Next stop: Ellensburg, WA

We drove through the beautiful Columbia River gorge on our way out of Portland, and I wish we would have stopped to explore a bit. But with a sleepy two year old in the car who needed to nap, that wasn't on the agenda. So now we have yet another place to add to our "must-visit" list; the glimpse of one gorgeous waterfall (as we sped by on the highway) will have to be enough for now.

We also saw some decent views of Mount St. Helen's, although the low clouds and dirty car windshield meant the pictures didn't really do the vista justice. The rest of the drive wasn't so gorgeous (see picture), as we entered the Yakima Valley. Great place to grow grapes, we learned later, but not so pretty. I guess I'm just not a fan of high desert terrain. We were happy to get to Ellensburg and get out of the car!

Ellensburg is home to Central Washington University, where Teri is doing her best to improve the math abilities of their students (even I know that 0 divided by 1 is 0!). Zach was absolutely delighted to ditch his carseat and go see grandma, and put on a full performance for one of Teri's co-workers, including recital of his address and several renditions of take me out to the ballgame. The kid loves a crowd.

We spent the next couple days (let me think... that would be Tuesday afternoon thru Friday morning) relaxing with Scott's parents. While Teri was working, we found the Ellensburg Children's Museum, which was much better than expected. And due to the unusually hot hot weather, Zach had a great time in the kiddie pool in grandma's backyard.

I didn't take a ton of pictures, mostly due to laziness I think (I took two naps while in Ellensburg... ahhhh). But here are a couple that also illustrate how relaxing our visit was ... Zach lazing in his cousins' princess convertible couch, and getting a post-bath lotion rubdown!