Author Archives: Tiim & Kathy

June16, 2022

After raining all night long, we were not sure what to do today. After a leisurely morning, we walk the half mile trail to the Visitor Center and look at their excellent display. The weather is clearing, so after lunch at the trailer, we decide to find a hike for the afternoon.

We come to the Pyramid Lake hike…4.2 miles round trip and 1500 elevation gain. So why not try it! Well, it begins with some high rocks to navigate and we seem to be climbing strait up. Not very far along, we meet a young couple coming down. They assure us it is not this bad further on and offer us their hiking sticks, assuring us that they were very helpful on the climb. I am so thankful for those sticks! The assent was relentless! The trail was very rocky for about a mile.

Then changed to a more riparian, wet terrain. It was a refreshing change to walk along the creek…but still going up, up, up!

There were times that I didn’t think I could go any further. Tim encouraged me on after my many times of taking a rest.

I love a hike with a goal at the end, so I didn’t want to give up seeing the beautiful alpine lake at the top. So, after 2 1/2 hours, we made it to the top!! We were exhausted, but enjoyed sitting by the lake for 15 minutes. I was proud that this 70 year old lady made it to the top!

The descent took us 1 1/2 hours. Awe, back to the trailer and much needed rest and a simple hot dog dinner. Anything tastes great after a hike like that!

It is a beautiful sunny day and we take the morning to hike the Thunder Knob Trail near Diablo Lake. The trail is a gentle switchback climb first through a riparian area with a lovely creek.

We climb into a more open area with occasional beautiful views of mountains with bits of snow on them. When we get to the top, the views are so gorgeous, we did not want to leave.

The weather begins to get cloudy and imminent rain. We decide to drive to the small town of Marblemount to get some cell service. At the Wilderness Information Center we are told that the Cascade River Highway was not open all the way into the National Park, but there was a beautiful viewpoint seven miles in.

The rainy evening is spent in the trailer playing board games.

June 14-17, 2022

I am sitting in our trailer in the Newhalem Campground listening to the rain lightly sprinkle on the rooftop. The setting is forested and the temperature in the 50’s. This is our third day in the campground and we have seen chipmunks scampering and Hairy Woodpeckers flying about. We are hoping for a break in the weather so we can do a little hiking, but in the meantime I can write about our first two days here.

We took a few short hikes around the campground when we first arrived on Sunday evening. The first was the Trail of the Cedars Nature Walk. This connected to the little Seattle City Lights company town of Newhalem via a suspension bridge over the Skagit River. There are three dams on the Skagit River that supply on third of the electricity for the Seattle metro area. The next little hike was to Ladder Creek Falls. We cross the river again up to view the falls.

Our plan for our first full day (since rain is predicted on and off all day) is to drive Highway 20 east through the park and beyond and stop at all of the viewpoints. The first stop is Gorge Lake and Falls. The Lake has been formed from the first dam on the river.

We drive on to Diablo Lake and then Ross Lakes, which were created by the other two dams on the river. Our goal is to hike to Blue Lake, but when we arrived there we found a snow covered trail and not bringing our snow shoes we decided to forgo that one! Who would think on June 14 we would have snow.

We arrive at the Washington Pass (45 miles from our campground), the highest elevation on Highway 20, and it is lightly snowing! After pulling into the parking area for the viewpoint, we walk up the blocked off road to the viewpoint. Walking across the snowy and wet trail we arrive at the top and fantastic views of the surrounding jagged mountains.

The rain is light so we try to find a good place to hike in a little and have our sack lunch. We choose the East Bank Trail. It is a bit muddy but a nice hike in the forest along the Skagit River.

After stopping for a better look at the Diablo Lake at the viewpoint, we head home to our trailer and dinner.

We had fun taking a walk around the Air and Space Museum grounds here in McMinnville.

My brother took us to a tapas restaurant called La Rambla in trendy downtown McMinnville. We returned to our trailer and this gorgeous sunset.

In the morning our destination was Federal Way, Washington and Dash Point State Park. My niece, Margaret, lives and teaches 2nd grade here. We hadn’t seen her in five years. It was good to visit and see how well she is doing.

We left Medford, Oregon yesterday and drove five hours to McMinnville, Oregon. We unhooked the trailer at Olde Stone Village RV Park. It is a beautiful well maintained park located next to the Air and Space Museum.

The rain was heavy as we immediately drove into Portland to go to Mill End Fabric Store and Mr. Green Beans. I found a few fabrics to line my burlap coffee bag tote bags and clutches.

At Mr.Green Beans, Tim picked up the green coffee beans that he had ordered, while I went through a huge pile of coffee bags. Thanks, Trevin Miller, for these amazing finds.

Here are examples of what I make out of the bags. I sell the bags for the purpose of raising money to send to friends in Sierra Leone and Liberia to help with education needs.

We headed back in the rain to our trailer home.

We arrived home on Monday at midnight after flying for about 30 hours. The flights were on time and there were no problems. We had all our documents in order.

We are still processing all that we did and the wonderful relationships we built with those we spent time with. What began with Alyssa’s time on Mercy Ships and our supporting Simeon for eight years has given us the relationships with his family that was the backbone of this trip.

There have been many tears as we left and still now that we are home. Everyone welcomed us with love and a willingness to share their hopes and struggles with us. We are so humbled and blessed for spending time with everyone of them.

So here are a few more photos of these people who welcomed us as family.

I think I need to do another post to have some photos of the children that captured our hearts. So as they say in Krio, Tumara yeah.

We attended Calvary Free Pentecostal Church this morning. It was a wonderful, moving service. They presented us with gifts of more African clothes made of the traditional Sierra Leone Cottage Cloth. We feel so undeserving of all the gifts we have received.

Augustine, Samuel and Alimatu came to say goodbye at the airport. We drive to the ferry and have a pleasant ride across the water to Lungi. We had a nice lunch of fish and chips. I am still getting used to having the whole fish on my plate and having to pick through the bones!

It was pretty teary at the airport. So hard to say goodbye!

We finally got our negative Covid results from yesterday’s test. Another $140 dollars later we had another Covid test today and hope this satisfies the US government’s new requirements. 😍

The best part of the day was a visit with Aaron and his family. They gifted us these African dress. They had the local tailor make them from cloth that was given to them as a wedding gift. That touched our hearts.

We all went for an outing to the supermarket to buy ice cream. The kids had fun.

We walked through the Calabatown Market. It was very busy and colorful.

After a restful morning and a visit from Patrick we join the family at Aberdeen beach.

It was a fun afternoon!

We have one day left before we leave on Sunday. We got our Covid test this morning only to learn about the new US restrictions requiring a negative Covid test 24 hours before we travel. We are a little concerned and may have to figure that out when we get to Brussels. Such complications!

A day on the water was a refreshing change, however the visit to Bunce Island was very sobering. We boarded our African boat at the Aberdeen beach. The beach was full of fishing boats and women waiting for the fishermen to come in.

Our boatman was Tommy. Traveling with us were Augustine and his friend, Mariama. It was a long three hour ride to the island with much to see along the way.

I could try to explain Bunce Island’s part in the slave trade, but this sign says it well.

On a lighter note, we had an amazing lunch prepared fresh by our boatman. Barracuda on skewers, fries and plantains. Yum!