Well, I’ll just go ahead and tell you that most of this post will be deviating from talking about time in DC, as most of my week was spent with my visit to Washington (state). However, it was such a refreshing, encouraging, sweet visit and we did several fun things, so I think it’s still worth the read. In my humble opinion.

As I wrote in the previous post, we arrived late Saturday, so our first day of doing was Sunday.

The Ward’s, Emily, and I all stayed at the Abrams’ house while Josh stayed with the Chong’s. For lunch, the Abrams’ took us out to eat at a pizzeria called Farrelli’s they like to frequent. It was great spending that time getting to know our hosts.

That evening, we got to be part of a group that gets together weekly to encourage and challenge one another as they engage with their communities. It was so great to hear how God has worked and is working through these people. I was left with a “refresh” of sorts, with some fresh approaches to boot!

So, where we are picking up is Monday. We went to Ocean Shores and hung out at the beach. The beach was an hour and a half away from where we were staying, so I enjoyed getting to know Mike’s wife, Liz, and their daughter on the car ride up.

Once we arrived, Liz pulled out some delicious subs she made for our trip and we chowed down before we enjoyed the day.

The afternoon was spent stepping into the Pacific Ocean, racing along the beach, building sand castles, and good conversations galore.

Every day during our trip, I (and others) indulged in Starbucks. It may seem commonplace for those reading from more urban areas, but for those of us who dwell in rural locations (who have to travel an hour to get to the nearest Starbucks), it was a luxurious treat.

Similar to Chick-fil-A in the South or Dunkin Donuts in New England, Starbucks are littered everywhere in Washington and, as we saw later, particularly in Seattle. So, when it was mentioned that there was a Starbucks in the town we were staying in, Emily, Rachel, and I all jumped on the opportunity to stop by on the way home. When in Rome, right?

Tuesday was our touristy day, as we traveled to Seattle!

However, our way going into the city was my favorite “fun” thing that we did the whole trip: we rode a ferry!

After driving and parking our cars onto the bottom level, we got out and walked up to the observation deck! We chugged through the Puget Sound at top speed of 16 miles an hour and got to appreciate the homes/towns as we passed.

I enjoyed the crisp wind while continuing to chat with my friends, both old and new.

I feel like this photo highlights what I noticed as we explored Washington: colors are so much more brilliant there! Whether due to more sun, less humidity, less pollution, or a combo of all the above, the world looked that much more beautiful.

After an hour ride, we saw our destination grow closer and closer on the horizon: Seattle!

Our first touristy stop was the Pike Place Market! If you’ve ever seen a fish market portrayed in a movie, in which workers will yell and throw fish to one another, the Pike Place Market is known for that. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see it for ourselves, as a pesky little pandemic has changed how they did things.

Any Starbucks fans recognize the name?

There’s a reason for that! The first Starbucks was on this street! We walked by and peered in, but a long line trailed out and along the sidewalk. We found out that the person in the front of the line at that time had been waiting an hour, so we decided to opt out of getting anything from there.

It was neat to walk through the different stalls and see what people were selling. One was offering slices of peaches for free, so I nabbed one and it was one of the best peaches I had ever had. If I didn’t have a plane ride home, I probably would have grabbed me a few.

After walking by two other restaurants, which were either closed or opening later than we wanted to wait, we stopped by The Crab Pot for some delicious seafood!

My, Seth’s, and Josh’s choice was the Cove “Seafeast”, which was reminiscent of the low-country boil in the South. Prawns, corn, mussels, clams, andouille sausage, and potatoes with butter to dunk it all in…does it get any better?

After we had our fill, we drove over to the Space Needle. Learned this fun fact: this iconic structure was built for the World Fair!

The price for entry was rather steep and I was told that it didn’t meet the hype, so I opted out with a couple of others (Josh would tell us later that he thought it was completely worth it. Alas. C’est la vie).

While Josh and Mike went up, we played with the kids at a nearby playground and enjoyed the sunshine.

Tuesday evening, we got to go to one of the small groups that is hosted throughout the week. It was neat to get to know better some of the people we’d already met and to meet new faces while also getting to see how they approached ministry this way.

Wednesday afternoon, we flew out of Seattle. Before we drove to the airport, we ate lunch at a restaurant called Sushi Train, which was so neat!

I remember seeing a video of a similar restaurant in Japan, so I was excited when I saw that I would get to experience something similar stateside!

The way it works at these “conveyor belt sushi” restaurants is that each plate color has a price it represents. So, you take whatever plate(s) off of the belt and once you are done, will pay for the total amount the plates represent.

I loved this idea because there would only be a couple roll slices on each plate, so you had the ability to try multiple kinds of sushi before getting full! This was my final stack.

We flew out to Seattle on Alaskan airlines and flew home on Delta, so we had the luxury of movies to watch on the ride home. I was in need of some good decompressing and rest, so since our row didn’t have a window (and I was in the sandwich seat), I spent the time watching movies.

The selection was actually one of the best I’ve ever seen on a flight! One of the first that came up was one of my faves, 1917. I highly recommend, if you can stomach all that typically makes up war movies. This one has a bomb soundtrack and was filmed to appear as if it was all done in one shot, so not only is it entertaining, but also well done.

I hope to not recover from this trip and to carry what I saw and learned into my own life. We were so well loved by the community there and God got all the glory from all that I experienced.