A Week in Washington

*WARNING: This blog has a TON of pictures and is a long one. You've been warned :0)
Joe and I went to his farm in Washington to spend some time with his brother, John, before he takes off for a 15-18 month deployment to Iraq with the Army. It was great hanging out with all of the family.
Day 1 was us getting to WA around midnight and heading straight for bed. Day 2 after we slept in and visited with Joe's parents he darted out to uncover his cavalier. I don't know how many of you remember Joe's red Cavalier, but it's his high school car that he LOVES. Every time we plan a trip to WA he talks and talks about how excited he is to drive the Cav around. After taking the Cav out on a joy ride we went back to the farm, visited some more and then headed out for our date night before picking up his sister, Suzanne, from the airport at midnight. For this trip to WA I decided not to bring my Cannon Rebel with me, which was very weird. Instead, we only brought my very old Cannon Elph. On our way to Spokane we decided it was time to get a new small camera that hadn't been submerged in water during a kayak flipping, dropped in snow too many times to count, left outside in -50 degree weather, outside for 3 days straight at -30 degrees during Arctic Survival, dropped on hard floor more than any tennis ball has been bounced and at just as many band concerts and best of all...won't print pictures with a permanent mark in the middle of the picture from it's adventures. So, before our mouthwatering dinner at PF Changs we went to Best Buy to get our new camera. Of course we got a GREAT deal (c'mon we're King and Queen of good deals) on a new Olympus camera and so now I have many pictures to share with y'all :0) After our dinner we went to the movie theatre where we watched The Bee Movie and were the only ones there. It was great, Joe rented out the theatre for us...isn't he sweet. hehehe. It was a cartoon at about 10pm on a Tuesday...I'm going to keep my romantic thought that the theatre was rented out for me. After the movie we had about 1 hour until Suzy landed so we parked at the cell phone lot, pulled out the blankets Joe packed and took a quick nap. There was day 2.

Our romantic private viewing of The Bee Movie.

Day 3 was WONDERFUL! The end of the day needed to end with us driving out-of-town to John's house, so we decided to make it a day of adventure. Since we've been to WA many times together and had never gone to Seattle we decided it was time. So, we drove about 4 hours to Seattle with a beautiful scenic stop on the way. Our scenic stop pictures:

Before our first stop the Cavalier hit 130k miles. A memorable moment :0)

Joe and his Cav at our first stop.

The Wanapums

I love him!

Joe said I had to post this one. Isn't it a pretty view.

Once in Seattle we walked around Pike's Place Market where I fell in love with Seattle. It was always in my top 3 places to live and now I'm sold. Fish, spices, veggies, cool little random shops, bakeries, cheese shops...I'll stop there or I could go on forever. I did get to see them tossing the fish, but didn't take a picture. Sorry, Charlie! Here are a few pics from the Market.

Another Joe pic. I'm not a fan of being in pics alone, but in the end I'm happy he does it.

Fish and Crab at Pikes Peak Market. Isn't this BEAUTIFUL!!! We tasted more than we bought. YUMMY.

I wanted to cry seeing all of this gorgeous produce. Someday it will be mine...someday.

Fettuccine I bought. Super tasty with a little kick. I plan on trying to make my own...trying.

That's a happy man. The doughnuts were delicious!

Mmmm, no way I could leave without some WA cheese. Joe took a pic of me, but the workers there insisted on this picture. Why not? We were such tourists that day.

After Pikes Peak we visited the Space Needle and it was beautiful. I love Joe so much because instead of simply getting tickets, taking the elevator up, looking around and leaving he made it such a romantic thing. Nothing is boring with my Joe. I can't explain all of the things he does for me to make me feel like the luckiest girl, but he does them and I love him for that. I'll never look at the space needle the same way. That's all I'll say about that because some things are just for us :0) After we took a few pictures outside and walked around Joe suggested we get something from Starbucks (since we were in Seattle), take in the view, talk and enjoy one another's company. So, we did that. Since neither one of us are coffee drinkers we decided to get a flavored coffee and a hot cocoa. The flavored coffee was pretty good, but I don't see myself becoming a coffee drinker. We both enjoyed the hot cocoa much more. On our way back to the car we saw a couple and asked them to take our picture in front of the space needle. Right before the man took our picture we ran out of battery. The couple was so nice that they offered to take our picture with their camera and email it to me. So, they did and I'm very grateful. Thank you Hoyt!
Space Needle pictures:

Downtown Seattle from the Space Needle.

The girl taking the picture didn't understand how to use the night setting. Blurry, but I like it.

Enjoying my Starbucks. Aren't I so Seattle in this picture :0) hehehe.

Joe sippin on his Starbucks.

Posing with the Space Needle background.

After the space needle we were starving and went to Ivars for some delicious Seattle seafood. We lucked out and got the best seat in the house... sat over the water and watched the ferry take off. Too bad my camera was out of juice or I'd have a picture of that too :0) From there we headed to Johns house in Richland. It was a long day, but definitely a wonderful one!

Day 4 was filled with fun, family and wine! In the morning I went on a great run behind John and Katie's home along a jogging trail that lines the river. I've decided that other than Austin that is my favorite place to run. It was so beautiful and I'm mad at myself for not taking pictures. But, I did take pictures in their backyard and you can see why I loved it. The trail was literally just outside of their backyard fence. After my run I met with the rest of the family at the house and went on a walk with them. It was a great walk and while on a boat dock Joe and John dared Suzy to jump off of the dock (keep in mind it was in the high 30s). She thought about it for a while, but after she got them to promise dinner out of it and jumped in. Yep, never a boring moment with Suzy around. Later, after lunch we took some photos in the backyard. Check out how great their yard is with the beautiful leaves.

Goldsworthy photo

I decided I want one of these printed. Please help me decide which one.

Suzy, John and Joe

Soon after pictures Joe's parents left and the girls got ready for a trip to a couple of wineries. We went to wineries...enough said about that! :0)

Goldsworthy sisters!!!

The guys picked us up from the last winery and we went to dinner at a great Seafood restaurant on the river. Yummy!!!!! (Notice all of the delicious food in my stories...I travel for food!)

left to right: Suzy, John, Katie, Joe and me.

Day 5 we hung out, packed up, drove back to Rosalia and met up with Joe's cousins for a fun night in Rosalia. (IAround 8pm or so Joe got a call from his cousins saying they couldn't find the farm (don't know how that happens) so we drove out to the town and met them at the Brass Rail. I think that might be their only bar in the town right now. Oh my gosh...we had a blast. I'll just post the pictures...no explaining needed.

The guys: John, Brett, Joe and Brad

The ladies: Brett's beautiful wife, Danielle, Katie, me and Suzy

CHEERS!!!

The guys being guys...

Suzy and I owned the table.

Fun, fun, FUN!!!

Day 6 involved dinner with all of the Goldsworthys from grandparents to grandchildren, a class reunion and many Spokane bars. It was a really great time. Joe's aunt Jill even managed to get everyone seated to record an interview with everyone. It showed the different generations of Goldsworthys in the military from General Goldsworthy and his war exteriences in WWII, to Joe, Capt Goldsworthy, with his 2 tours in Afghanistan and John, Capt Goldsworthy, and his deployment in Iraq. She also covered the views from the wives and then other family members asked questions and made comments. The interviews were very interesting and was a great idea. After the interviews we went out to the fields for some shooting...rifles, shotguns and handguns...I always look forward to that when visiting the farm. With the day flying by we to rushed to get ready for Joe's 10 year class reunion. So, we changed and headed out. After a fun dinner meeting people, hearing stories and of course a delicious meal and drinks we headed out to a few bars in Spokane. I couldn't tell you where we went, but it was fun. Later in the night Suzanne, Brad, Brett and Danielle met up with us where I met their friends Valerie & Josh. I'm sure plenty of y'all know someone with the same name, but for me it was weird to hear Val without it being directed at me. The last Valerie I knew was a friend in 1st grade. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of Valerie, but she was super sweet, a great artist with beautiful work and a hoot. All of us ended up spending the night at their house. Thanks, Valerie :0)
Pics from the night.

Joe's classmates (seated) and their husband, wife and/or girlfriend (behind). Look like a small class reunion? Well, he only graduated with 21 people.

At the bar. I really like this picture of Joe.

Joe and Suzanne. Don't they look a lot alike?!?

Me and Brett when we got to Val & Josh's. Yes, we are on the roof.

About 1 hour later we thought the Triscuts would taste better on the roof.

Day 6 we met up with the whole family again and had brunch at the Spokane Club. Always a great time. It was also Katie's birthday, so a happy birthday to you, Katie! I didn't take too many pictures, but here's one that I really like of John and their youngest boy, Joel.

Day seven we left dark and early for the airport with a 5:50am departure. I posted a blog from the Denver airport and meant on taking pictures for y'all but forgot. Here's one of Joe on the computer there. Sorry, guys.
I told you this was going to be a long one......
THE END!