manito Park is a gorgeous 90 acre park with 5 gardens, a duck pond, conservatory, and so much more. We spent the evening walking around and exploring the grounds.  I fell in love with the place!

Three years ago Levi and I took a road trip through Washington on our way to California to visit Levi’s dad and stepmom.  Levi and Claire had never been there so we stopped at Manito Park to stretch our legs and let little Miss Claire check out the flowers.  So of course, while on this trip driving through Spokane it was only natural we make Manito Park a fun little pit stop for the day.  Claire humored us by letting us take a picture of her reenacting her last visit and Henry thoroughly enjoyed walking under the tree lined arches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gardens never disappoint.  Roses were in full bloom and simply gorgeous. We were able to run off some energy, spending about an hour at the park before loading back up into our Expedition to make our final push to Ellensberg, Washington for the night.

One of the many many things we have learned on this journey is that spending 4 hours a day driving in the car is our absolute max, any more we all hit meltdown mode.  So we have made it a priority to break up our days into shorter drives and not push to get to the next town we want to explore, which is why Ellensberg is our destination tonight.

The drive around George, Washington was amazing.  The Columbia river and the stunning topography started to get us excited about this last part of our journey, the Pacific Northwest.  Levi pointed out some elk that were grazing near the river and gave himself a pat on the back for his “incredible” animal spotting abilities.

Claire has been pretty taken with rock climbing ever since our visit to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.  So to say she was thrilled when she found an ideal spot to “rock climb” at Wild Horse lookout point, might be the understatement of the year.

We arrived at the hotel, checked in, grabbed some dinner, and than headed to the pool for a quick, cold swim. Henry has apparently overcome his fear of water somewhere on the trip as he loved jumping into the pool for Levi to catch him.   Levi was a trooper catching him over and over in the non-heated pool while Claire and I enjoyed our girl time and relaxing in the hot tub.  We decided on Mexican for dinner, and really I could eat Mexican food for any meal.  Claire, as per usual, ordered queso and chips. What happened next still baffles me.  The waitress informed us that they had no queso and unfortunately for Claire do not serve queso.  I have never!  Is this normal!?  I feel like queso at a Mexican restaurant is like a cheeseburger at a burger joint…it’s just a staple.

Minus the no queso fiasco, all in all our journey through eastern Washington has been smooth and steady.  We have our fingers crossed that our journey will continue tomorrow with another great day exploring a town and area we have been looking forward to learning all about first hand.