Welcomed in Washington

If I got anything from my time in Washington it was a recharge, both to my energy and to my finances. My first stop was Kent, WA, where my dad and most of his family live. I arrived on Sunday, August 31st. I originally planned to arrive the next day, but my grandpa and grandma were having a dinner party with my aunt Marrisa, my Uncle Travis, my cousins, Ava and Lucas, my dad, my bonus mom, Shilo, and my two brothers, Jack and Brock. This was a really fun way to arrive in Kent. I got to goof around with my cousins and my two brothers and then I also got to talk about my trip with everyone else. Dinner was good and so was the company.

My dad and Shilo are currently in the process of remodeling their house, so while I was there, I had plenty of opportunities to make money. Most of my days were spent planting trees, landscaping with dirt, and moving rocks while everyone was at school and work. However, on the weekends we made time to hang out. On Saturday, September 6th, we all went down to Pikes Place Market and the wharf right next to it. I had been to the market before, but never on a busy Saturday, so I got to see it when it was truly alive. While there we tried some specialty mini donuts-maple bacon flavored, to be specific-we rode a 3D amusement ride, and we had lunch at Ivar's seafood restaurant. Me and my brother Jack also had our first Pumpkin Spice Lattes together. I had kind of a love-hate relationship with it, while Jack couldn't even completely finish his.

Singing my heart out with my brothers, Jack (on the left) and Brock (in the middle)

Another notable event during my stay in Kent was a series of my brothers Soccer games. I was there two weeks and each Sunday we would drive out to the local field to watch the boys play. To be clear, I'm not a big watching sports guy. I feel like whenever I watch sports, I just want to play them, instead. So going into it, I thought I was gonna be pretty miserable, but I actually enjoyed watching all the games. Even though all the players are super young and aren't amazing, there were a lot of good plays and good teamwork. Overall, my time in Kent was really solid. I'm glad I made it a part of the trip. Like I said at the start, my time in Kent was a great recharge to my social battery and to my finances, and this would only continue throughout the rest of my trip.

Seeing my mom again was really great. The vast majority of my life has been spent seeing her every day, so when we go about 3 months without seeing each other, it's very noticeable. Not only did I get to hang out with her for about two weeks, but I also got to help her move into her new house in Twisp, WA, which once again, gave me plenty of opportunities to make money. I think my mom's new house is very quaint and has a ton of potential, but the previous owners used the house as a cabin and they treated it as such. The house not only had a vermin problem when we first moved in, but it also has plenty of structural faults. Most weekdays would be spent working on the house in the morning, eating lunch together, working a little more, working out, and then eating dinner together. It might be a little surprising, but this pattern was actually really nice. I got to combine both hanging out with my mom and making money in an entire day.

However, when the weekends came along, we had a lot of fun. Our first big adventure was exploring Omak Lake just outside of Twisp. We typically don't like paddle boarding around lakes, because we find that you can usually see everything the lake has to offer right from the start. Omak Lake was definitely the exception. The way Omak Lake has formed, there are plenty of little off-shoots and hidden nooks to explore. It makes actually blowing up your paddle board and floating out there worth it. As a matter of fact, we really only explored one of those off-shoots, meaning we would have more to explore in the future.

Having a good time at Omak Lake

Exploring the cool rock formations around the lake

Posing for a picturesque shot

Another good photo courtesy of my mom

I also had plenty of opportunities to hang out with Aunt Easton-or as we call her, EB. The day after I arrived, she threw a dinner party at her house and invited her land partners and myself. I really enjoyed getting to meet her friends and was really refreshed by the opportunity to meet some new people. We had a great dinner with thoughtful conversation the whole time and then we ended the night off with board games. I would have preferred more board game time, but we made the foolish mistake of eating dinner before board games. After dinner, everyone felt tired and were only down for two rounds of "Codenames".

I also got to hang out with her and my mom when we went hiking one weekend. The start of the hike was rough. It was raining and we had to bushwhack to the actual trail, but after we got on the main path, it was a pretty good time. On the way back the sun came out and we all were in quite a good mood.

Being a goofball with my mom and aunt during a hike

Just chilling with my cool aunt

The last adventure I had with my aunt while in Twisp was on Tuesday the 23rd. We met at the local gym around 4:30 pm and had a fun hour and a half workout together. We mostly did our own thing, but we had some fun banter in between sets. After getting our pump in, we drove to her place and did a cold plunge in the Twisp river right below her house. It was certainly cold, but luckily we had some nice warm dinner wait for us when we came back up. Honestly, it was probably the best send-off with EB I could have asked for. It was personal, but still very fun.

Getting swole with EB

Feeling thoughtful at the OSB Taproom

Of all the adventures I had in Washington, one stood out among the rest: the two days me and my mom spent in Spokane. Now, I'll be the first to admit, Spokane isn't the cleanest or safest city of all time. In fact, almost everywhere me and mom went we saw a meth head. That said, Spokane is pretty fun when you have the right company. After driving throughout the morning, me and mom arrived on Sunday, September the 28th. For context, my mom rented an apartment in Spokane for about a month while she looked for somewhere to settle. She eventually found her house in Twisp, but she had a lease on the apartment, so it was still hers when we arrived in Spokane. We took a couple minutes to settle in and then decided that we wanted to go have an adventure downtown. My mom called up her friend, John, and he agreed to meet us at the brewery downtown. They each had a couple drinks and I tried my first hop water amid good conversation. We eventually left the brewery and just spent the new couple hours strolling around the downtown area.

Although Sunday was a ton of fun, Saturday was definitely better. Me and mom started the day by doing some grocery shopping. I was able to stock up for the next leg of my trip and my mom stocked up on many foods that she didn't have access to in the rural Twisp area. We got lunch at the local pizzeria and then went downtown to check out some bookstores. We ended the night by having fun at a nearby pinball arcade and eating dinner at a sushi bar. Before going to bed, we stopped by the local grocery store and picked up some fun dessert snacks to eat with a comedy special. That was a fun night for sure, but all good things must come to an end.

Tuesday was the day of my departure. But before I left Spokane and my mom, we decided to get coffee together. Our conversation there certain wasn't grandiose, but it was the perfect level of quaint to send me off.

Overall, September in Washington was a great time. I not only got to see so much of my family, but I also got to have tons of fun mini adventures at the same time. I look back on this period with gratefulness, but, unfortunately, after so many fun times, I was about to have a dopamine crash.