pnw trip: family visit stop

 my dad's brother lives in a little town called chehalis, wa, just off I-5 and a little south of where you join the interstate from mt rainier. it made for a perfect spot to see my uncle and aunt, and grab a hotel room for warm baths and laundry updates. we were a week into the trip, and with another 9 days to go, we desperately needed to wash our clothes and armpits. too much information? 

chehalis is a cute and apparently thriving small town in the middle of an agricultural community, complete with downtown grain silos and fast moving trains cutting through the main street. we showered, turned on the tv, did some laundry (well, truth be told: i tried to do the laundry, but the machines were full and it was apparent it would be hours before they were available, and while i stood in the hallway google searching for local laundromats, a very friendly gentleman with a tool belt and hammer appeared and wondered if maybe i'd like to "just use our machines" and i was flabbergasted and was like, "ummmm, YES, but how, is that ok, what, where, ok YES." i followed him to the basement laundry room, where multiple indutrial machines with thrumming with sheets and towels and kicking out serious heat, and he introduced me to maribel, and maribel did. my. laundry. she just, you know, took it and shoved it all in the washer, and told me to come back in 30 minutes, at which point i did and i put it all in the dryer, and then it was done, fast, clean, easy, for free, because people are inherently nice and good and THAT, my friends, continues to me life's lesson, barking itself at me every day. no matter what club, group, origin, belief that some ascribes to, i have found in my short 41 years that people are all just basically good and kind.) 

wait, where was i? laundry. so we got clean, washed our clothes, wandered around town, and then met my aunt cathy and uncle jamie in a park for a distanced outdoor gathering, and they, being good, kind, loving and caring people, bought an abundance of delicious mexican food and beer and water and soda, and we ate together, and then they forced us to take all the leftovers, which provided us dinners on the road for 3 additional nights. it was like the fish and the loaves, but less miraculous. 

they also have a tiny new puppy, and ramona and james were in heaven with this 2 pound treasure.

the next morning, we have some "fruit" (froot?) from the continental breakfast

and then we loaded up and headed south, with plans to visit salem, oregon, to record another capitol building visit, and to ultimately reach crater lake by afternoon. 

salem is adorable, and was having a very big farmer's market across from the capitol.

passport book!

and OF COURSE we got a whole lot of goodies at that market.

once we were back in the car, we took some back highways to crater lake, driving up up up. when we reached the tiny western outpost town of oakridge, oregon, we got some groceries and some lunch and it was a wonderful stop. 

then off to the park i was most looking forward to visiting: crater lake!